August 2000 Suva, Fiji
Alvei newsletter from Fiji August 2000
Meanwhile, back at the Royal Suva Yacht Club. Recent highlights include: Getting underway from Brisbane. A 10-day haulout at Maryborough. Embayed for 3 weeks in Tin Can Inlet. A 41 day, 3000 mile passage to Tonga. A bird population survey. Six gales and a storm. Lazy time in Tonga. Revolution in the Islands. Another 500 mile passage to Fiji. Now, anchored off the yacht club in Suva, it’s time to pull that last newsletter off the back shelf and have a go at finishing it.
Twelve miles up the river in Brisbane.
March was a busy month. Joining the crew were: Nigel, who sold his house, cleared out the garage and came bearing many gifts along with his buoyant good nature. Alison a former corporate computer analyst and yacht master on as deck officer. Andrew, another veteran yachtie, army cook and restaurant owner on as galley steward. Shareholder Anna from Sweden, Israel in exile from New Zealand, Mike returned from a brief working holiday in Canada and Kate a brassy, intelligent teenager from Wollongong, Australia. After working as deck officer for 4 months on a Greenpeace ship in the Southern Ocean, Jo decided to pursue her career as a professional sailor with Greenpeace. After 2 years on Alvei her presence here is greatly missed, she was my other half in a very real sense, but we wish her well with her new career.
Sail to Maryborough.
After a scenic cruise down the Brisbane River, out through the commercial dock and across Moreton Bay; we anchored off the beach in Tangalooma. The crew immediately stripped off and were seen swinging from the rigging into the water. A good time to get the boat cleaned up and have a rest before proceeding north. The following morning we started the passage through Moreton Bay and up the Fraser Coast. Just after 1700 h. a pod of dolphins came to play in our bow wave. They stayed with us until nightfall and then swam off, allowing the new crew to get some rest before we arrived at the Wide Bay Bar for a dawn crossing. Then came the 8-hour passage through the narrow, shallow channels of Sandy Straits. Crossing a place called “The Flats” we had less than a meter of water under the keel. We ran aground at the mouth of the Mary River for three hours. Floated off by the rising tide only to have to anchor and wait for enough water to get us past Horse Shoe Bank. With the spotlight on the bow, it was a calm, moonless night; we worked our way 18 miles up stream. Midnight found us moored alongside the slipway dock at the sleepy town of Maryborough.
Haulout.
Once out of the water we pressure blasted the hull, let the anchors down and emptied the chain lockers. The hull near the waterline was sandblasted. After Nigel, Alison, Mike and Andrew saw what a good job was being done they each volunteered $200 to continue. Then came a good epoxy primer and undercoat, and a couple of topcoats. The rudder was removed and fitted with a new gudgeon, a couple of hull plates were replaced, anti-fouling and zincs on the bottom. We made time for a Sunday open-house to benefit the Sandy Straits Coast Guard. We gave guided tours to over 500 people. Back in the water after 10 days on the hard we spent a few more days provisioning and seeing the sights around town. Then we cleared customs and made our way down stream.
Underway Again?
When navigating shoal rivers the prudent mariner crosses shallow areas on a rising tide. It took two days to sail down the Mary River and through the Sandy Straights to Wide Bay. Approaching the Wide Bay Bar we were met by strong wind warnings from the sou’east. Since the wind was coming from the direction we intended to sail we anchored in Tin Can Inlet to wait out the blow. The winds, sometimes up to storm force, lasted over three weeks. While we were there we had a chance to finish sewing the fore top’sl and bend it on. Before departing we had to go ashore, clear customs all over again and re-provision fresh stores. Just before departing, we were signed up with Penta Comstat by “Mother Boats”, an ex-Sofia shipmate. Penta Comstatis an Australian commercial maritime mobile net. Anyone wishing to learn our whereabouts or leave a short message can contact us through them byPhone: (02) 6559-1888, Fax: (02) 6559-1885, or E-mail:[email protected]. Their website is www.pentacomstat.com.au.
3000 Miles to Tonga.
Twenty three days after arriving in Tin Can Inlet we finally crossed the bar! It is a wonderful feeling to point the ship toward the open sea, spend an hour setting sails and start the watches. We set a sou’easterly course toward Lord Howe Island in search of the westerlies at 32 south. At 29 degrees south we were tacking into light easterlies, struggling to get south; then we picked up a fresh northerly and got blown down to 34 degrees south, 120 miles farther than intended. After passing Lord Howe Island we started the Seabird Mapping Survey. We identified and counted birds for 10 minutes each hour during the day. The eastern half of the Tasman Sea was a series of gales from the nor'west and sou'west. On the 22nd day we passed 100 miles north of North Cape, New Zealand, and set a course to pass south of the Kermadec Islands. Day 30 saw us becalmed for the first time. The next day we were hove to with the strongest gale of the passage. During the day it was a full gale, at times up to your waist in the lee scuppers, by midnight the wind had reached storm force 10. When the front passed through at 0200, the wind shifted from the nor’west to the sou’west and subsided to force 8 again. Alvei was heading into a steep 7 meter sea and pitching heavily. During the next 2 hours our shore boat “Morning Star” was smashed to bits. It was a sad sight to see pieces of her floating away on the black, stormy sea. The wake of this gale left us with a moderate sou’westerly breeze. We were able to make our way north toward Tonga. After ten days and another moderate gale we sailed into the Vava’u group, 41 days, 2910 miles, 6 gales and one storm later! We tied up to the dock, cleared customs, sent a couple of crew on a beer run and anchored off the Paradise Hotel.
Tongan Time.
Surprisingly, we were only 2 days late for the start of leg 2. Our three new crew had met Christy, our contact in Vava’u, and were waiting for us in Neiafu. Joining us here was Doug Bauer, an electrical engineer from Maryborough; along with Erik Nye, an American music student and Helmút Goebl, an Austrian mechanical engineer. These three guys tossed their gear on board, found an empty bunk to move into and were soon at home with the rest of the crew. Our time in Tonga was cut short slightly by the delay in Tin Can Inlet but everyone managed to go snorkeling, wander around the island and sample a bit of the night life at the various bars and restaurants. Also joining us before we left were Filipe Tonga and Sioape Folau, two Tongan guys who crew on Christy’s charter yacht, Melinda.
Meanwhile, back at the Royal Suva Yacht Club. Recent highlights include: Getting underway from Brisbane. A 10-day haulout at Maryborough. Embayed for 3 weeks in Tin Can Inlet. A 41 day, 3000 mile passage to Tonga. A bird population survey. Six gales and a storm. Lazy time in Tonga. Revolution in the Islands. Another 500 mile passage to Fiji. Now, anchored off the yacht club in Suva, it’s time to pull that last newsletter off the back shelf and have a go at finishing it.
Twelve miles up the river in Brisbane.
March was a busy month. Joining the crew were: Nigel, who sold his house, cleared out the garage and came bearing many gifts along with his buoyant good nature. Alison a former corporate computer analyst and yacht master on as deck officer. Andrew, another veteran yachtie, army cook and restaurant owner on as galley steward. Shareholder Anna from Sweden, Israel in exile from New Zealand, Mike returned from a brief working holiday in Canada and Kate a brassy, intelligent teenager from Wollongong, Australia. After working as deck officer for 4 months on a Greenpeace ship in the Southern Ocean, Jo decided to pursue her career as a professional sailor with Greenpeace. After 2 years on Alvei her presence here is greatly missed, she was my other half in a very real sense, but we wish her well with her new career.
Sail to Maryborough.
After a scenic cruise down the Brisbane River, out through the commercial dock and across Moreton Bay; we anchored off the beach in Tangalooma. The crew immediately stripped off and were seen swinging from the rigging into the water. A good time to get the boat cleaned up and have a rest before proceeding north. The following morning we started the passage through Moreton Bay and up the Fraser Coast. Just after 1700 h. a pod of dolphins came to play in our bow wave. They stayed with us until nightfall and then swam off, allowing the new crew to get some rest before we arrived at the Wide Bay Bar for a dawn crossing. Then came the 8-hour passage through the narrow, shallow channels of Sandy Straits. Crossing a place called “The Flats” we had less than a meter of water under the keel. We ran aground at the mouth of the Mary River for three hours. Floated off by the rising tide only to have to anchor and wait for enough water to get us past Horse Shoe Bank. With the spotlight on the bow, it was a calm, moonless night; we worked our way 18 miles up stream. Midnight found us moored alongside the slipway dock at the sleepy town of Maryborough.
Haulout.
Once out of the water we pressure blasted the hull, let the anchors down and emptied the chain lockers. The hull near the waterline was sandblasted. After Nigel, Alison, Mike and Andrew saw what a good job was being done they each volunteered $200 to continue. Then came a good epoxy primer and undercoat, and a couple of topcoats. The rudder was removed and fitted with a new gudgeon, a couple of hull plates were replaced, anti-fouling and zincs on the bottom. We made time for a Sunday open-house to benefit the Sandy Straits Coast Guard. We gave guided tours to over 500 people. Back in the water after 10 days on the hard we spent a few more days provisioning and seeing the sights around town. Then we cleared customs and made our way down stream.
Underway Again?
When navigating shoal rivers the prudent mariner crosses shallow areas on a rising tide. It took two days to sail down the Mary River and through the Sandy Straights to Wide Bay. Approaching the Wide Bay Bar we were met by strong wind warnings from the sou’east. Since the wind was coming from the direction we intended to sail we anchored in Tin Can Inlet to wait out the blow. The winds, sometimes up to storm force, lasted over three weeks. While we were there we had a chance to finish sewing the fore top’sl and bend it on. Before departing we had to go ashore, clear customs all over again and re-provision fresh stores. Just before departing, we were signed up with Penta Comstat by “Mother Boats”, an ex-Sofia shipmate. Penta Comstatis an Australian commercial maritime mobile net. Anyone wishing to learn our whereabouts or leave a short message can contact us through them byPhone: (02) 6559-1888, Fax: (02) 6559-1885, or E-mail:[email protected]. Their website is www.pentacomstat.com.au.
3000 Miles to Tonga.
Twenty three days after arriving in Tin Can Inlet we finally crossed the bar! It is a wonderful feeling to point the ship toward the open sea, spend an hour setting sails and start the watches. We set a sou’easterly course toward Lord Howe Island in search of the westerlies at 32 south. At 29 degrees south we were tacking into light easterlies, struggling to get south; then we picked up a fresh northerly and got blown down to 34 degrees south, 120 miles farther than intended. After passing Lord Howe Island we started the Seabird Mapping Survey. We identified and counted birds for 10 minutes each hour during the day. The eastern half of the Tasman Sea was a series of gales from the nor'west and sou'west. On the 22nd day we passed 100 miles north of North Cape, New Zealand, and set a course to pass south of the Kermadec Islands. Day 30 saw us becalmed for the first time. The next day we were hove to with the strongest gale of the passage. During the day it was a full gale, at times up to your waist in the lee scuppers, by midnight the wind had reached storm force 10. When the front passed through at 0200, the wind shifted from the nor’west to the sou’west and subsided to force 8 again. Alvei was heading into a steep 7 meter sea and pitching heavily. During the next 2 hours our shore boat “Morning Star” was smashed to bits. It was a sad sight to see pieces of her floating away on the black, stormy sea. The wake of this gale left us with a moderate sou’westerly breeze. We were able to make our way north toward Tonga. After ten days and another moderate gale we sailed into the Vava’u group, 41 days, 2910 miles, 6 gales and one storm later! We tied up to the dock, cleared customs, sent a couple of crew on a beer run and anchored off the Paradise Hotel.
Tongan Time.
Surprisingly, we were only 2 days late for the start of leg 2. Our three new crew had met Christy, our contact in Vava’u, and were waiting for us in Neiafu. Joining us here was Doug Bauer, an electrical engineer from Maryborough; along with Erik Nye, an American music student and Helmút Goebl, an Austrian mechanical engineer. These three guys tossed their gear on board, found an empty bunk to move into and were soon at home with the rest of the crew. Our time in Tonga was cut short slightly by the delay in Tin Can Inlet but everyone managed to go snorkeling, wander around the island and sample a bit of the night life at the various bars and restaurants. Also joining us before we left were Filipe Tonga and Sioape Folau, two Tongan guys who crew on Christy’s charter yacht, Melinda.