Afternoon Day 4
5pm, 23:00 UTC
pos: 16deg39.5S, 179deg02.2W
About 80 miles to Savusavu
Things have changed. Gone is our relaxed motor across a balmy ocean, hauling in yellow fin tuna. Unbeknownst to us it was the calm before another mini storm. During my 12-4am watch a potent SSE wind came up, whipping the sea into an ugly mess within hours. We ended up with 2 reefs in the main and jib, reaching across an ugly ocean in 25 knots of wind. We have no choice but to sail across it, virtually a beat, we are constantly being sideswiped by waves, we've had a few green waves right over shimmi's bimini! But the good thing is that we are FLYING, rarely going below 8 knots. We should now make it to Suvasuva in time for a Friday check in. But it is very uncomfortable. Nobody is seasick, but if ever we should be, its now. Our 2 darling boys have spent most of the day on their butts on the saloon floor, even the adults are barely able to walk. Had to vise grip the soup pot to the stove.
Another crazy thing happened, despite all the whitecaps, windspray and breaking waves, Chantal spotted a white sail far behind us, turns out it is our friends on Someday Came (with Josh's 3 year old girlfriend Violet) who left Bora-Bora 2 days after us, they have been making passage all this time. I think they are on day 12, they sailed right through that storm which drove us to seek shelter at Apia, Samoa. We spent 2 days in Samoa, so when we resumed our passage to Fiji we ended up on converging tracks. Now we are only 2 miles apart on the vast ocean. But they are on a monohull so we are sailing away from them now. They should arrive in Savusavu a few hours after us. Beers will be drunk.
The ocean has improved a bit as we are moving in behind some island groups to the south. By midnight tonight we should round Cape Vula and then its dead downwind to Savusavu. Hopefully my next message will be from our mooring!
Midnight:
Late this afternoon it got really rough again, with shimmi being tossed all over the show. After washing a big pile of dishes yours truly started feeling seasick, Uuuuugh. But I have had a bit of sleep now (8-12) and I am feeling better. The wind has moderated to about 15 knots, the sea is a bit calmer. We are now 8 miles from rounding the South Cape of Taveuni Island. Looks like we may have to set the spinnaker later at 2am. I think we have had every conceivable point of sail, sea state and wind speed on this passage from FPol. Coconut Milk Run? More like Coconut Milk Shake.
Cheers
G
