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Firefly - Approaching Niue after a difficult passage



This passage, despite being one of the shorter ones at 540nm, has proved to be difficult going. In the last post we described ideal broad reaching conditions for the first part of the trip but noted that we were concerned in case it got breezy. During the first night at sea it did - and it lasted for 36 hours with gusts up to 34 knots. As the light was fading during the first evening the wind backed putting Firefly onto a beam reach, the wind increased as we entered a line of squalls and the sea became very rough. With 2 reefs in the main and the jib reefed down to a hankerchief, Firefly, bounced happily along averaging 8 knots - the only problem being for the crew in trying to hang on and stay dry when in the cockpit.



Before departure there had been a lot of debate amongst the World ARC crews at Suwarrow regarding the right time to leave, principally in finding good excuses to stay longer at Suwarrow - and collectively there was lots of forecast information, both from Grib files as well as from a router via Satphone e mail. Boats that went earlier had no wind and were motoring so waiting for wind was logical. The winds we have experienced were exactly as forecast in terms of direction but considerably stronger. The forecasts suggested 17 to 18 knots and we got double that during the worst squalls. Since embarking on this voyage, and certainly when using Grib files this has been the normal experience - hence our original suspicion it may get windy.



It was good therefore that we pre prepared our evening meals - even just the process of re heating was difficult. As mentioned previously, Firefly's layout works really well, except when cooking on port tack. The sea state combined with the wind being on the port beam were the main contributors to the discomfort - had we been on a broad reach or a run it would just have been fast and very rolly.



It calmed down this morning (Sunday 25th May) and also veered so we are now broad reaching in about 22knots of wind, moving very fast towards Niue - things have calmed down enough to be able to type this post! We are just under 100nm from Niue and expect to make it to the mooring field about 0500 on Monday morning, so while still dark - but achieveable in this case as there are no reefs we have to avoid. There is no anchorage on Niue, its too deep and in order to stop you have to pick up one of the apparently well maintained mooring buoys off the largest town Alofi, on the protected west side of the island. The buoys are laid by the Niue Yacht Club which sounds like an interesting club - as no one actually has a yacht!



We are looking forward to visiting Niue and in the next post we will provide some information on the island, the inhabitants and what we get up to while we are there.



Paul and Susie

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