Sailing the South Pacific

Cisco · Jul 1, 2022

TheDragon said:
Thanks all.

FeliciaB, I have dreamed of doing this since I was 15 reading sailing books and sailing dinghies and Hobie 14s in East London in South Africa. I am finally retired, still fit enough still to sail and kite, and have the freedom and an understanding and supportive wife.

Yes, Cisco, South African flag, properly built for a yacht to fly in wind all the time. The two US flags I have, I am US-flagged and joint citizen, have both ripped to shreds and I don't want to fly them like that. Need to find a proper one. Thanks for the insurance link. Turns out Bay of Islands marina in Opua offers short-term insurance if you do not have it, so that seems like a solution.

On the topic of moorings, Bay of Islands marina has swing moorings for rent in three categories, 1-2 tons, 3-4 tons, and bigger. For my boat, 34 ft Pacific Seacraft, pretty heavy at 16000 pounds or 8 tons, even with all sails and canvas removed, which size would you think suitable for leaving her there for 5 months?

Why NZ, because that's what I've seen others do, but since I don't intend to cruise NZ, rather get a rental van for the month of March when I return from the US and SA, perhaps best to find a more tropical place to leave Sea Change, and fly to NZ at some point now or later. Still looking at the boatyard in Apataki Atoll.

Agreed with those who say you should take years to do this properly, but at age 66 I don't have the time. I really want to do a 4-year, part-time, circumnavigation via South Africa, so either way I have next season for Tonga and Fiji, etc. then leave boat in Australia next cyclone season. I want to be done by 70. As Webb Chiles notes, I am on the wrong side of the 50% of 65-year-olds who take 5 medications a day, and in particular have arthritic fingers that make line handling and kiting painful.

66? I remember 66 - well I think I do, it was a long time ago.

You could do worse than lay up ashore at Whangarei https://www.riversidedrivemarina.com

Australia ? have you considered an east west crossing across the Bight in the summer months? Pretty easy trip with summer easterlies.

El Borracho · Jul 1, 2022

TheDragon said:
I really want to do a 4-year, part-time, circumnavigation via South Africa, so either way I have next season for Tonga and Fiji, etc. then leave boat in Australia next cyclone season.

That will be an interesting and fulfilling journey. Four years of part-time cruising seems reasonable. You’ll need to temper you other goal of “need to see all I can see” as you will mostly be seeing great expanses of blue seas and sky — which is grand. Good luck staying focused on your circumnavigation as the vortex of distractions in the tropical western pacific is proven to be difficult to escape. Heading straight from FP to NZ then due west thru the more puritanical colonies is your only hope of success.

TheDragon · Jul 2, 2022

toddster said:
Would like to see a photo of that lash-up!

Here you go.

Septic · Jul 2, 2022

Hey Dragon coincidentally I live in Bay of Islands, NZ. There are usually a few swing moorings around for rent but as others have echoed I would get them serviced on your own dime if leaving the boat long term.

Most people go to Whangarei for longer term storage on the hard.

I have to say though, there are definitely worse things in the world than cruising the coastline of north-east New Zealand during our summer. Why not just do that?

Brawr · Jul 2, 2022

We did our competent crew training in Bay of Islands, with a company based out of Opua marina. I've not visited the South Pacific islands, so cannot draw a comparison, but BoI is a lovely spot. Enjoyed your chronicles so far @TheDragon , thank you.

Fleetwood · Jul 2, 2022

Septic said:
Hey Dragon coincidentally I live in Bay of Islands, NZ. There are usually a few swing moorings around for rent but as others have echoed I would get them serviced on your own dime if leaving the boat long term.

Most people go to Whangarei for longer term storage on the hard.

I have to say though, there are definitely worse things in the world than cruising the coastline of north-east New Zealand during our summer. Why not just do that?

We're thinking of doing just that next summer, Auckland up to the BoI (and back); just started looking for a local boat.

TheDragon · Jul 2, 2022

Thanks Septic and Brawr,

I have to see doctors in October, spend November with family in Illinois, then December-February is for kitesurfing in Cape Town (I have a car and garage and kite gear there and crash in a flat I bought with my sister, so have to use that), then back to the boat in March.

Today I was very lucky and got a mooring at South Pass of Fakarava in time for a lovely snorkel drift of the pass, and met up with another solo South African, plus a German family I met in Shelter Bay. All lovely folk as most cruisers seem to be.

TheDragon · Jul 6, 2022

Someone suggested the Riverside Marina and Boatyard in Whangarei, the place Barry, aka The Old Seadog on YouTube, hung out for covid. And they do not require insurance, so that will work. Now just have to get my left shoulder to quit hurting and I will keep to my original plan and make NZ in October.

Cisco · Jul 6, 2022

This is a screen shot just east of the Marquesas. The orange are fishing boats and the grey ones are 'unspecified ship' which I suspect are what you have been finding.

TheDragon · Jul 16, 2022

Thanks Cisco, very interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the Tuamotus, as expected, especially Fakarava and Hirifa motu. Also Tahanea for the sheer isolation and beauty. As many recommended, I did go to Anse Mayot and met Valentine and Gaston there, but they spend most of their time in Rotoava now building a second home there. Nevertheless, they gave me tuna, fruit, coconuts in exchange for some diesel, and the spot itself is great for drift snorkeling the reef outside. I survived 10 passes without hitting a reef, and crossed Fakarava four times without hitting a bommie, and Toau and Tahanea as well. From there I sailed to Tahiti, encountering some big long-period swell along the way that generated huge waves at Teahupoo on the SW side of Tahiti that I wish I could have seen. Here's a video about that day, Wednesday July 13. I got here Thursday July 14 at noon, having had a wild night in over 20 knots with triple-reefed main and staysail, all steered by my wonderful Pacific Windpilot. And I will spend a week in Papeete marina before moving on, it is a beautiful brand new marina right in downtown next to all the cafes, etc. A total contrast with the remote atolls of the Tuamotus. I have three weeks left on my visa for the Society Islands.

SASSAFRASS · Jul 17, 2022

So awesome you are out doing it, I can imagine the nightmare you went through getting back to your boat as I was in the same show. Love the updates keep them coming!

TheDragon · Jul 17, 2022

Thanks Sassafrass, I enjoyed following your accounts of sailing in the Caribbean and Pacific coast. For others thinking of doing this, while my boat is typically the smallest in any anchorage or marina, there are one or two I have met even smaller, even one the other day was that 32 ft with four guys on it. In this marina there is only one boat smaller, and it is a liveaboard. But Sea Change has proven more than capable, at least so far, and a couple would be comfortable on her, more would be tight, but I enjoy sailing solo.

TheDragon · Jul 19, 2022

A couple pics from the Tuamotus

A motu in Tahanea

Sea Change in Tahanea

Sunrise on approach to Tahiti

Jud - s/v Sputnik · Jul 19, 2022

TheDragon said:
A couple pics from the Tuamotus

A motu in Tahanea
View attachment 529349

Sea Change in Tahanea
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Sunrise on approach to Tahiti
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Awesome, thanks, Dragon - gives me something to keep up my energy level in what seems like an endless refit...one day I shall get to this place!

TheDragon · Jul 21, 2022

I am about to leave Tahiti, but first had to share that these were my neighbors, just 100 feet away on a different pier. This is a superyacht and a supertender. The latter carries a helicopter, a landing craft, a speedboat, two big ribs, and has a Padi5 dive center complete with decompression chamber. And we are left with another pair of these on the opposite side of the pier. Good Grief! I made a point of peeing off the side of my boat at all hours.

ROCINANTE AND HER yacht support vessel DAPPLE IN AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Alex Haubrich

www.yachtiepages.com

kiwin · Jul 22, 2022

But are they having more fun than you?

TheDragon · Aug 6, 2022

Who knows, Kiwin. I'll bet they are eating better though. But the croissants etc in Papeete were amazing. I put back on some of the 22 pounds I lost on the crossing from Panama to Nuku Hiva, pounds I had been carrying around unnecessarily for decades. Anyway I have worked my way through the Societies, enjoying each island in turn. Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raitea, Tahaa, and now Borabora. I even did a detour for a solitary night on a mooring just outside the reef at Tetiaroa or Marlin Brando's island. I had good kitesurfing on several of them in the consistently strong SE trades we have had including today, such fun riding right up to the edge of the fringing reef over colorful coral, so tempting to try to get over to the ocean, but that would be suicidal. The wind has been crazy strong at times, dragging anchor a couple of nights in "maramus" when a strong southern high generates strong southerlies that merge with the SE trades to give 30+ conditions at sea and horrendous squalls and williwaws when near land. Monday or Tuesday I might have a much milder weather window to get into Maupiti, a special little island most cruisers skip, and perhaps even tiny Maupihaa after that. After that it depends on the winds, either south to Rarotonga in the Cook's or north to American/Western Samoa, or perhaps just down the middle via Beveridge Reef on the way to Fiji. Everything else is closed still, Niu, Palmerston, Tonga. Hopefully next season I can come back to Tonga. I'll post a few pics from the Society Islands below.