We got too close too the low and got...triple reef weather.

By Ann and Lisa- We had come up with a game plan – skirt the low to the south, wait for it to pass above us and onto the southeast, then we would be on our merry way headed direct for Fiji. All was well in our little corner of the world as Captain Bob went below to bed and Ann and Lisa were left on watch around 9:30PM. We were motoring due west in very light winds – and since R2D2 (the auto pilot) wasn’t feeling well tonight we were hand steering Charisma. No problem – according to the latest gribs, we were just on the edge of the little low passing above us. We expected light winds through the night until we made our right hand turn to 360 at 6am the next morning. We took turns at the wheel, 30 minutes on – 30 off, for the first few hours. Around 11:30 the wind picked up so we set the main sail and continued to motor sail. “Under control” was our motto – having every best intention to let Captain Bob get some well needed shut eye until his watch began at 3am. Well…. the high seas had other plans for us! The winds continued to pick up, and by 1am, our little corner of the world looked like a washing machine out of control!

Part II: Enter Captain Bob to the rescue By Bob- It was nice and cozy in the quarterberth and since Charisma is a solid boat, I didn’t hear all the commotion going on up on deck. For all I knew, we were in 15 knots of wind having a nice night…

But I did get awakened. “Bob, come quick. It’s getting really windy!” My first though; “Yeah, whatever”. But once out of bed I had a look up the companionway hatch and was shocked to see that both of the foul weather boards were in and the hatch was closed and torrential rain was pouring against them. My second thought at this point in my sleepy haze: “You want me to go up in that!!?” At this point I snapped out of my semi-coma and realized we needed to do something. I wasn’t sure what, but knew that once I went out on deck in this mess it was going to be a long night. So…I took my time getting dressed properly in foulies, warm socks, seaboots, etc. I’ve spent way too many a night shivering in shorts and a tee-shirt after charging onto the deck only to realize there’s no going back down in foul weather.

Anyway, once on deck here’s what I saw. Charisma was doing her imitation of a runaway freight train. With something on the level of mid-thirties wind, maybe higher (our wind speed is broken) with just a double reefed main up Charisma was boiling along at 10 KNOTS. Yes, that’s the first thing that caught my attention. We were going waaay to fast. My first thought was since we already had a double reef, we needed to furl the jib, so I worked my way in position to do that only to find “the girls” had already done that. OK, 10 knots, main only. Too. Fast.

The next thing I noticed-at first out of the corner of my eye and not quite fully conscious of it- was that Lisa was at the helm and fighting for her life to keep Charisma from rounding up. She had half a turn of the wheel correcting for the out of balance helm caused by having only the main up-but more interestingly, HER FEET WERE COMING OFF THE DECK she was working so hard to steer against Charisma’s power in the gusts.

So in my muddled state, still a bit wonky from just waking up, I took over the helm and set the wind vane. At least now we would have some time to think with Wilson taking charge of the steering. That worked pretty well until a really big gust decided to take over. ” I’ve got the helm again”. That’s when I realized what I should have noticed right at the get go: something’s gonna break if we don’t slow down right now. So, we hove to (non-sailors will have to look up this term, also called Heave To or Heaving To). Simple, painless, easy. Took about 30 seconds and everything got calm and quiet. Except the rain. You couldn’t even see the bow of the boat it was pouring down so hard.

You see, we planned to skirt the south side of the low, but came a little too close and hit the front of the lower side of the low. Heavy rain, high winds. The good news is it didn’t last too long before we were in the dregs behind the low. Then we just sat hove to for the rest of the night waiting for the weather to improve. It did and we’re now following part two of the plan, which is following the south winds behind the low due north to Fiji. 400 miles and we’ll be there. We’ve also posted a second blog which analyses our No-Lo Maneuver Tactic. Enjoy!

Position: 25 degrees, 03 minutes south; 176 degrees, 58 minutes east

(Chicken in green curry sauce for dinner) Looking at our gps shows a distinct 90 degree left turn yesterday and then a meandering track, generally to the northwest, most of today. We’re still tracking to try and go just to the south of the low, and the barometer and wind are saying that we might be in the right place. It’s very calm and peaceful right now and we’re motoring for the first time since day one. We expect the low to cross above us around midnight and should see a wind shift that lets us turn due north for Fiji.

Not too much else to say for today. We’re just biding our time right now for another six or so hours to see what happens next.

Postion: 25 degrees, 43 minutes south; 178 degrees, 31 minutes east

I’ll explain the title in a minute. First, this is a bit of our log for the day.

0300-“Full, glorious moon. Just beautiful! I love to watch its reflection dancing across the wind swept waves”

Lisa plotting the weather on her iPad

A bit of a change in plan. Last night after downloading the latest weather off the radio we could see that a potentially nasty low pressure system is setting up to the north. It looks likely to be sliding right down onto our course and our planned stop at Minerva Reef. It wouldn’t be any fun to be in that weather nor would it be fun to be anchored inside a reef in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a “disturbance” such as this. So, the decision was made to bag going to Minerva and find a way around the low instead of just following our course and slamming right into it. No Bueno.

Being high tech Yachties, we loaded the weather file onto Lisa’s iPad and using iNavx, she was able to track the low over the next four days right on a gps chart of our course and plot a new course that has us going (hopefully) clockwise around the south side of the low.

The wind circulation of a low in the southern hemisphere rotates clockwise. The low is traveling from west to east as well, so the northeast quadrant has the highest winds and worst weather. This is because you get the windspeed based on the pressure gradients as well as the added speed of the low across the ocean. Anyway, by diverting around the south side, we get the lighter winds and once past the center of the low can pick up a south wind that will take us up to Fiji. That’s the theory at last. Keep watching over the next couple days to see how it works.

By the way, we now call lows like this “NoLows” because Lisa’s husband John sent us an email this morning that started off by saying there were “no lows in our vicinity”. He then went on to describe the low that’s coming down from the northwest. We all looked at each other; “huh?”. Must be a NoLow low. Hence the new name.

On the boat repair report, I won’t go through all the stuff that we’ve found that needed attention except to say that we found a significant tear on the leech of the brand new stays’l. About two feet along the seam up the leech, about two thirds up the sail. Bummer. We hove to for about an hour and dropped the sail to let Ann put some sail repair tape on it and hand sew a few stiches on top – a fine job! But – white tape on a brand new red sail – grrrrrrrhhh! Not a great advertisement for the sailmaker. I’m going to have to email them for a chat.

Our brand new staysail didn't match up to the squalls

Ann patching the staysail

We'll fix this better when we can break out the sewing machine and proper red sailcloth.

Cool new fun toy alert. The Brookhouse “iMux” black box that I connected to Charisma’s electronics is really proving to be useful. It sends all the boat data from the electronics, as well as gps and ais to my iPad and iPhone via wifi. Combined with iNavx which is a must have navigation app for the iPad, I can sit anywhere on the boat and see where we’re going, how fast, water depth, wind and even if there are any ships near us. A must have for iGeeks. Just make sure you have a waterproof case (as I have) so your iPad doesn’t get wet!

Sidenote: Ann and Lisa have gotten pretty good at setting up the boat. I really haven’t been doing much of the sailing so far-by the time I come on watch, they pretty much have Charisma trimmed for speed and the sails and wind vane (Wilson) all tuned up.

LOL-Those of you who know Lisa will understand this story. Orcinius (her boat) doesn’t have a wind vane, they have a powered autopilot. Set a course, push a button. Nice! On Charisma we have the wind vane. An ungainly, but endearing looking structure bolted onto the stern whose purpose is to harness wind power to steer the boat. Having never used a wind vane before but knowing that is what makes Charisma sail the seas, the day she stepped aboard and looked at the contraption that is our wind vane (lovingly known as Wilson), Lisa has been eyeing Wilson with an “I’m going to own you” silent glare. It took a couple days, and I have to say that it takes a while for most people to learn to use a wind vane correctly, but in just a couple days she’s cracked the code. It’s part art and part physics and Wilson seems to have developed a genuine respect of her abilities and is behaving admirably.

New friends, Lisa and Wilson

Quote of the day: From Lisa-“There is no one I’d rather share a bucket with than you guys!”

Lisa comment: Yes – we are coming up with new blue bucket stories daily. But trust me – what happens in the bucket stays on the boat? (oh my – that didn’t come out right!).

Hi guys. Thanks for all the comments, we’ve enjoyed reading them. I tried to send an email but it bounced. I must have copied it wrong. If you want to sailmail me your address I’ll try again. Bob

Position: 29 degrees, 13 minutes south 178 degrees, 21 minutes east

Drying out the foulies takes up the whole cabin

Thank goodness we had a nice day since last night was a brutal one. That was the height of the low that came across and while the waves were only in the 3 meter or so range, the wind was really gusting. We estimate it was a constant high 20s gusting somewhere into the 30s all night. We had a double reef and stays’l and were rail down. Then the gusts would hit and we’d round up a bit, the sails would shake the rig for from 10 seconds to a minute in the high gusts and then we’d be back to smoking along. We did about 140 miles, so were averaging 6 knots in that configuration. No lightning though, so I can’t totally complain too much.

We sailed out of the low sometime around 0900. Just like that we were in milder weather. It was pretty sudden. There was total darkness, rain, and gusty wind, then a couple hours after sunrise, we just sailed out of the clouds into the clear. I could look back and see the huge black squall still raining behind us and clear sky ahead. The barometer is up 5 to 1015, so that’s another sign. Anyway, we’ve been sailing all day in about 15-20 on the beam. We’ve had a double reef, stays’l and jib and are making about 6 knots. If it gets squally again this evening we can just furl the jib, so it’s a nice combo to have up. Not super fast, but the wind vane likes it and the flexibility to just furl and unfurl from the cockpit instead of having to go up to the mast to reef and un-reef the main is nice. Looks like tomorrow’s wind are getting lighter though, so we might shake out one or two of the reefs for the first time since leaving NZ.

Since it was a calmer day, we also had a real dinner tonight instead of pre-made. The first two days out we ate the pressure cooker beans, ham and potato thing I made Sunday night. No cook, just heat. Then last night was still too rough to conveniently cook, so Ann just heated up some soup. So it was nice this evening to actually be able to make something fresh. I made a stir fry pork and cabbage with ginger-garlic and peanuts. It wasn’t bad considering I’ve never made it before.

And the bucket brigade continues...

No progress on the blocked head so the “Bucket Brigade” continues exercises. The funny part is that it (the process of emptying the potty bucket) has become normal activity. Sailors are flexible people. Ann’s thought for the day is that we are still in the clothes we put on the first night. Some layers are coming off as the weather warms or the rain ceases. Fortunately none of us seem to smell too much, or perhaps our own fragrances provide cover for all. Just another sailing adaptation. We are all hoping tomorrow will bring weather warm enough for a cockpit shower! Lisa’s comment: It’s nice, and very noticeable to finally be in the 20’S! I have packed away my warmest gear today, and am looking forward to breaking out some shorts and t-shirts in a couple of days. Yes – last night was a busy one! Ann and I would take turns sitting in the companion way looking forward while the other would be alongside in the cockpit tucked up inside the dodger. We kept up the conversation to keep our minds off the weather, but every once in a while the companionway sitter would shout “WAVE!” and we would both brace ourselves for the onslaught of a big one breaking over the bow and into the cockpit, then carry on wherever we had just left off. Sure helped to make the night pass by much quicker having a buddy to get through the big ones with. Hopefully tonight we won’t have to be shouting WAVE so often! Oh yeah – and nothing like handing your bucket up to your friend and sharing in the days outcome! That’s enough on that subject! So that’s it for now, we’ll see you all tomorrow…

Position: 31 degrees, 22 minutes south 177 degrees, 26 minutes east

I’ve never heard of one before, but last night I saw one on the tail end of one of the squalls we sailed through.

Moonrise Charisma. Nice weather early on.

Got cold when the squalls were coming through.

"Hey, you guys want to come out in the rain with me?"

Yep, more squally weather. I gave Ann and Lisa very explicit instructions when I went to sleep around 2000. “Avoid the lightnings”. Right. I got wakened after an hour or so to consult on (wait for it….) some lightning that was approaching. They had the radar on and we were tracking a really big hit 24 miles off. After watching its direction on the radar, it looked like we should go to the left side and it would swing off to the east of us. Lisa was at the helm and for a while I continued to watch her path on the radar. Each time she turned my thought was; “That’s what I would have done”, so after one or two of those, I went back to sleep. A little while later I had the most vivid dream that Ann was waking me for something that needed looking at on deck. I jumped up, was just climbing the ladder when I thought: “I think that was a dream”. Turns out it was a dream, but a huge squall was just starting to hit. Massive rain, lightning, the whole thing. One thing I thought later was that lightning is awe inspiring to watch when it’s comfortably behind you, but terrifying when it’s in front. This particular squall is on par with the biggest I’ve ever seen. As we were trying to avoid it, it just grew bigger and swallowed us whole. Big, ominous, greasy dark grey inside with slashing lightning ready to tear us apart.

Somehow we got through it, but it wasn’t fun. The end of the squall was the beginning of my watch and Ann and Lisa were glad to dry off and get some sleep. I sat under the dodger waiting for the rain to stop, then finally some stars came out and the rain drifted off behind us. Just then the moon dropped below the clouds on the horizon and the moonlight lit up the rain squall we just passed through and that’s when I saw the rainbow. It was a perfect arch, about a mile across. The only difference with a daytime rainbow is that a moonlit one is shades of grey. There’s no color. It was beautiful in its strangeness.

Other than the squally night, today was a delight. Absolutely clear, ten knots or so of wind, just a nice slide. The only thing that marred the day was the head jammed. It’s stopped working and I can’t fix it while we’re bouncing around like this, so there’s nothing for it but to get out the bucket. Happy days.

It’s now evening, just after dinner and this is the night we have been anticipating the worst weather of our trip, at least according to the gribs I pulled on Monday and again last night. We’re right on the northern edge of a low that is coming across the top of NZ and it’s going to tag us for about 12 or so hours with winds in the high 20’s and low 30’s. That’s what we’re seeing right now. We’re down to a double reef and stays’l and doing 6-7 knots and are able to maintain our preferred course. At least for now. We’re all hoping for this to let up tomorrow. It’s not really bad, just a hassle. The gusts make the sails shudder, and the constant heeling makes it hard to move around much less cook, so canned soup for dinner and hope for better tomorrow. And of course I get to look forward to taking the toilet apart sometime in our future. Oh, yay.

Position: 33 degrees, 10 minutes south 176 degrees, 13 minutes east

We did 150 miles for the last 24 hours to 1530. We used a combination of engine to get off the coast and then while I was asleep “the girls” set the jib and we motor sailed and then this morning around 0900 we put up the main and turned off the engine. It’s been off since then and we added the stays’l. The wind is currently blowing around 18 knots and we have a double reefed main and the two headsl’s and we’re doing about 6-7 knots at 55 degrees to the NW wind.

We ended up not having too much lightning last night although we had a number of rain squalls. So far the wind hasn’t come up, but we expect the 24 hours starting tomorrow morning sometime to be not so comfortable. That’s when the low is expected to impact the area we’re in as it (hopefully) passes south of us. Time will tell, but the barometer is spot on to the grib forecast, so I’m hoping it all holds up.

We’re also enjoying our new crew, “Orcinius Lisa”. OK, her real name is Lisa Danger, but I don’t like to use that word on board (even though thg German pronunciation is “Dang grrrr”). Fun to have her on board and she knows what she’s doing, so we can stretch out our watches and get more sleep.

See ya-

Position: 35 degrees, 12 minutes south 175 degrees, 00 minutes east

We left Marsden today. Destination Fiji.

A quiet morning at Marsden, NZ

Leaving Marsden. Little did we know what weather was awaiting...

It was a lovely day. Sunshine, calm sea. Perfect day to leave and get used to navigating large distances of water toward tropical islands again. We checked in with the shortwave net (PacSeaNet) so they know where we are and where we’re going. We’ll continue to check in once per day at 1530 local time to track our progress with them. Then we had a Charisma at “cocktail time” to celebrate our departure as well as our new crewmate “Orcinius Lisa” as we got ready for the evening. Dinner, which I cooked last night was heated on the stove and we enjoyed an easy bowl of ham, beans and potatoes with fresh bread we bought from the local restaurant just before leaving.

Once everything was settling in for a seemingly nice evening-zzzzzappp! Lightning. Damn. That’s no bueno. On goes the radar to check for a return. Nothing. Nada. We can’t see it. Must still be too far away. Well, that’s good.

And so it goes on our first night out. We know we’re going to hit some unsettled weather. It’s part of leaving NZ in the winter. But we thought it would wait until at least tomorrow. Oh well. We’ll see how the night goes and hope for the best. If we can paint it on the radar maybe we can steer around it.

Check back tomorrow to see how the night went. I for one would be fine hearing-“No worries mate, it was a nice night!”

This blog is inspired by our conversation as Bob prepared dinner last night. Since we are a few days off of actually heading out I have not done the final fresh food provisioning. This makes our meals out here in Marsden, a marina two hours by boat out of Whangarei and closer to the ocean to leave, a bit more of a challenge. No running to the store for one needed ingredient.

So as Bob prepared a lovely fettuccine with prawns we pondered what vegetable we wanted to enjoy with it. And you guessed it we came up with dried peas! If you had told me a year ago that I would be looking forward to dried peas for dinner I would have laughed. But seriously, have you tasted canned peas?

In New Zealand I found Surprise dried Peas! And Surprise dried Beans! Rehydrate them and they rival frozen veggies. Consider the size of our freezer (4″ x 12″ x 8″) and you can get a better appreciation for the dried peas! Remember-our tiny freezer is half full of ice cube trays!

The other surprise food of New Zealand is canned tuna fish. I love tuna fish and we could eat it everyday for lunch. The issue in New Zealand is which flavor do you want? PLAIN in water please! That can be difficult to find. They have it flavored with everything from mayo to lemon pepper to chili pepper to smoked/barbecued and packed in oil. Truly, there are at least ten varieties on the shelf. I just want plain tuna, thank you.

They do the same with chicken. Just plain Kirkland chicken in the large can please.

But we adjust…

From Bob: my only add for today is that I managed to stab myself in the nose with a screwdriver! I was tucked down in the lazarette pulling on a hose with said screwdriver in hand and my hand slipped. Note to self- don’t hold the screwdriver with the sharp part facing you unless you want to seriously compete in a Twit Race. Oh well, now I can tell people Ann punched me!

Later in the day, I managed to burn my finger working on a new hand line for fishing. Don’t ask. I think I’m getting bored waiting for our weather window.

It’s been raining all day. It’s raining now at 1800. The only good thing about that is I have a Charisma in hand. 😉