Kika sailing

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Burial at sea

We're only a couple of days away from New Caledonia and the weather still feels distinctly sub-tropical - overcast skies and chilly easterly winds. We've been making good speed under sail all day, progressively reefing as the wind has built and we're currently speeding towards New Caledonia with heavily reefed sails. So far the weather has behaved more or less as predicted prior to our departure with the exception of a low pressure area south of New Caledonia which appeared on the weather charts a couple of days ago. It looks like we could be in for unpredicted head-winds on our final day.

Charlotta appears to have conquered her sea-sickness and managed to cook the promised Janson's Temptation - delicious.

Janson's preparation

As we recovered from that Scandinavian culinary treat, the fishing line screamed out. Eventually we got the line under control and enacted a leisurely fish-drill (Revision II (c) 2005), only to loose a decent size mahimahi during a failed photo-session close to the boat. The change of lure has brought results; we're planning to feast on fish tomorrow.

Remember the small bird (fan tail?) I saw resting on the boat a couple of days ago. Today we found its final resting place, in one of the cockpit lockers. We were mending flags at the time so gave it a flag wrapped burial at sea.

Wind: E 25+knots
Distance to New Caledonia: 262
Position @ 20:05: S26°18.2' E168°46.4'

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Green eggs and ham

I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them..., or cleaning smashed rotting egg. What remained of our egg supplies has been sent to depths of the Pacific. They probably would have been confiscated by the quarantine authorities in Noumea anyway, but sadly it looks as though cake baking is off until we arrive.

Found the first flying fish of the trip on the deck this morning - too small to cook - then soon after saw another "flying" across the waves but compared with previous trips we've seen relatively little marine life. The albatrosses have vanished, although we have an occasional visit by stormy petrels (a least that's what we think they are). No sign of yesterday's fan-tail and still no success fishing - I'll try a different lure tomorrow.

Charlotta has been suffering from sea-sickness and rather than be tempted by the array of sea-sickness drugs I offer her, she has stoically decided to wait for the arrival of her sea-legs. They still haven't fully arrived which has made her reevaluate the whole idea of sailing back to Europe. Currently, it looks as though she'll return from Noumea via plane. That said her appetite returned when I created an allegedly "traditional" Swedish dish of hotdogs, mashed potatoes and grated carrots and she managed half the remains of yesterday's pizza this evening. If things continue to improve I've been promised "Janson's Temptation" tomorrow evening which sounds like a potato gratin with added anchovies - here's hoping. Note to self: giving sea-sickness prone crew the berth under broken egg locker probably not best plan for encouraging swift recovery or continued sailing enthusiasm.

We finally gave up the pretence of sailing in the second half of the night and motored till dawn. Then drifted along for another few hours before giving-in to the engine again. The wind has shifted more to the east and we're currently on a reach making around 4 knots. The sea is practically calm with a large long swell from the south providing some interest; peaceful, if slow sailing.

I've also started to pay more attention to navigation around New Caledonia and have adjusted the way-point from a relatively random position just south of the outer reef to the reef break we're aiming for, further north. Unfortunately that adds another 35 miles to the total distance so unless the wind picks up significantly we'll miss the 7 day passage we planned and arrive sometime on Saturday.

Let me know if anyone fancies taking an extended break, starting in New Caledonia and ending back in the UK ....

Position @ 23:59: S27°57.7' E169°43.7'
Distance to Noumea: 373
Conditions: E 5-15

Monday, April 21, 2008

Calm after the storm

The wind and sea have been easing all day after yesterday's stormy conditions. Currently we're barely making 4 knots under full main and genoa. Hopefully tomorrow will bring winds between the two extremes of the last few days. Sad to report the loss of our ensign in the winds last night - hard to believe one of my knots failed, but that's what it looks like.

Repairing the spare ensign

The only other casualty of the conditions are the eggs, their box wasn't well enough wedged-in and I'm still plucking up courage to clean the contents of the locker from the egg remains.

It's started to get warmer - enough to strip down and have an invigorating cold water cockpit shower. Think Charlotta was a bit disappointed that the cold shower didn't follow a sauna and a whipping by birch twigs - I'm told it's the Scandinavian way. hmmmm

Fishing again, but no success. However a small shore-based looking bird (fantail?) hitched a lift for some of the day - might still be with us. I presume it's from NZ; I wonder how it will deal with life in New Caledonia?

Position @ 20:00 S29°56.2' E170°46.7'
Wind: SE 10knots
Distance to Noumea: 479

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Stormy Weather

On the positive side the wind generator is easily keeping the batteries fully charged, and we're making good progress towards Noumea, but what a ride. We're sailing with 3 reefs in the main and a small genoa making 7-8 knots. Down in the cabin all is relatively calm, but a wild scene greets us outside. We're spending the day resting down below, occasionally adjusting the sails and course. When outside we rarely venture from the safety and shelter of the spray hood, watching the sea heaping up behind us and marveling as we safely find our way over another wave with the wind steering working hard to keep us pointing in the right direction as we surf down the the other side. A couple of waves broke into the cockpit giving the cockpit the momentary appearance of a bath, at least the dust from shore has decisively disappeared down the drains. Not a fishing day. If my reading of the weather charts is reasonably accurate things should settle down a little tomorrow. We're both looking forward to more tropical weather soon, currently it feels like the North Atlantic in late Autumn.

Position at 18:50 NZT: S32°05.02' E171°35.9'
Distance to Nuemea: 613
Wind: SE 30-35 knots

Stronger Winds

Last night we had almost perfect sailing conditions - wind on the beam, moderate sea, clear skies, full moon. I even had a nocturnal dolphin visit during my watch. However even with full sail we only averaged 4 knots. Still a good reintroduction to passage making.

Today the winds have shifted to the SE, it's over-cast, feels colder and as if to reinforce that southern-ocean feel we had a couple of albatross circling close the boat, occasionally gliding past for a closer inspection. We're currently rolling along with poled out genoa and a couple of reefs in the main maintaining 6.5-7 knots. So far the weather is behaving as forecast.

Dug out the fishing line today, but without any success. Wonder if the fish prefer shiny hooks to rusty so called stainless steel ones.

We planned to alternate entry writing; me writing one day's entry, Charlotta the next, however until her sea-legs arrive, I'm afraid the entries will remain one-sided.

Position @ 22:30 19/4/2008: S33°39.05' E173°01.9'
Distance to New Caledonia: 730
Wind SE: 25+knots

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Saturday, April 19, 2008

First day at sea

There's nothing quite like the feeling of excitement generated by casting off the shorelines for an ocean passage, especially when a farewell party has dragged themselves from their warm beds for our 7am departure. We like to think they were there to wish us well, others thought it might be to make sure we left.

Departing Whangarei

Thanks to you all, although Charlotta was a little disappointed by the poor Scandinavian turn-out - Martin and Lars talked bravely of waving us off over a beer last night, but no sign of life this morning from the Norwegian boat. Talk of sabotaging Kika to indefinitely postpone our departure has so far proved groundless; no problems to date.

18 months of use

A big thank you to all my New Zealand friends. I apologise if I failed to say goodbye to all of you in person, those of you I did see, thanks for bearing with my manic state - with 18 months to prepare the boat for sea again, I still managed to leave too many tasks to the last minute. The anxiety of the preparations has given way to the excitement of the impeding passage.

Provisions

Great to be back at sea again, with the old traditional routines - blog writing, stuffing the lockers with tea towels to stop the rattling, as well as the more mundane passage planning, weather checking, course adjusting etc. George our trusty windvane self-steerer has been roused from his 18 month slumber by a generous application of engine oil and unusually for the start of passage appears to be working well.

So far we've hugged the coast as we headed north from Whangarei to Cape Brett. We've now passed Cape Brett and our course is set for New Caledonia, with ~ 840 miles to go to Noumea.

The wind so far has been generally light with squally periods. We anticipated the southern wind would bring bitter Antarctic cold, but so far the SW wind has lacked any icy chill, perhaps things will change when the wind shifts to the SE....

Position @ 21:15 18/4/2008: S35°11.7' E174°23.8'
Distance to New Caledonia: 840
Wind SW: 10-15knots

Monday, November 05, 2007

Spanish dolphins

From the entry: 'Update from Corme'

Penryhn slide show

From the entry: 'Away from atoll'

Sunday, November 04, 2007

This time last year

I've just discovered that blogger now allows video to be uploaded. Here's a video sequence shot by Zeferin of Kika midway between Tonga and New Zealand.

... Zeferin from Kika

and Noa from Kika

From the entry: 'Rattle Your Dags'

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Lost in the Pacific

For those of you fearing I'd sailed off the edge of the world, panic not - the long blog silence is over and earth still appears to be round. The impending anniversary of our arrival in the Bay of Islands last November has finally roused me from blogging in-action.
So what have I been up to for the last 12 months? Well, can you imagine all the customs and immigration forms I've had to fill-in to extend my stay in the country? I've got to tell you - it's practically a full time job. In addition to negotiating with the NZ authorities, much time has been spent on boat work, some on exploring NZ, and the remainder on some paid software development.
As I'm out of the blogging habit, I've decided not to risk straining myself on this first outing; instead I'll allow you to weave your own narrative with help from the photos below.