Greetings from Savusavu!
We just did what we don't love doing, which is anchoring in the dark. Last year when we arrived in Savusavu (first time, no local knowledge, no tracks) we spent several hours going back and forth near the mouth of the pass waiting for daylight. The conditions were wretched (windy/rainy/misty) and we had our foulie jackets on right until we docked. This year, under a clear and somewhat-moonlit sky, with absolutely wind, we glided slowly in along the channel and picked a spot on the edge of the anchorage, wearing only light fleeces. We are flying our "Q" flag, and we will go onto the Quarantine Dock when it opens in the morning.
Today was a lot like yesterday, except with scenery. We sailed slowly up the Koro sea with the wind and slight swell behind us and islands all around us. It was rolly at times because we were wing-on-wing, but otherwise, it was absolutely benign. Benjamin even spent some time in his bathtub in the cockpit, it was so calm. My last watch was 2300-0245 (at which time I woke Max and we had "all hands on deck" for the entrance) and it was lovely. We were moving at about 5 kts with only the mainsail, (so as to extend the journey and maximize sleep for the off-watch) and part-way through my watch a smiling 1/4 moon rose on the horizon to light the rest of our way. Victoria had asked to be woken for our arrival, and she and Miriam were eagle-eyed spotters of buoys, etc in the water as we were approaching the anchorage.
The highlight of the day was the yummy "experiment" Victoria produced in the galley. It was our anniversary, and much to her chagrin, she was on a boat with no eggs, a small amount of mayo (often used to replace eggs in our baking) and hardly any sugar. She was even less happy when she asked me what she should do and I told her to wait until I went to the grocery store, and that we could celebrate on the Canadian version of our day! Despite these hardships, she managed to make us some tiny cakes that she individually coated with melted chocolate and decorated with microscopic pieces of jelly candies that she carefully cut up. She added to the fun by using food colouring to make several different colours of batter that she mixed into each cake. Can you tell that she spent lots of her time at Pier 21 watching videos of how to make fancy cakes?? It is lovely to have children who remind us to take time to celebrate special days; what a delicious celebration it was!
We didn't catch any fish on this journey, but when we pulled in our lines, it seems that we had had some strikes - one of our hooks was missing, and the other had a piece of something hanging on it. The kids will start daily "fishing gear inspections" on our next passage!
We should be back to regular (Internet) communications today or tomorrow, so I won't likely be writing many notes until we are on passage again. Thanks for your emails to us while we were underway - it is nice to know that we are not alone, even when we travel so far off the beaten path.
Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2016-05-23 5:25 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 16°46.62'S 179°19.68'E
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At 2016-05-23 8:57 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 16°46.62'S 179°19.67'E
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Monday, 30 May 2016
Minerva to Fiji Day 3: Slow and steady ... light air sailing
Bula!
We have entered Fijian waters, and now have the Koro Sea to cross. Our temperatures have climbed almost overnight to the high 20's/low 30's, and we are drinking lots of fluids to try to acclimatize our temperate selves back to the tropics!
Our wind has been pretty steady for the last 24 hours - sometimes ahead of and sometimes behind the beam, which means that we have gotten some more practice manipulating our genoa with our spinnaker pole. When the wind is ahead (forward) of the beam, we sail the genoa on the same side as the mainsail. When it moves aft of the beam, we furl the sail, lead a new sheet through the end of the pole, and then unfurl it on the upwind side. Many cruisers use this setup for days on end; we have finally joined that club. We had a bit of a chuckle looking at the tracks on our chartplotter from last year, when manipulating the pole was just "one thing too many" and we had to jibe the boat back and forth where now we are just running before the wind. Nice to see a visual demonstration of our progress in skills and confidence!
Our younger generation of crew have been instrumental in these evolutions. This afternoon, Benjamin was taking up my lap, so Johnathan and Miriam did the cockpit jobs, while Max was on the foredeck with the genoa sheet when we poled it out. Johnathan furled the (downwind) genoa with the winch while Miriam eased the sheet. Max led the new active sheet aft from its storage point on the bow (it's not long enough to reach from one side all the way around to the other - we will eventually replace it with a longer line, and this foredeck step will be unnecessary). Finally, Johnathan eased out the line he had just winched in, and Max hauled on the new sheet to bring the genoa out on the upwind side.
Our wind has been in the vicinity of 8-14 kts, which is just right for slow and steady downwind sailing. The sea-state is almost (but not quite) non-existent, and we have been seeing boat speeds anywhere from 3 kts to 7 kts. Other than the usual "running downwind" rolliness, the boat has been pretty comfortable.
Victoria and Johnathan are continuing with their "keep Benjamin from using the iPad" blitz. We have seen more play with stuffies and puzzles in the last two days than we have seen in months. They actually got mad at me at dinner time when I didn't "make" Benjamin come to the cockpit (in a noisy state) and I "caved in" and let him watch a video on the iPod instead so we could have a peaceful dinner. Funny to be already getting parenting advice from my children (maddeningly, they are usually right!) When they are not engaging Benjamin, they can be found reading books, baking (today it was Victoria making bread) and (of course) melting their own brain cells with the iPad!
We are hoping to arrive in Savusavu in another day or so (Tuesday morning).
Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2016-05-23 9:30 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 18°02.23'S 179°58.97'W
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At 2016-05-23 4:54 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 16°46.62'S 179°19.69'E
----------
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for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
We have entered Fijian waters, and now have the Koro Sea to cross. Our temperatures have climbed almost overnight to the high 20's/low 30's, and we are drinking lots of fluids to try to acclimatize our temperate selves back to the tropics!
Our wind has been pretty steady for the last 24 hours - sometimes ahead of and sometimes behind the beam, which means that we have gotten some more practice manipulating our genoa with our spinnaker pole. When the wind is ahead (forward) of the beam, we sail the genoa on the same side as the mainsail. When it moves aft of the beam, we furl the sail, lead a new sheet through the end of the pole, and then unfurl it on the upwind side. Many cruisers use this setup for days on end; we have finally joined that club. We had a bit of a chuckle looking at the tracks on our chartplotter from last year, when manipulating the pole was just "one thing too many" and we had to jibe the boat back and forth where now we are just running before the wind. Nice to see a visual demonstration of our progress in skills and confidence!
Our younger generation of crew have been instrumental in these evolutions. This afternoon, Benjamin was taking up my lap, so Johnathan and Miriam did the cockpit jobs, while Max was on the foredeck with the genoa sheet when we poled it out. Johnathan furled the (downwind) genoa with the winch while Miriam eased the sheet. Max led the new active sheet aft from its storage point on the bow (it's not long enough to reach from one side all the way around to the other - we will eventually replace it with a longer line, and this foredeck step will be unnecessary). Finally, Johnathan eased out the line he had just winched in, and Max hauled on the new sheet to bring the genoa out on the upwind side.
Our wind has been in the vicinity of 8-14 kts, which is just right for slow and steady downwind sailing. The sea-state is almost (but not quite) non-existent, and we have been seeing boat speeds anywhere from 3 kts to 7 kts. Other than the usual "running downwind" rolliness, the boat has been pretty comfortable.
Victoria and Johnathan are continuing with their "keep Benjamin from using the iPad" blitz. We have seen more play with stuffies and puzzles in the last two days than we have seen in months. They actually got mad at me at dinner time when I didn't "make" Benjamin come to the cockpit (in a noisy state) and I "caved in" and let him watch a video on the iPod instead so we could have a peaceful dinner. Funny to be already getting parenting advice from my children (maddeningly, they are usually right!) When they are not engaging Benjamin, they can be found reading books, baking (today it was Victoria making bread) and (of course) melting their own brain cells with the iPad!
We are hoping to arrive in Savusavu in another day or so (Tuesday morning).
Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2016-05-23 9:30 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 18°02.23'S 179°58.97'W
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At 2016-05-23 4:54 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 16°46.62'S 179°19.69'E
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Saturday, 28 May 2016
Minerva to Fiji Day 2: Spinnaker Day
Greetings!
I woke this morning to the sight of Max getting the spinnaker set up. The wind was down to about 6 kts, but our new spinnaker (bought from our new friends on Nirvana during our last visit to Minerva Reef) loves light air. It was a divide and conquer day: Max sailed the spinnaker, and I did the downstairs chores, and kept Benjamin out of the cockpit (and the UV). We flew it in perfect conditions until late afternoon, then just before sunset, we doused the it and mounted the spinnaker pole on the upwind side to pole out the genoa. As we had hoped, this job is getting easier and more automatic; we are getting the hang of where all the extra snatch blocks need to be placed so that all the lines (of which there are four extras) get a fair run without chafing the many other lines running up and down the deck.
It was a beautiful, tropical, hot day, the first one during which we really felt the need for cold drinks and electrolytes since we left Auckland. We are at 20 deg S, and finally feeling like we are in the Tropics again. We even left the sides of the rain enclosure rolled up tonight (I am still wearing a fleece, but I suspect the others will be in the cockpit in shirt-sleeves when they come on watch).
Victoria and Johnathan's keep-Benjamin-away-from-the-iPad-by-distracting-him experiment continued today, with good results. They played with puzzles, read books, and even built him a "tent" by stretching the lee cloth from one of the benches over to the saloon table. We had a bit of a meltdown around dinner time when he wanted a "turn" and they wouldn't let him, but it gave us a good opportunity (as a family) to discuss the arbitrary nature of some of their choices. There is a difference in Benjamin's eyes between not giving him a turn while someone else is using it and not giving him a turn when it is just sitting on the counter asking to play Octonauts and Max & Ruby! Peace reigned briefly in the evening when we let him use it in a low battery state until it went dark. He may only be two, but he understands about the need for charging, and happily gave it up to the 12V socket.
Our boobie stayed with us through most of the morning, flying away for some fish and then coming back, but then he left again in the afternoon, and we haven't seen him since. Perhaps he forgot to submit his Fiji Immigration paperwork, and has had second thoughts!
As I mentioned, we hoisted our spinnaker pole at sunset and have been sailing wing-on-wing all night. These are my kind of conditions - the maximum wind I have seen is about 12 kts, with an average around 10, the boat speed is hovering around 5 kts, the seas are calm, with only a slight roll, and I haven't had to adjust either the sails or the course since I came on watch!! Here's hoping that the rest of the night brings similarly calm conditions. Considering that some of the weather models didn't even predict any wind for this part of the passage, we are counting ourselves very lucky today with 10 hrs of spinnaker flying followed by a night of calm sailing :)
Love to you all,
Elizabeth
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At 2016-05-23 7:21 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°38.53'S 178°55.98'W
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At 2016-05-23 1:45 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 20°19.14'S 179°20.86'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
I woke this morning to the sight of Max getting the spinnaker set up. The wind was down to about 6 kts, but our new spinnaker (bought from our new friends on Nirvana during our last visit to Minerva Reef) loves light air. It was a divide and conquer day: Max sailed the spinnaker, and I did the downstairs chores, and kept Benjamin out of the cockpit (and the UV). We flew it in perfect conditions until late afternoon, then just before sunset, we doused the it and mounted the spinnaker pole on the upwind side to pole out the genoa. As we had hoped, this job is getting easier and more automatic; we are getting the hang of where all the extra snatch blocks need to be placed so that all the lines (of which there are four extras) get a fair run without chafing the many other lines running up and down the deck.
It was a beautiful, tropical, hot day, the first one during which we really felt the need for cold drinks and electrolytes since we left Auckland. We are at 20 deg S, and finally feeling like we are in the Tropics again. We even left the sides of the rain enclosure rolled up tonight (I am still wearing a fleece, but I suspect the others will be in the cockpit in shirt-sleeves when they come on watch).
Victoria and Johnathan's keep-Benjamin-away-from-the-iPad-by-distracting-him experiment continued today, with good results. They played with puzzles, read books, and even built him a "tent" by stretching the lee cloth from one of the benches over to the saloon table. We had a bit of a meltdown around dinner time when he wanted a "turn" and they wouldn't let him, but it gave us a good opportunity (as a family) to discuss the arbitrary nature of some of their choices. There is a difference in Benjamin's eyes between not giving him a turn while someone else is using it and not giving him a turn when it is just sitting on the counter asking to play Octonauts and Max & Ruby! Peace reigned briefly in the evening when we let him use it in a low battery state until it went dark. He may only be two, but he understands about the need for charging, and happily gave it up to the 12V socket.
Our boobie stayed with us through most of the morning, flying away for some fish and then coming back, but then he left again in the afternoon, and we haven't seen him since. Perhaps he forgot to submit his Fiji Immigration paperwork, and has had second thoughts!
As I mentioned, we hoisted our spinnaker pole at sunset and have been sailing wing-on-wing all night. These are my kind of conditions - the maximum wind I have seen is about 12 kts, with an average around 10, the boat speed is hovering around 5 kts, the seas are calm, with only a slight roll, and I haven't had to adjust either the sails or the course since I came on watch!! Here's hoping that the rest of the night brings similarly calm conditions. Considering that some of the weather models didn't even predict any wind for this part of the passage, we are counting ourselves very lucky today with 10 hrs of spinnaker flying followed by a night of calm sailing :)
Love to you all,
Elizabeth
-----
At 2016-05-23 7:21 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°38.53'S 178°55.98'W
-----
At 2016-05-23 1:45 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 20°19.14'S 179°20.86'W
----------
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Minerva to Fiji - Day 1 - Boobie on board
Bula!
It's the morning of the second day of our leg from Minerva to Fiji, and at 8am the sun is already hot and the sky blue: it is 28 deg in the cabin and rising. Max is flying the spinnaker in about 6 kts of wind, giving us a boat speed of 4 kts. It is starting to feel like we are in the tropics!
This is very different from yesterday, when we left Minerva, bundled up in fleece layers and grateful for our rain enclosure, under heavy, grey skies and enough wind ahead of the beam that we were soon reefing. We left through the pass just after 1030 hrs, having done our final chores and a recalibration for our electronic compass, which had been reading about 10 deg off for the last while. It wasn't exactly flat in the lagoon, but it was flatter than we will likely see for the next while!
We had 2 kts of current with us as we transitted the pass, which is the opposite to our preference of current against us, but it was relatively wide and straight, so we were ok. Waiting for the slack or incoming current would have delayed our departure by several hours, and we judged that the conditions were acceptable so we proceeded. I was standing on the bow pulpit, clipped in and hugging the forestay, and Max had a steady hand on the helm. The waves caused things to feel a bit squirrelly, but Fluenta handled well.
We had long period swell from one direction meeting wind waves from another, so it was a bit lumpy - just enough to make us remember we were crossing an ocean, but not enough to be really uncomfortable. As usual, Max sailed the boat for the first few hours, and I took my off-watch while Benjamin slept in the afternoon.
We had an extra crew member all day - "Bobby" the Boobie decided that he had had enough of Minerva Reef, and he hitched a ride towards Fiji. We are going to see if we can learn a bit more about Boobies when we get to Fiji; as far as we know they are not typically migratory seabirds, so we think our friend may be a bit lost. He began by sitting on our solar panel, then he moved inboard to the deckbox. Finally, he settled down for the night on our conveniently-placed spinnaker. {Aside - We learned the hard way in Mexico not to shoo boobies away from their low perches, where their droppings are messy, but contained and easily cleaned, when the one that joined us on our Sea of Cortez crossing simply moved from the bow to the mast head, where his poop-range covered most of the sails and the deck!} This friend has, so far, not left too much of a mess. "Bobby" is an over-all grey bird, with a long, narrow beak that looks out of proportion to the size of his head. He is quite unperturbed by our movements around him on deck, and Benjamin is quite fascinated by him. Photos to follow when we get to Fiji.
I had a funny conversation with Victoria and Johnathan in the evening. They were trying to come up with strategies to reduce Benjamin's use of the iPod and iPad. Even though I asked, I couldn't get a straight answer as to whether this was for the protection of his young brain, or simply because he keeps taking it when it would otherwise be their turn! It was funny to hear kids who also (in my opinion) use these devices too much trying to find ways to reduce Benjamin's use. Screen time is a bit of a funny concept here: we do lots of playing outside, reading books, etc, but sometimes it is also really handy in a confined space to let any and all of the kids use the "devices" to keep the peace. I think Victoria and Johnathan were picking up on my inner conflict between ideals and reality (or simply wanting a bigger piece of a decadent pie for themselves!) I suggested that he asks to use it when he has no one to play with, so we will see if they pick up on this by initiating play with him more.
We spent most of the afternoon following the edge of a trough, which was giving us much more wind than the GRIBs had called for (as mathematical wind forecasts, they have trouble with local disturbances). It was quite neat to watch the defined edge of the dark clouds track along our path, and it led to the most amazing sunset, that produced beautiful colours in the sky for well over 45 min. We knew that the wind would likely drop, so we took advantage of everything we could squeeze out of the trough, with our boat speeds reaching up around 8 kts even with the sails reefed.
Our sunset deserves special mention. We didn't see a Green Flash (haven't yet), but just after the sun actually sank, the entire sky glowed with a golden light, which even reflected off our faces in the cockpit, bathing everyone in a radiant, golden glow. It felt rather magical.
That's probably a good point at which to leave our update - the night was a little less special: the wind dropped and in rolly seas, we motored from about 8pm until almost morning, with a short stint of sailing on Max's midnight watch, and now we are flying our spinnaker in light winds.
Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2016-05-23 7:20 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 21°42.74'S 179°14.39'W
-----
At 2016-05-23 12:33 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 20°24.27'S 179°19.83'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
It's the morning of the second day of our leg from Minerva to Fiji, and at 8am the sun is already hot and the sky blue: it is 28 deg in the cabin and rising. Max is flying the spinnaker in about 6 kts of wind, giving us a boat speed of 4 kts. It is starting to feel like we are in the tropics!
This is very different from yesterday, when we left Minerva, bundled up in fleece layers and grateful for our rain enclosure, under heavy, grey skies and enough wind ahead of the beam that we were soon reefing. We left through the pass just after 1030 hrs, having done our final chores and a recalibration for our electronic compass, which had been reading about 10 deg off for the last while. It wasn't exactly flat in the lagoon, but it was flatter than we will likely see for the next while!
We had 2 kts of current with us as we transitted the pass, which is the opposite to our preference of current against us, but it was relatively wide and straight, so we were ok. Waiting for the slack or incoming current would have delayed our departure by several hours, and we judged that the conditions were acceptable so we proceeded. I was standing on the bow pulpit, clipped in and hugging the forestay, and Max had a steady hand on the helm. The waves caused things to feel a bit squirrelly, but Fluenta handled well.
We had long period swell from one direction meeting wind waves from another, so it was a bit lumpy - just enough to make us remember we were crossing an ocean, but not enough to be really uncomfortable. As usual, Max sailed the boat for the first few hours, and I took my off-watch while Benjamin slept in the afternoon.
We had an extra crew member all day - "Bobby" the Boobie decided that he had had enough of Minerva Reef, and he hitched a ride towards Fiji. We are going to see if we can learn a bit more about Boobies when we get to Fiji; as far as we know they are not typically migratory seabirds, so we think our friend may be a bit lost. He began by sitting on our solar panel, then he moved inboard to the deckbox. Finally, he settled down for the night on our conveniently-placed spinnaker. {Aside - We learned the hard way in Mexico not to shoo boobies away from their low perches, where their droppings are messy, but contained and easily cleaned, when the one that joined us on our Sea of Cortez crossing simply moved from the bow to the mast head, where his poop-range covered most of the sails and the deck!} This friend has, so far, not left too much of a mess. "Bobby" is an over-all grey bird, with a long, narrow beak that looks out of proportion to the size of his head. He is quite unperturbed by our movements around him on deck, and Benjamin is quite fascinated by him. Photos to follow when we get to Fiji.
I had a funny conversation with Victoria and Johnathan in the evening. They were trying to come up with strategies to reduce Benjamin's use of the iPod and iPad. Even though I asked, I couldn't get a straight answer as to whether this was for the protection of his young brain, or simply because he keeps taking it when it would otherwise be their turn! It was funny to hear kids who also (in my opinion) use these devices too much trying to find ways to reduce Benjamin's use. Screen time is a bit of a funny concept here: we do lots of playing outside, reading books, etc, but sometimes it is also really handy in a confined space to let any and all of the kids use the "devices" to keep the peace. I think Victoria and Johnathan were picking up on my inner conflict between ideals and reality (or simply wanting a bigger piece of a decadent pie for themselves!) I suggested that he asks to use it when he has no one to play with, so we will see if they pick up on this by initiating play with him more.
We spent most of the afternoon following the edge of a trough, which was giving us much more wind than the GRIBs had called for (as mathematical wind forecasts, they have trouble with local disturbances). It was quite neat to watch the defined edge of the dark clouds track along our path, and it led to the most amazing sunset, that produced beautiful colours in the sky for well over 45 min. We knew that the wind would likely drop, so we took advantage of everything we could squeeze out of the trough, with our boat speeds reaching up around 8 kts even with the sails reefed.
Our sunset deserves special mention. We didn't see a Green Flash (haven't yet), but just after the sun actually sank, the entire sky glowed with a golden light, which even reflected off our faces in the cockpit, bathing everyone in a radiant, golden glow. It felt rather magical.
That's probably a good point at which to leave our update - the night was a little less special: the wind dropped and in rolly seas, we motored from about 8pm until almost morning, with a short stint of sailing on Max's midnight watch, and now we are flying our spinnaker in light winds.
Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2016-05-23 7:20 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 21°42.74'S 179°14.39'W
-----
At 2016-05-23 12:33 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 20°24.27'S 179°19.83'W
----------
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for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Thursday, 26 May 2016
A week at Minerva Reef
Greetings,
I am writing to you under an absolutely clear and star-filled sky, so much so that Miriam just came running down the companionway stairs exclaiming that we all had to go up and look! During the first part of our passage last week, the moon was up by sunset, so we didn't have many stars in the early evening, but now it is absolutely pitch dark all around us. The only artificial lights are from one lighthouse and two other anchor lights. Even in the islands, we don't get this no-lights-from-the-village experience very often, and I find it awe-inspiring to consider the vastness.
After almost a week here at anchor, we are making preparations to leave tomorrow morning to continue our journey to Savusavu, Fiji. We have seen a little bit of everything from totally calm and clear to stormy with 5m seas outside the reef.
We knew when we arrived that the weather was going to change soon, so we headed outside the pass to snorkel as soon as we could. It was lovely to be back in the areas that we remembered from our visit here in Nov 14. For Miriam, it was her first time snorkelling - it seems like we have helped her develop some high standards! Without the influence of Hans (SV Nautilus) and the rest of the kid-boat fraternity, Max elected not to dive on the 100 ft blue hole by himself, and I was grateful for his prudence! Both Victoria and Johnathan are very (and increasingly) comfortable in the water, while Benjamin stays in the dinghy and takes delight in pushing the rest of the family overboard.
We certainly weren't lonely that first night: the Island Cruising Association (ICA) as well as a group of Sea Mercy boats were all here to welcome us (I counted about 30 anchor lights!) We were glad to reconnect with fellow Canadians on Amelie IV, whom we hadn't seen since March; given that they were leaving the next day, Victoria didn't waste any time inviting their daughter over for a movie night.
The wind picked up that night, and we woke up to a different lagoon on Sunday morning. Flat calm had been replaced by choppy seas, and the sky was grey and heavy. Despite a forecast for big and building swell (it was expected to peak at just over 5m overnight on Sunday night), the ICA fleet departed for Fiji, and most of the first wave of Sea Mercy boats left as well. Max demonstrated his true love and devotion (!) by going out in the dinghy to meet the Sea Mercy lead boat as they were leaving so I could have the Sea Mercy flag that I was wishing for (and that we would have gotten in Opua if we hadn't left from Auckland).
Given the chilly temperatures (and the empty bread box) I was grateful to Victoria who took it upon herself to make our first batch of "Grampy Bread" of the season. She understudied carefully while my Dad was visiting with us, so she produced "quite an acceptable loaf" as he would say :) While Victoria was at work in the kitchen, Miriam and I got talking about breads in Germany; as a result, Miriam and Victoria worked together the following day to make some yummy, salty, German pretzels. It wasn't all practical in the galley, though - she and Johnathan also decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. Most of the recent batches have gone off the boat for fundraising, so it was nice to have a batch keep onboard! We invited the only remaining boat in the anchorage (Code Blue) to come over for sundowners, and they seemed quite appreciative of home-made cookies as well :) We have known Judy and Steve since our first season, but we have rarely had an evening to spend together, so it was really enjoyable to get to know them a bit better.
The real event of the week was the huge surf that pounded in over the reef. The boat would stay pretty steady during the low tide, but at high tide, we were rolling and pitching as if we were at sea (or in the Auckland Harbour when the high-speed ferries went by!) It was good to know that we had a strong anchor and tackle, because even in the lagoon, the swell was at times burying the bow. Max found it especially challenging when he went out on his paddleboard. Even though he went upwind first, I was always glad when he finished his jaunts and was safely back at Fluenta
For the first few days, it was too rough to consider snorkelling outside the pass, but Max was able to take Miriam and the kids to snorkel in the lee of the reef every day (in fact, the kids preferred it to the deep waters outside because of the colours). By Tuesday, we were ready to try again outside the lagoon. It turned out to be too rough for snorkelling, but we did drag our fishing lure up and down the pass a few times, getting a couple of bites but no fish. We used the same gear as we use on Fluenta: Johnathan reeled out the line and the lure behind the dinghy, and then held the line in his hand as we drove along. Benjamin didn't last long when we went out the pass - the combination of the bouncing dinghy and the sound of the motor literally put him to sleep standing up! He fell asleep with his head braced on my leg to keep from falling, and then slept in my lap for well over an hour. The others enjoyed another snorkel near the boat, but I decided to give it a miss: by the time Benjamin woke up, it was getting late and cold, the sun was going behind a big bank of clouds, and even at the suggestion that I should jump in, Benjamin was crying, "No Mummy swim. No Mummy swim." I vowed, instead, to swim the next day, which was scheduled to be our last.
On Wednesday morning, we set up our spinnaker pole so the kids (and the grownups!) could swing from it and jump into the water. Everyone gave it a go, and yet again, Benjamin's favourite part of the excitement was to push his family overboard. By the afternoon, the kids had had their fill of swimming (and Victoria wanted to make biscuits for the passage), so Max and I got to go alone over to the nearby reef during Benjamin's nap. It was like a rare date! Once we were finished our swim, he went hunting with his speargun and came back with a nice-size sweetlips for dinner. This got us talking about our weather window. According to our guru (Bob McDavitt), there wasn't much coming up this week. We were planning on leaving on Thurs (his 3rd best choice) vs Friday (his 2nd best), and didn't want to wait until Tuesday (his first pick). While snorkelling in a reef within a reef in the middle of the ocean, it occurred to us that there was really no rush to get to Savusavu, especially if it meant arriving on Sunday when all the officials charge fees and overtime; just like that, we had decided to stay here another day! Victoria gave Miriam a filleting lesson when we got back to the boat, and then we did our usual "carcass dangle" to see if there were any sharks in the water. It took a while longer than usual, but eventually someone with big teeth came to eat the rest of the fish.
Since we were nearly ready to go anyway, Thursday was an out-of-character for us play day - we had time to swing from the boat, go snorkeling in an amazing ring of reefs where we saw a turtle, loads of big fish, a sting ray, and enormous clams, and enjoy another sweetlips for dinner, thanks to Max and his speargun. When we got back to Fluenta, there was more baking, swinging, swimming, studying (Life of Fred Math and Brave Writer copywork) and stowing. We have only a few last minute chores to do in the morning (like swinging from the spin pole one more time, I mean dishes, generator, and stowing the pole), and feel more prepared for the passage than we would have done last night. It looks like we will have light winds from every direction, so it may take us a bit of extra time, but the swell has come down, so we are hoping for a decent passage.
Next stop Savusavu,
Love to all,
Elizabeth
-----
At 2016-05-23 6:52 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°38.55'S 178°56.02'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
I am writing to you under an absolutely clear and star-filled sky, so much so that Miriam just came running down the companionway stairs exclaiming that we all had to go up and look! During the first part of our passage last week, the moon was up by sunset, so we didn't have many stars in the early evening, but now it is absolutely pitch dark all around us. The only artificial lights are from one lighthouse and two other anchor lights. Even in the islands, we don't get this no-lights-from-the-village experience very often, and I find it awe-inspiring to consider the vastness.
After almost a week here at anchor, we are making preparations to leave tomorrow morning to continue our journey to Savusavu, Fiji. We have seen a little bit of everything from totally calm and clear to stormy with 5m seas outside the reef.
We knew when we arrived that the weather was going to change soon, so we headed outside the pass to snorkel as soon as we could. It was lovely to be back in the areas that we remembered from our visit here in Nov 14. For Miriam, it was her first time snorkelling - it seems like we have helped her develop some high standards! Without the influence of Hans (SV Nautilus) and the rest of the kid-boat fraternity, Max elected not to dive on the 100 ft blue hole by himself, and I was grateful for his prudence! Both Victoria and Johnathan are very (and increasingly) comfortable in the water, while Benjamin stays in the dinghy and takes delight in pushing the rest of the family overboard.
We certainly weren't lonely that first night: the Island Cruising Association (ICA) as well as a group of Sea Mercy boats were all here to welcome us (I counted about 30 anchor lights!) We were glad to reconnect with fellow Canadians on Amelie IV, whom we hadn't seen since March; given that they were leaving the next day, Victoria didn't waste any time inviting their daughter over for a movie night.
The wind picked up that night, and we woke up to a different lagoon on Sunday morning. Flat calm had been replaced by choppy seas, and the sky was grey and heavy. Despite a forecast for big and building swell (it was expected to peak at just over 5m overnight on Sunday night), the ICA fleet departed for Fiji, and most of the first wave of Sea Mercy boats left as well. Max demonstrated his true love and devotion (!) by going out in the dinghy to meet the Sea Mercy lead boat as they were leaving so I could have the Sea Mercy flag that I was wishing for (and that we would have gotten in Opua if we hadn't left from Auckland).
Given the chilly temperatures (and the empty bread box) I was grateful to Victoria who took it upon herself to make our first batch of "Grampy Bread" of the season. She understudied carefully while my Dad was visiting with us, so she produced "quite an acceptable loaf" as he would say :) While Victoria was at work in the kitchen, Miriam and I got talking about breads in Germany; as a result, Miriam and Victoria worked together the following day to make some yummy, salty, German pretzels. It wasn't all practical in the galley, though - she and Johnathan also decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. Most of the recent batches have gone off the boat for fundraising, so it was nice to have a batch keep onboard! We invited the only remaining boat in the anchorage (Code Blue) to come over for sundowners, and they seemed quite appreciative of home-made cookies as well :) We have known Judy and Steve since our first season, but we have rarely had an evening to spend together, so it was really enjoyable to get to know them a bit better.
The real event of the week was the huge surf that pounded in over the reef. The boat would stay pretty steady during the low tide, but at high tide, we were rolling and pitching as if we were at sea (or in the Auckland Harbour when the high-speed ferries went by!) It was good to know that we had a strong anchor and tackle, because even in the lagoon, the swell was at times burying the bow. Max found it especially challenging when he went out on his paddleboard. Even though he went upwind first, I was always glad when he finished his jaunts and was safely back at Fluenta
For the first few days, it was too rough to consider snorkelling outside the pass, but Max was able to take Miriam and the kids to snorkel in the lee of the reef every day (in fact, the kids preferred it to the deep waters outside because of the colours). By Tuesday, we were ready to try again outside the lagoon. It turned out to be too rough for snorkelling, but we did drag our fishing lure up and down the pass a few times, getting a couple of bites but no fish. We used the same gear as we use on Fluenta: Johnathan reeled out the line and the lure behind the dinghy, and then held the line in his hand as we drove along. Benjamin didn't last long when we went out the pass - the combination of the bouncing dinghy and the sound of the motor literally put him to sleep standing up! He fell asleep with his head braced on my leg to keep from falling, and then slept in my lap for well over an hour. The others enjoyed another snorkel near the boat, but I decided to give it a miss: by the time Benjamin woke up, it was getting late and cold, the sun was going behind a big bank of clouds, and even at the suggestion that I should jump in, Benjamin was crying, "No Mummy swim. No Mummy swim." I vowed, instead, to swim the next day, which was scheduled to be our last.
On Wednesday morning, we set up our spinnaker pole so the kids (and the grownups!) could swing from it and jump into the water. Everyone gave it a go, and yet again, Benjamin's favourite part of the excitement was to push his family overboard. By the afternoon, the kids had had their fill of swimming (and Victoria wanted to make biscuits for the passage), so Max and I got to go alone over to the nearby reef during Benjamin's nap. It was like a rare date! Once we were finished our swim, he went hunting with his speargun and came back with a nice-size sweetlips for dinner. This got us talking about our weather window. According to our guru (Bob McDavitt), there wasn't much coming up this week. We were planning on leaving on Thurs (his 3rd best choice) vs Friday (his 2nd best), and didn't want to wait until Tuesday (his first pick). While snorkelling in a reef within a reef in the middle of the ocean, it occurred to us that there was really no rush to get to Savusavu, especially if it meant arriving on Sunday when all the officials charge fees and overtime; just like that, we had decided to stay here another day! Victoria gave Miriam a filleting lesson when we got back to the boat, and then we did our usual "carcass dangle" to see if there were any sharks in the water. It took a while longer than usual, but eventually someone with big teeth came to eat the rest of the fish.
Since we were nearly ready to go anyway, Thursday was an out-of-character for us play day - we had time to swing from the boat, go snorkeling in an amazing ring of reefs where we saw a turtle, loads of big fish, a sting ray, and enormous clams, and enjoy another sweetlips for dinner, thanks to Max and his speargun. When we got back to Fluenta, there was more baking, swinging, swimming, studying (Life of Fred Math and Brave Writer copywork) and stowing. We have only a few last minute chores to do in the morning (like swinging from the spin pole one more time, I mean dishes, generator, and stowing the pole), and feel more prepared for the passage than we would have done last night. It looks like we will have light winds from every direction, so it may take us a bit of extra time, but the swell has come down, so we are hoping for a decent passage.
Next stop Savusavu,
Love to all,
Elizabeth
-----
At 2016-05-23 6:52 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°38.55'S 178°56.02'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Friday, 20 May 2016
NZ-Fiji Day 7 - Watermaker woes - fixed!
Hello!
It's the wee hours of the morning again - and for the first time in days, we are sailing! We have just "rounded the corner" SE of South Minerva, and have started heading NNW towards the western side of North Minerva. We had reduced our motoring speed from 6 kts to 3 kts for the last few hours, and I was able to shut down the engine as we turned. We actually want to go slowly, as we need daylight to enter the lagoon, so the gentle wind of about 5-6 kts that has filled in is perfect to ghost us along at 3-4 kts. For once, I am grateful for the current against us! It is funny to think of reefing in such light winds, but I may need to do so if it picks up at all. This is one of those moonlit evenings under sail that we dream of when we are ashore. The temperature is comfortable, the sea is flat, and the only sounds are the lapping of the waves against the hull and the hum of the "gnomes" in the lazarette (who gently coax Fluenta to sail in the right direction).
As an aside - I forgot to mention that we had nearly two knots of current helping us yesterday - I only remembered when we had more than a knot against us earlier today. We win some and we lose some.
Today was another motorboat day. Max had hopes of sitting and reading in the cockpit [or doing a celestial class], but some funny bubbles that wouldn't clear in the watermaker had him wearing his sleuthing hat all day, investigating his favourite subject: plumbing! It turned out that the problem *wasn't* caused by the filter bowl where he had just changed a filter, or by the leaky fitting into the filter that he took apart to add some teflon tape (that was part of it, but not the fix). He followed the bubbles back through the system, and found that the input valve that we use for pickling the system had a warped fitting. Bypassing the valve and wrapping the resulting (somewhat ill fitting) joiner with Rescue Tape and two hose clamps did the trick, and we were back in business making water in the afternoon [this is kind of ironic as I commented a few months ago that our watermaker is almost new: I have replaced both feed pumps and the membrane and overhauled the clark pump (twice if you remember the saga from last year) and all that was left was hoses and valves ... Max] This was lovely, since the combination of lots of power and lots of water meant pre-arrival showers (for everyone but Johnathan, who refused on the basis that he had already had one this week; given that he is a ten-year-old boy who will likely be swimming (and therefore showering anyway) by tomorrow, I let him off).
We are hoping to anchor in North Minerva tomorrow morning, and we will spend a few days there (hopefully snorkelling, etc) waiting for favourable winds before heading to Fiji.
Love to all,
Elizabeth
-----
At 2016-05-14 1:45 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°54.40'S 179°00.50'W
-----
At 2016-05-14 6:36 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°39.82'S 179°03.32'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
It's the wee hours of the morning again - and for the first time in days, we are sailing! We have just "rounded the corner" SE of South Minerva, and have started heading NNW towards the western side of North Minerva. We had reduced our motoring speed from 6 kts to 3 kts for the last few hours, and I was able to shut down the engine as we turned. We actually want to go slowly, as we need daylight to enter the lagoon, so the gentle wind of about 5-6 kts that has filled in is perfect to ghost us along at 3-4 kts. For once, I am grateful for the current against us! It is funny to think of reefing in such light winds, but I may need to do so if it picks up at all. This is one of those moonlit evenings under sail that we dream of when we are ashore. The temperature is comfortable, the sea is flat, and the only sounds are the lapping of the waves against the hull and the hum of the "gnomes" in the lazarette (who gently coax Fluenta to sail in the right direction).
As an aside - I forgot to mention that we had nearly two knots of current helping us yesterday - I only remembered when we had more than a knot against us earlier today. We win some and we lose some.
Today was another motorboat day. Max had hopes of sitting and reading in the cockpit [or doing a celestial class], but some funny bubbles that wouldn't clear in the watermaker had him wearing his sleuthing hat all day, investigating his favourite subject: plumbing! It turned out that the problem *wasn't* caused by the filter bowl where he had just changed a filter, or by the leaky fitting into the filter that he took apart to add some teflon tape (that was part of it, but not the fix). He followed the bubbles back through the system, and found that the input valve that we use for pickling the system had a warped fitting. Bypassing the valve and wrapping the resulting (somewhat ill fitting) joiner with Rescue Tape and two hose clamps did the trick, and we were back in business making water in the afternoon [this is kind of ironic as I commented a few months ago that our watermaker is almost new: I have replaced both feed pumps and the membrane and overhauled the clark pump (twice if you remember the saga from last year) and all that was left was hoses and valves ... Max] This was lovely, since the combination of lots of power and lots of water meant pre-arrival showers (for everyone but Johnathan, who refused on the basis that he had already had one this week; given that he is a ten-year-old boy who will likely be swimming (and therefore showering anyway) by tomorrow, I let him off).
We are hoping to anchor in North Minerva tomorrow morning, and we will spend a few days there (hopefully snorkelling, etc) waiting for favourable winds before heading to Fiji.
Love to all,
Elizabeth
-----
At 2016-05-14 1:45 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°54.40'S 179°00.50'W
-----
At 2016-05-14 6:36 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°39.82'S 179°03.32'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Thursday, 19 May 2016
NZ to Fiji Day 6 - Albatross!
2230L 19 May 2016
Hello,
Victoria has gone to bed, and it is Johnathan's turn to be on-watch with me. Earlier in the evening, Victoria and I spent some time "singing-through" one of our songbooks while the rest of the family was below. The sound of the engine made sure that we didn't keep anyone awake who was sleeping (and it let the bashful non-performers in us feel that we were singing for fun and not putting on a show!)
For the last few days, we have fallen into a routine where Max gets his big sleep in the evening and the morning, and I get my big sleep during the day. This certainly makes my days go by quickly, and means that I don't have as much of Benjamin's help when I am alone on watch in the night. It is kind of funny to miss a good portion of the family time during the day, but I really enjoy the individual time in the quiet dark with Victoria and/or Johnathan when the rest of the boat is asleep :)
I woke from my off-watch this afternoon to great excitement: an Albatross had been spotted flying near our boat. Even Benjamin was excitedly saying, "abatross! abatross!!" We didn't get much in the way of photos, but I guess it did a couple of passes of the boat, and then went on his or her way. We visited the Royal Albatross Center near Dunedin (South Islsand) on our New Zealand camping trip, so V & J were pretty familiar with the context of this bird's journey. The other huge bird who overflew us today was an RNZAF P-3 Orion, checking in with each boat in the area. Even though we have hardly seen another boat since we left (maybe 2-3), there seemed to be plenty of vessels in VHF range of the Orion, so we will have to watch ever more carefully for traffic as we all (likely) converge on Minerva.
Max (and Miriam) also talked to a German boat this afternoon. According to our AIS receiver, they were going unusually slowly. It turns out that they were experiencing engine problems [failed injector pump - not something you can fix at sea and I have never heard of anyone carrying such an expensive spare], so they were very matter-of-factly waiting for wind. They have plenty of food and lots of time, so they will fix their engine when they arrive in Tonga, and no, thank you, they didn't need any help [but they appreciated us checking in to see if they needed anything].
We are slowly feeling the transition to the tropics. The days have been warm all along, but the nights are starting to catch up. That being said, we (especially I) still need fleece layers in the cockpit tonight, but I have not enclosed it with as many clear panels as on previous nights, and we have left a hatch open into the saloon. It seems hard to believe that in a couple of days we will be snorkelling at Minerva Reef, and a short while after that we will be sweltering in Fiji!
You may be wondering how we pass the days on board. I made a trip to a marvelous second-hand bookshop in Whangarei when we were there a few weeks ago, and replenished our kids' book cupboard. Victoria and Johnathan have a book on the go all the time. When they are not reading, they are busy building in their various Minecraft worlds. Since it has been so flat, we have been doing a bit of school (Brave Writer copywork, and Life of Fred math ... these are new resources that our SelfDesign learning consultant recommended, and we are loving. If I had Internet, I would include links, but the sites are easy to find ... suffice to say that our home schooling is going much better now that we have found a system that is a better fit for our family!!!!) Tomorrow, we have some celestial nav on our proposed "to do" list. Last but not least, I almost forgot to mention Benjamin ... he keeps everyone busy [Benjamin and I spent time building in a fort out of cushions in the cockpit]!
We continue to drag two fishing lures, but we are not seeing many fish. Since we finished the two that we caught almost simultaneously off NZ, we have been eating chicken that we canned in Auckland. We are hopeful for something tasty when we approach the Minerva Reefs.
On the sailing front, this is our most unusual passage ever. Recently we have had days of motoring interspersed with minimal sailing. Today was another in this vein. We motored for most of the night, sailed for part of the morning, and we have been motoring ever since about midday. We currently have 2.0 kts of wind; in general, it is 1 kt gusting to 5 kts and the sea is again absolutely glassy. For the moms who worry: we have more than sufficient diesel to motor to Minerva. We expect the wind to fill in while we pause at Minerva, giving us a mostly-sailing passage to Savusavu, although we will still have some diesel for that passage as well. Max and Johnathan transferred the last of our jerry cans into the internal tanks this afternoon. Max is constantly vigilant regarding our fuel consumption, as we have one tank that the others feed into, so it is a juggling act to use the various tanks on a rotating basis. Diesels do not like the introduction of air into the fuel lines [air is compressible unlike diesel so the injector pump and injectors, which rely on precise prssures do not work with any air in the system], and running out of fuel by emptying a tank means bleeding the engine in seven places. Over-filling the aft tank by not switching back to it soon enough means a diesel leak into the bedroom (we know this from the stain that was on one of our cupboards from the previous owners when we bought the boat!) Suffice to say that we are always counting down the hours until we next need to switch fuel tanks! [as part of the spreadsheet I use to manage the boat I have a fuel page where I track fuel usage, consumption rates, and fills plus other thing like amounts of biocide to add when filling. Max]
That's about all the news of the day ... we hope this note finds you in good spirits,
Love,
Elizabeth
-----
At 2016-05-14 2:36 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 35°43.41'S 175°24.64'E
-----
At 2016-05-14 7:23 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 25°12.60'S 179°38.92'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Hello,
Victoria has gone to bed, and it is Johnathan's turn to be on-watch with me. Earlier in the evening, Victoria and I spent some time "singing-through" one of our songbooks while the rest of the family was below. The sound of the engine made sure that we didn't keep anyone awake who was sleeping (and it let the bashful non-performers in us feel that we were singing for fun and not putting on a show!)
For the last few days, we have fallen into a routine where Max gets his big sleep in the evening and the morning, and I get my big sleep during the day. This certainly makes my days go by quickly, and means that I don't have as much of Benjamin's help when I am alone on watch in the night. It is kind of funny to miss a good portion of the family time during the day, but I really enjoy the individual time in the quiet dark with Victoria and/or Johnathan when the rest of the boat is asleep :)
I woke from my off-watch this afternoon to great excitement: an Albatross had been spotted flying near our boat. Even Benjamin was excitedly saying, "abatross! abatross!!" We didn't get much in the way of photos, but I guess it did a couple of passes of the boat, and then went on his or her way. We visited the Royal Albatross Center near Dunedin (South Islsand) on our New Zealand camping trip, so V & J were pretty familiar with the context of this bird's journey. The other huge bird who overflew us today was an RNZAF P-3 Orion, checking in with each boat in the area. Even though we have hardly seen another boat since we left (maybe 2-3), there seemed to be plenty of vessels in VHF range of the Orion, so we will have to watch ever more carefully for traffic as we all (likely) converge on Minerva.
Max (and Miriam) also talked to a German boat this afternoon. According to our AIS receiver, they were going unusually slowly. It turns out that they were experiencing engine problems [failed injector pump - not something you can fix at sea and I have never heard of anyone carrying such an expensive spare], so they were very matter-of-factly waiting for wind. They have plenty of food and lots of time, so they will fix their engine when they arrive in Tonga, and no, thank you, they didn't need any help [but they appreciated us checking in to see if they needed anything].
We are slowly feeling the transition to the tropics. The days have been warm all along, but the nights are starting to catch up. That being said, we (especially I) still need fleece layers in the cockpit tonight, but I have not enclosed it with as many clear panels as on previous nights, and we have left a hatch open into the saloon. It seems hard to believe that in a couple of days we will be snorkelling at Minerva Reef, and a short while after that we will be sweltering in Fiji!
You may be wondering how we pass the days on board. I made a trip to a marvelous second-hand bookshop in Whangarei when we were there a few weeks ago, and replenished our kids' book cupboard. Victoria and Johnathan have a book on the go all the time. When they are not reading, they are busy building in their various Minecraft worlds. Since it has been so flat, we have been doing a bit of school (Brave Writer copywork, and Life of Fred math ... these are new resources that our SelfDesign learning consultant recommended, and we are loving. If I had Internet, I would include links, but the sites are easy to find ... suffice to say that our home schooling is going much better now that we have found a system that is a better fit for our family!!!!) Tomorrow, we have some celestial nav on our proposed "to do" list. Last but not least, I almost forgot to mention Benjamin ... he keeps everyone busy [Benjamin and I spent time building in a fort out of cushions in the cockpit]!
We continue to drag two fishing lures, but we are not seeing many fish. Since we finished the two that we caught almost simultaneously off NZ, we have been eating chicken that we canned in Auckland. We are hopeful for something tasty when we approach the Minerva Reefs.
On the sailing front, this is our most unusual passage ever. Recently we have had days of motoring interspersed with minimal sailing. Today was another in this vein. We motored for most of the night, sailed for part of the morning, and we have been motoring ever since about midday. We currently have 2.0 kts of wind; in general, it is 1 kt gusting to 5 kts and the sea is again absolutely glassy. For the moms who worry: we have more than sufficient diesel to motor to Minerva. We expect the wind to fill in while we pause at Minerva, giving us a mostly-sailing passage to Savusavu, although we will still have some diesel for that passage as well. Max and Johnathan transferred the last of our jerry cans into the internal tanks this afternoon. Max is constantly vigilant regarding our fuel consumption, as we have one tank that the others feed into, so it is a juggling act to use the various tanks on a rotating basis. Diesels do not like the introduction of air into the fuel lines [air is compressible unlike diesel so the injector pump and injectors, which rely on precise prssures do not work with any air in the system], and running out of fuel by emptying a tank means bleeding the engine in seven places. Over-filling the aft tank by not switching back to it soon enough means a diesel leak into the bedroom (we know this from the stain that was on one of our cupboards from the previous owners when we bought the boat!) Suffice to say that we are always counting down the hours until we next need to switch fuel tanks! [as part of the spreadsheet I use to manage the boat I have a fuel page where I track fuel usage, consumption rates, and fills plus other thing like amounts of biocide to add when filling. Max]
That's about all the news of the day ... we hope this note finds you in good spirits,
Love,
Elizabeth
-----
At 2016-05-14 2:36 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 35°43.41'S 175°24.64'E
-----
At 2016-05-14 7:23 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 25°12.60'S 179°38.92'W
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
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