August 2009 – From New Zealand

Dear Friends:

Endings can be as emotion laden as beginnings. Saying farewell to our Tongan family was one ending, especially as we knew we might not see them again for some time. Our voyage from Tonga to New Zealand marked the end of a circumnavigation, one that began almost 20 years before when we’d set sail for Australia in search of work. News of yet another ending reached us just as we sailed in to the Bay of Islands.

Instrument Assisted Grounding

Shortly after leaving Nuiatoputapu, we learned that a 45-foot cruising yacht had gone aground on the reef at night near the entrance to the lagoon. By good fortune, two other yachts were at anchor inside the lagoon and heard the distress call. Also fortunately, the southeast winds that were such a nuisance to us, were a blessing for the grounded yacht as there was almost no swell at all where they hit the reef. The two crews who heard their calls, came out with inflatables to successfully assist the grounded yacht imto; ot was out of danger. From what we saw when this yacht was hauled out a few weeks later in Neiafu, they will need serious repairs including a new rudder and shaft. 

Finding Your Boat in the Dark

There were over a hundred boats clustered on moorings or laying at anchor in Neiafu. This is the main re-provisioning spot in the northern Tongan Island group of Vav’au and a great place to enjoy café’s, book and DVD trading, musical jam sessions plus Friday night yacht races. (Someone called Vav’au “the Cruisers Playground”). Because of enjoyable evenings with cruising sailors and time ashore with our Tongan family we were often trying to find our way back to Taleisin in the dark, sometimes in drizzling rain, once in a full gale with pouring rain, usually when we were tired and ready for bed. Fortunately, every one of the boats surrounding us had anchor lights up, many of them small solar powered ones that came on automatically after dark. Unfortunately, with so many boats relatively close together, it was hard to decide which light was ours. A few nights after we arrived, a new boat came in to take the mooring just aft of us. As we were carefully wending our way home from another evening ashore, rowing careful through the mile-long maze of boat after boat, my flashlight picked up two bright orange blazes. As we came closer I realized the owner of this neighboring boat had used sticky-back reflective tape and put a foot long strip on each side of his masthead and also on his dinghy davits, which extended beyond the stern of his boat. My regular D-cell powered flashlight picked up the reflection from this tape from almost half a mile away. A great idea to help you find your boat at night. It would also serve as a back up to keep others from hitting your boat should they somehow miss seeing your anchor light.

April ‘09 – Vav’au, Tonga

March ‘09 – Nuiatoputapu, Tonga

Dear Friends:

February ‘09 – Apia, Samoa

Dear Friends: Twenty to twenty-five knot tradewinds gave us a fast reach to arrive off Apia, Samoa at midnight. There was a heavy sea running and the reefs on either side of the entrance were roaring with breakers so in spite of the easy to spot leading lights, we decided to heave-to and wait for day light before we tacked in to the harbor. I am glad we waited as our early morning entrance showed we might have had a mix up with two ships moorings that are almost in the fairway, just inside the reefs.