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Starblazer - 22/05/2015 - On our way back to the islands



Starblazer is on her way back to rejoin World ARC in Musket Cove, Fiji where we said goodbye last July to our friends who continued around the world.

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We have learnt some interesting lessons on this leg. Perceived wisdom says leave New Zealand on the back of a low pressure to get favourable winds to the islands. Our departure on 02/05/2015 was into the middle of a high so the routing suggested motoring east for 2 days before picking up south easterly to easterly winds to bear off towards Minerva Reef and Tonga. I'm sure weather forecasting is one of the dark arts (though we have friends who will quite rightly disagree), the wind filled in from the east north east instead of southeast somewhat sooner than expected and it was a beat all the way.

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Yes, you can anchor in the middle of the ocean for a night! At least, you can if you happen to be passing the Minerva Reefs. North Minerva is almost circular, about 4 miles in diameter, with one narrow pass in and lots of space to anchor in 10-15 metres of water. The surrounding sea is over 100 metres deep, in fact it's not far from the Tonga Trench which reaches depths of 8,000 metres. The sea inside the reef was relatively calm and it was wonderful to get a couple of nights' undisturbed sleep on a flat bed. The second reason for stopping here was to wait for the wind to clock around the compass, to avoid northerlies which we most certainly didn't want.

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The passage from Minerva to the Ha'apai group in Tonga is about 350 miles and it is essential to arrive at the islands in daylight as there are many reefs. We slowed down as much as we could; normally we celebrate 6.5 to 7 knots on a broad reach, both fast and comfortable, but our ETA was getting closer to midnight! Two reefs in the main, part of the jib rolled away, we were still making 4.5 to 5 knots so we just hoped the wind would die overnight. In the event we were ready to make our final turn towards Lifuka Island at dawn and the really dodgy bits were still a couple of hours away though John couldn't sleep so stayed up on deck. We found the electronic charts on the chartplotter were very accurate when we put on the radar overlay to check the position of islands. The Mark 1 Eyeball was also important for spotting reef areas, though they all seemed to be in the right place. We anchored off Ha'apai Beach Resort and awaited our turn to be visited by 4 smiling, friendly officials. Clearing in was easy, though the officials found our boarding ladder on the transom a little difficult.

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We had a drink ashore then got an early night as we were both rather sleep deprived after the previous night.

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We have been sailing amongst these beautiful islands for a week. Another log will follow shortly.

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Joyce

One downside of paradise is the difficulty in finding wi-fi!


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