Whangarei to Neiafu, Tonga

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Distance – 1505 nm in 12 days at an average of 5.2 knots. Longest day’s run was 151 nm, and the shortest run was 91 nm.



Crew Adam Rollo and Anna Hankin



I am now sitting in the Aquarium Café on the waterfront in Neiafu. The same place where I posted several of the earlier blogs (2010) during Hakura’s previous visit. I have mixed feelings, joy at having piloted Hakura and the crew across the ocean to Tonga, pleasure at being in the warmth of the tropics, sadness as the crew have gone off for a few days on another yacht and frustration as the motor on Hakura is broken again. Two days before arriving here we found water mixed into the engine oil. This meant we were unable to use the motor from then onwards. I am now waiting on the local mechanic to visit to get an idea of what is wrong and how long it will take to fix it.



Back to how the voyage started, way back in what seems like the beginning of time.



In the weeks leading up to the departure we had all been busy, the crew cleaning and getting use to living on Hakura, and me finishing up my job and then finishing off some jobs on Hakura. As usual, Lorraine was working hard in the background cooking up a storm of dinners for the voyage – cottage pies, savoury mince, Thai green chicken curry and chicken tagine, plus several cakes – 2 raisin and one chocolate (all of which were very delicious and enjoyed by all). On Saturday 24 May we did the shopping – lots of fresh veg and fruit (some of which ended up going over the side but not too much) and other stuff. Of course there was stuff we forgot - BBQ lighters, Afghan biscuits, and batteries. We did remember the batteries in time to send Adam to the service station to get a pile on the Sunday morning.



About 3 pm on Sunday 25 May, after having said goodbye to Lorraine earlier, as she had to go to work, we left the safety and comfort of Riverside Drive Marina to the warm farewells from the other residents. We passed under the Hatea River Bridge and headed down the Harbour towards Marsden Cove Marina. The trip down was a quiet time before our departure on the morrow.



It was great to have a visit from Sandy and Kim (friends of Lorraine’s) while at Marsden Cove Marina. I then cooked the now traditional farewell dinner of spinach and eggs and we started to get ready for our last sleep in New Zealand.



We were one of three vessels leaving on Monday morning so I was a bit surprised at how early the Customs officer arrived. After another telling off about not having sent a pre-arrive notification last time we were cleared to go. Next was the final storing of stuff – dinghy and other bags up for ‘ward then fuel up and watering, and off. Oh dear, we had forgotten to seal the anchor locker and stow the anchor. After a few minutes of quick work, we were finally off at 12:30 on Monday 26^th.



After hoisting the main (with the first reef in place) we headed through the heads into a very lumpy sea due to the combination of a 30-knot southerly and an outgoing tide. Luckily, this only lasted about 20 minutes and we settled into a swift beam run past the heads and the Chicks heading towards Niue. As the wind was nearly up our bum and we needed to make some easting we headed northeast. This would assist in getting us to Raoul Island in the Kermedics several days later.



All of us were well and enjoyed the first of our prepared dinners – cottage pie. To add to the excitement Adam and Anna had their first sighting of dolphins (and the only one of the voyage). We started to settle into our watches (3 on and 6 off) and had a good night of a flat run before the cool southerly.



As the night progressed, the crew began to have a few issues with seasickness, which for Adam seemed to continue for only the first few days. Anna, on the other hand, had ongoing repeats if the sea picked up. To their undying credit they never missed a watch, though I did enjoy the floorshow of Adam helping Anna into her wet weather gear. Between each item she would dive back down onto the bunk. Then a minute later get up for the next item. A couple of times I quickly helped attach her safety line so that she could look in another direction, rather than at me.



Our first 24-hour run was 146 nm at an average of 6 knots.



We were planning to use the autopilot for most of the trip; however, the house battery did not appear to be being charged sufficiently for this.



On the second night, I got a bit depressed at the failure of the new motor to charge the battery and considered returning to Whangarei for repairs. We even turned around, however, in the morning the sun was shining and after checking the battery connections we decided to continue though we would have to hand steer.



To their credit, both Adam and Anna were very willing to take on hand steering, so we headed north again. They proved very good at steering, often staying on course much better than I did.



All this to-ing and fro-ing did produce an interesting 24-hour run – 151 nm (the best of the trip) though the run over the water was only 40 nm (the worst of the trip).



The third day we had good speed in a steady easterly and ET managed to phone home over night. This is the phrase I use in the logbook to show that I had been able to contact Taupo Radio and do a trip report. Such reports consisted of position (Lat. and Long.), course (degrees magnetic) speed (knots – I use the average of the past 3 hours), and in the initial contact numbers aboard, destination and ETA. Sometimes later on, it is was difficult to give course and speed as we were tacking into light head winds. Also, when destination changed I would tell Taupo Radio and give a new ETA.



About this stage I had settled into the routines of the watches and the movement of Hakura and began to relax a bit.



The next issue was the timing of our passing Raoul Island. We wished to sail along the west coast and then tack past the range station on the north coast. This meant being close to the island in daylight and not hitting it.



On the morning of 31 May Raoul Island appeared off the starboard bow, right on cue. This was not by chance as I had been slowing us down over the past day to ensure this would happen. I should say that with GPS navigation it is a breeze. I am sure I would have a much harder time if I had to learn to use a sextant and do noon sights etc. I am in awe of the sailors of yore who sailed these waters using dead reckoning and occasional sextant fixes.



The island was much bigger than I expected with the western sides being very steep and had lots of deep wooded ravines. We had to work hard to get around the northwestern point, as there appeared to be a strong tide against us. As the wind was from the north we tacked around and then ran across the north coast. Again, a very steep coast though there was a flattish area around where the range station was placed. Landing would be interesting in anything but southerlies or calm. Anything with north in it would make landing very difficult if not impossible.



We had called up the station while still off the southwest of the island. The guy I talked to did not know my brother Scott but said he would email Scott saying we had passed. He then interviewed me using a Martine NZ questionnaire. Basically the same stuff as requested by customs etc.



When off the station we began the process of tacking into the moderate head wind. Thus began the strangest night of the trip. Adam was on watch and reported seeing lightning off the port bow. I had been through a mid ocean squall on the previous trip and I was expecting strong winds. I have learnt that when you first think of reefing down (reducing the headsail or the mainsail, or both) you do it then rather than wait. If you wait till it is really needed it is much harder to do, so we reduced both sails.



For the rest of the night we did not get any stronger winds but we did get occasional heavy downpours and lots of lightning. Most was too far away to hear the thunder though the closest was 4 to 5 miles. I spent most of my shift with my back to it concentrating on the sky to where we were headed. Everybody reported seeing lots of lightning strikes into the sea. Adam appeared to enjoy it most, especially after I told him that we were a poor conductor so not likely to be hit. I hope I am right (PS only tell me if I am right, please).



Oh yes Adam earned 5 brownie points for his good steering and Dougie lost heaps as he did four 360s during the night (it is a very good thing that the Cap’n is the one keeping the score otherwise Dougie might cheat).



One of the outcomes of the rain was that the water proofing of the spray dodger that we did just before leaving was highly successful, except for less than half a square metre. Unfortunately, that half a metre is right above the companion way, thus when it rains we need to close the hatch (note to self – another job to do while in Neiafu).



The next morning (1 June) saw us with a light tail wind with largely clear skies. The weather was definitely warmer with most of us having removed our warm clothes though the nights could still be cool.



With light tail winds, the speed of the yacht reduces the speed of the wind, such that it feels like there is very little wind and the sails can do a lot of flapping about. This is not only hard on the helm it can be noisy below decks, disrupting what little sleep we were getting.



These middle days of the voyage were marked by slow sailing, 24 hour runs of less than 120 nm on 5 consecutive days and one of 91nm. To make it worse, we needed to tack across the wind to get speed so the run over the water was often even less (70 nm on one day with a run of 115 nm). On the other hand, they were very pleasant days in slight seas.



During these days we passed out of New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (200 nm from Raoul Island) and we undertook some flare practice using out of date flares – some back to 2009. I found it very interesting and well worth doing. We let off 2 red handheld flares and boy were they bright – we all saw big blobs in our vision for ages afterwards. We don’t know how long they last as we dropped both over board and watched them burn as they sank. We then let off three red rocket flares. The secret here is to aim high and hold the flares upwards. They didn’t go very high which may have been due to their age. I am now confident that I can let off flares.



Why did we change our destination from Niue to Vava’u? Well one morning we started the motor and switched on the compressor. There was a sound of slipping belts so off went the compressor and the motor. On inspection we found the tension wheel for the compressor belts was gone. Broken off and into the bilge.



Adam and I were able to tension the belts by moving down the compressor thus doing away with the need for the tensioner. Adam also found the bits in the bilge. We still had the fridge and freezer though only if we used very low revs. All was good in the world again, though I decided that it was better head directly to Tonga rather than Niue. As this turned out, a good decision. We had also been listening to the Southern Cross Cruisers’ Net and had heard a weather forecast that minted strong east to northeast winds. As the trade winds, when we meet them, were 15 to 20 knots and easterly backing to the northeast, which would have made Niue not a nice place to be.



We sighted the island of ‘Ata about 90 nm to the southwest of Tongatapu just before sunrise on Thursday 5^th and we had a pleasant sail whilst listening to the “Ladies of Letters” – very funny. At this stage we were using the motor for between a half hour and an hour in the morning and again in the evening. This was to charge the batteries and use the compressor, thereby chilling the fridge. When we fired up the motor for the evening run it did not sound well so we stopped and I checked it.



Oh shit bum bum! There was water in the engine oil, as indicated by the oil being white and frothy. We had to continue with no motor, which meant we needed to reduce the power consumption as low as possible. We needed power to run the water pump and the gas solenoid. We also needed power to be able to make calls on the SSB and VHF radios. We turned off the cabin lights, the main GPS and used head torches and the hand held GPS.



We called Taupo Radio and told them we were OK but may not be able to call again before we arrived. Friday morning, we also called the Southern Cross Net - group of cruising yachts that report in to each other each day. We were after a contact in Vava’u who we could call to get a tow for the final couple of miles into Neiafu. They were very helpful and we now had a contact so we settled into slowly sailing up past Tonga tapu and the middle of Tonga. We needed to arrive off Vava’u in the morning to be able to see the reefs.



We had a double reef in the main and a very small headsail out; however, we were still doing 5 to 6 knots when I wanted us doing only 4. This was due to the stiff easterly (about 20 knots). In the end I had to tack and hove-to a couple of time so as to not arrive too early.



As Saturday 7 June dawned, we could see the islands of Vava’u before us so we let out more headsail and began the final tack towards the islands. About 9 we made contact with the crew on the yacht Maunie who were coming out to tow us in. As the wind had moved a bit east, we were able to sail to within a couple of miles of Neiafu Harbour before the towline was passed over.





Well, we made it to Neiafu harbour (the town on Vava’u, Tonga) at 12 o’clock having been at sea for almost exactly 12 days. Since the Tongan Customs would not be open till Monday morning we had to stay on board Hakura.



Without the motor, the freezer and fridge could not be cooled down so the last of the frozen food and milk was handed to Graham from Maunie, along with the chocolate cake. This proved to be a good investment as on Sunday, Graham invited us over for cake and drinks with real cream in the cake.



Bright and early on Monday we all went ashore to visit Customs and after about 2 hours we were cleared into Tonga and began exploring Neiafu.



More on that and an update on the motor in the 2nd to next blog. The next blog is a guest blog from the crew.

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Photos

Hatea Bridge
Heading out of Whangarei

Marsden Cove
All dress up and ready to go.

Anna at the helm
Anna with her wet weather gear doing a great job on the helm.

The Crew
Adam and Anna - great crew

The Log
Interesting what one sees at sea

Seabird
A nice photo at sea

Leaving Raoul Island behind
Tacking into a northeasterly.

Handheld red flare
No night vision after this!

The Flying Fish
Our occasional visitors

Beer anybody?
A cold beer from the crew on Maunie.

Comments

[Chris]

YAY TO DOUG
Way to go Doug ! Well done to you and the crew. Hope the motor woes are sorted easily and financially painlessly (!) and you continue on your voyage. Love Chris

[Chris]

Important omission from previous comment
Forgot to mention how impressed I am that your farewell meal in EnZed is vegetarian spinach and eggs. Well done Doug, another plus for the planet :-) Chris