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Firefly - Rough passage to New Caledonia



Since leaving our home port of Salcombe, England, in late September 2013, Firefly has clocked up over 15000 nautical miles and most of this has involved glorious downwind sailing, a high proportion with our sails 'wing on wing' as the wind has been right behind and very little has been challenging.

However, going from Luganville on Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu to Noumea on New Caledonia was always likely to be a more difficult 475nm passage. The course is due south and the prevailing winds are 25 to 30 knot south easterlies with notoriously choppy seas - almost head on. In fact its more logical to reach Noumea from Port Vila on Efate or even Anatom as the wind angle is much better. However, the best way to cruise Vanuatu is to start at Anatom and depart from Santo as the prevailing wind takes you down the island chain - and that is what we decided to do.

Therefore for the last week we have been studying the weather forecast (using GRIB files) and saw there was a 'window' with slightly lighter winds and more easterly in direction than usual. We cross checked with friends on other boats planning the same trip and the excellent 'Gulf Harbour Radio' a weather service for the Pacific Islands and passages to and from New Zealand. Its provided daily on SSB radio by Patricia and Dave, keen yacht sailors with a lot of experience of sailing in these waters. Having cleared customs and immigration we left Luganville at 1200 on Tuesday 14th October and managed to get south of Santo before the daily rain started.

The passage started gently enough, initially with some motoring and then sailing in the lee of islands, particularly Malekula, until we cleared its shelter during the early hours of Wednesday 15th. For about a 12 hour period we then had quite rough conditions. The wind was gusting up to 25 knots and was coming from the east south east, so we managed to hold a reasonable course and were sailing on a close reach. Well reefed down Firefly can handle these conditions fine and was trucking along at about 7 knots - its just that with the rough sea, being a relative lightweight yacht she does tend to get thrown around a lot and a lot of water comes on deck with waves - and this is not enjoyable for the crew. In fact we have now done enough 2 handed sailing in these conditions to quickly switch into our 'rough weather' watch routine were one is wedged into the companion way, protected by cushions on all sides, well in behind the spray hood - the other is sleeping in the lee berth in the saloon. On top of the coachroof, also sheltered behind the spray hood we have a little stash of food and drink to keep us going and with great care we also make the odd brew of tea.

Getting updated weather information using the SSB radio every 12 hours or so we knew that the wind would ease and our second night at sea has been considerably more comfortable, still quite hard on the wind but at a more manageable strength and much smoother sea state. Reflecting on the weather conditions we have seen - this was still a good 'window' for the passage, unfortunately during rough spell the wind being about 5 knots more than forecast and more south of east and this is what made it really unpleasant!

Its sunny and lovely sailing now as we approach New Caledonia. Our pilot guide information informs us that Yacht entry into New Caledonia can only be done at Noumea, which from Vanuatu means passing south of Grand Terre and then sailing west and then north up the Havannah Passage between various reefs. Because of this yachts are given 72 hours to check in from entering New Cal waters and we are planning to take advantage of this with some stops, our intention being to reach Noumea on Sunday evening ready to check in on Monday morning.

Paul and Susie

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