NZ to TONGA - Days 6 & 7 - Wind! and Minerva Reef !

Hello,

As expected our wind filled in yesterday, and I had loads of moments in my mind that I wanted to share once I sat at the chart table during my evening watch; however, by the time I sat down, I didn't feel much like writing!

We are now anchored at Minerva Reef, and I have a little more enthusiasm for bringing you up to date.

I mentioned in my last letter that Max and the big kids showered the day before yesterday while I was off watch. This meant that it was my turn yesterday morning. The wise person, waking up to no wind, would have showered straight away. I, believing the forecast, which was for the winds to fill in during the afternoon, assumed that I had time for coffee and breakfast first. How wrong I was! The wind filled in ever so gently while we were having breakfast in the cockpit, so we unfurled the genoa and silenced the engine, and heeled gently in the few knots of wind that were pushing us along. I must say that a person hasn't really showered until they have done so bracing against the lower wall of the shower and filling a little squirt bottle with a kettle over the sink!

We sailed throughout the day as if we were in a sheltered harbour, rather than crossing the open Pacific: the seas were absolutely flat calm, and there was barely a splash on the deck.

Benjamin decided early in our passage that we were doing the Volvo Ocean Race. Ever the optimist, and since we couldn't see any other boats, he determined that we were in the lead. It became a bit of a fun game for all of us to ask him if he had seen any other boats and if we were still winning. I can safely say that we have seen no other competitors on the water all week!

One of the things that can be hard to coordinate is an afternoon off-watch for Mom with supper being on the table before the 5pm sunset: there just aren't enough hours in the afternoon for one of me to do both. This conundrum has become immeasurably easier on this trip, as I have been able to leave instructions and ingredients with Victoria and Johnathan, and luxuriously wake in time to eat. On this particular occasion, we ate very well: I had left cooked potatoes and a bowl of carrots and onions available, and mentioned that some of our apples might best be used in a baked dessert, and between them, Victoria and Johnathan turned all of this into Shepherd's Pie and Apple Crisp, ready for the table as the sun was going down. I love listening to their teamwork and cooperation as I surface from under our new NZ duvet (which we still need), and appreciate the independence with which they get on with the job.

By evening, we were beginning to see changes in the cloud patterns behind us (wispy strands of high cirrus and cirrostratus were forming, like brush strokes in a painting), and the wind began to pick up and back around so we were sailing on a close reach.

By late evening, we were hard on the wind (close hauled), in 10 kts and short choppy wind waves, but not making our course for Tonga. We knew we had a couple of hard days ahead of us as a trough of bad weather passed over, and planned to sail about 30 off-course before tacking towards Tonga for the last couple of days as the wind was forecast to back significantly. At the midnight watch change, we took another look at the forecasts, our advice from Met Bob, and our overall progress, and decided that we didn't always have to do things the hard way: we could bear off, head for Minerva Reef to sit out the trough, then ride the SW winds to Tonga a couple of days later. Originally, we hadn't wanted to lose the time from our season in Tonga to stopping at Minerva, but we gave our heads a shake - after all, we are cruising - and pointed towards Minerva, which was a much more comfortable (and faster) close reach.

Max shook me at 5am for some of the fastest sailing we have ever done in Fluenta. The wind had picked up from the 10 kts I had to 14-20 kts on Max's watch, and steadied out at 12-14 kts in the morning. We decided that it was a bit unfair to ask Victoria to take this watch by herself! She and I sailed together as the mother-daughter team, keeping a close eye on the boat speed, the wind angle, the wind strength, and our ETA for Minerva Reef (having decided to go there, we needed to arrive in daylight). At one point, we turned downwind to furl some of the genoa (our standard practice is to go down to 120 deg of apparent wind to take the pressure off the sail while we furl), only to find that the wind had dropped to 11 kts by the time we were back on course, so we had to ease it out again immediately. When the wind built to staysail territory (17+ kts), we banged on the aft cabin hatch in the universal wake-up call, and Max joined us in the cockpit to reef the main (this started out as one of his jobs back in 2012, and somehow now it is always his turn). As the wind was no longer climbing, we elected to stick with the reefed genoa, as we were doubtful we would get the boatspeed we needed with the staysail. It was exhilarating, to say the least, to see our normally sedately sailed (ie max speed of about 8.0 kts) home cruising along at 7.5-9.0 kts of boat speed. Our friends on Totem (fantastic mentors on a sister ship) had a crossing where they averaged 7.5 kts, and we got a taste of it today!

Max and Victoria sailed the boat for the rest of the morning, and I headed off-watch for some much needed deep sleep (this one day reminds me how grateful we are that Victoria can generally take these dawn watches by herself!). A few short hours later, we were rounding the perimeter of North Minerva Reef, at 1330, with plenty of daylight for our entrance. With two knots of current boiling against us, we entered the lagoon for our third visit (we had also stopped here with a big group of kid boats on our southbound trip in late 2014 as well as going north in 2016). While not as benign as our first entrance, nor as grey and lumpy as our second (5m seas off-shore after we arrived), we had good visibility to enter at the pass and transit to the NW anchorage. We are one of a small handful of boats here (about five in total).

By 1530, we were anchored, the cockpit and saloon were tidied, and the kids were ready to go swimming. Even Benjamin was keen to give it a go, although with dark approaching, he got as far as dipping his toes from the ladder, and decided to leave it for another day. The big kids, on the other hand did a few good leaps off the side for the benefit of the paparazzi (me) before heading to the (hot) shower (no squirt bottle this time - we had run our furnace, which started without incident after being shaken and stirred at sea, so we had hot water in our 'summer loop').

Supper was our first meal of fish for the season: we caught several small-ish tuna in the first couple of days, and kept the only meal-sized one that appeared on our hook. This little fellow was just the right size to feed us with no leftovers. Marinated in soya sauce and seared on a hot pan, it was quite tasty with our standard rice and carrot sticks. With a little bit of leftover apple crumble to chase it down, it seemed that our first meal together in the cockpit had gotten our cruising season off to a good start. .

It looks now like we will spend a full day at Minerva, then head to Tonga the next morning.

Much love to all,

Elizabeth
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At 2018-06-06 12:50 AM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°37.22'S 178°54.75'W
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At 2018-06-06 12:50 AM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°37.22'S 178°54.75'W

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