Departure

We were waiting at the Fiji Revenue and Customs offices at 07:30 (Thursday) to clear out, and by 8AM the friendly customs lady had done our paperwork. Unfortunately, it then took the lady from immigration 45 minutes to walk over (from next door) and stamp our passports. Regardless… we were on the 9AM ferry back to Nawi Marina, and by 9:28 we had left the dock.

We loved it at Nawi Marina and rate it one of the best marinas we’ve visited anywhere. It helps that it is new, but the care with which it was designed, added to good management, elevates it to a class of its own. The bathroom facilities deserve special mention – six bathrooms, each with a little tropical garden and fitted out in top class fittings, and not a single cold shower in the week we were there. Loved it!

Conditions were very the first day. My misgivings about departing into a headwind were unfounded, as we sailed most of the day on a close reach in about 10 knots on a calm sea. It was very pleasant. We rigged the spinnaker pole so we could set the genoa to weather if necessary.

Early evening we turned 30 degrees to starboard to take us south of Viti Levu, putting us on a beam reach for the rest of the night. At watch change (1am) the wind shifted further aft and we set the genoa on the weather side, very grateful we had rigged the pole during daylight hours. Apart from negotiating some crossing traffic between 2am and 4am, the rest of the night was uneventful. The wind died around sunrise, and we started motoring. While there was no wind, we also set the staysail on the lee side and dropped the main. We were now ready for the tailwinds we expect to carry us most of the way to New Caledonia.

Friday / Saturday

We motored most of Friday and then spent the night floating downwind in light wind on a calm sea – our favourite! There was a bit of weather in the early hours, and we struck all sail as there was no wind. We motored through a few gust swells and, when the wind started building in the morning put up the main and genoa. We steadily reefed down as the day went on. By 8PM we were down to two reefs in the main and the small genoa, sailing a reach in 15 to 22 knots of SE wind. The sea state was fairly comfortable still, with around a 2.5m swell at around 10 second period.

The various forecast models were beginning to converge for our arrival, and it appeared the (dreaded) southerly change would not come through until midday on Wednesday. It’s a race! We ) had to average 5.3 knots to get to the pass (Chanal de la Havanah) at sunrise, Wednesday morning. We hoped to get there early in the flood tide, so we would have an easy run in. Apparently, Canal Woodin, about 18 miles inside the pass, can get nasty in an ebb tide, so we were keen to get through there by the middle of the day.

Sunday /Monday

We were still on a broad reach for most of Sunday, but at sunset we dropped the main and set the #3 and staysail on the spinnaker poles as we were expecting the wind to back about 20 degrees by midnight, making the reaching sail plan difficult to sustain. This made the next six hours awkward as the wind still regularly gusted 25 knots, veering onto the beam at the same time. This was compounded by a strong north setting current which, at its peak, required turning a further 15 to 20 degrees into the wind. Add a lumpy sea, and it made for a less than peaceful first half of the night.

Just after midnight the wind backed as forecast and we were now on a nice downwind angle with the apparent wind at about 150 degrees off the port bow. Relief all round, as we would not have set the poles in the dark – just too unpleasant and risky. The upside was that conditions were now perfect, with a small long period swell and the boat sailing upright with little roll. Great for the off-watch (me) to get a decent 5 hour sleep!

The wind steadily backed and abated to about 15 knots throughout the early hours, and it was idyllic – so good that we rustled up eggs Benedict and a big salad for breakfast!

Tuesday

At 0830 UTC+11 the trip log stood at 705 miles, making another 140 miles for the preceding 24 hours. We have 98 miles to go to the pass into the Chanal de la Havanah.

We changed the ships clock to Nouméa time this morning, one more time zone and we’ll be in Australian Eastern Standard time! We had another good day yesterday, running all day and most of the night with the two poled out headsails in a perfect SE breeze of 15 to 18 knots.

At 4:15AM this morning the wind died as if it had read the forecast and we started motoring. With around 5 knots of true wind from astern we had nothing filling the sails, so we rolled up the genoa and dropped the staysail on the deck, lashing it to the lifelines. The poles were just moved towards the bow as far as practical and we left the cleanup for daylight hours.

Arrivee, Port Mouselle, Nouméa

As anticipated the last 12 hours to the Chanal de la Havanah was completed in pretty much calm conditions, so we motored through the night. We entered the pass around 4AM and it was uneventful and straightforward. The pass is deep and well-marked, with lateral lights and leads, so only requires a long concentration span. As we entered at the start of the flood tide, the sea state was benign.

We still had the tide behind us as we traversed the Canal Woodin, and perfectly calm conditions.

Shortly after exiting the Canal Woodin the forecast southerly change arrived, eight hours earlier than the earliest forecast(!). This made for a thoroughly unpleasant last few hours as we sailed in 25 to 30 knots of gusty wind with a rapidly deteriorating sea state.

Fortunately, it was pretty quiet still inside the marina at Port Mouselle, and my apprehension about getting safely into a berth was unfounded.