PAR.  It’s a type of bad weather radar assisted approach used by the military to get their aircraft on the runway in zero/zero conditions.  Basically (and highly simplified explanation) a radar controller using precision radar tracks the aircraft and “talks” the pilot down to the ground.

What does this have to do with Charisma?  Well, we were approaching the Yasawas (from the north) last night at 2200 in deteriorating weather AND we had two retired military radar controllers sitting on Orcinius waiting for us.  They brought us in.

Normally I would never come through the reefs in poor visibility let alone at night, but Orcinius had a track through the reef (as depicted on their chart plotter/radar) that they made when they came in here mid-afternoon with good visibility so were able to give us some waypoints.  But even better, they tracked us on their radar and compared the radar return with the track they made earlier in the day (a “red line” shown on their radar screen).  This gave us a backup and more precision than just following waypoints (in which you can easily be a hundred yards off).  Wow – Precision Approach Radar.  Add to that my experience as an instrument (IFR) rated private pilot and a normally questionable approach looked pretty doable.  I’ve flow down the glideslope to within a couple hundred feet or so of the ground without being able to see the runway (or the ground for that matter) in rain and fog just using the “gauges” so why not in my boat?

So, in we went.  And we were relieved to head in.  A night spent hove to in increasingly windy, building waves and rain with lightning visible in the distance is not my idea of fun.

Before starting in I made a “route” on the chart plotter using the waypoints that John gave me earlier in the day via shortwave radio.  That way the general route plan was automated and I had a feed into the helm for steering.  The GPS would show us a path.  Normally just the GPS is not enough for me to feel comfortable around reefs in the dark – but with our radar controllers we had backup.  As we approached we called them on the VHF.  They responded that they had us on radar and would give us further direction as needed.  Great.  We’re on the glideslope.  Time to start the approach.

As we rounded the north end of the island we were taking some breaking waves into the cockpit, so not a lot of fun.  It’s now blowing 20+ gusting to 30.  I had to concentrate on the helm to keep us on the track, so Ann took care of the radio.  “Orcinius, Orcinius, this is Charisma, do you copy?”  “Roger, Charisma.  Have you loud and clear.  Good signal on radar; we have you coming right on the line”.  Nice.  They even sound like radar controllers.

As we got closer in where the reef narrows and Ann needed to be doing some other boat prep to get the anchor ready and such (I was too busy steering in the blustery conditions to do the talking) , Orcinius called, “OK, no response needed, we’ll just give directions.  Charisma, make a 10 degree left turn.  OK, back on the line.  Now turn right straight to our light.  Good come straight in, you’re right on the line”.

And so it went.  It took about an hour from our initial approach point until we pulled up to within a boat length behind Orcinius where we dropped the anchor and immediately got blown back on the anchor by the gusting wind.  Fortunately the holding here is exceptional in good sand and the anchor grabbed right off and dug in.  We were set.

After cleaning up the boat a little to make sure nothing blew overboard during the night, we talked about our approach over a glass (OK, a couple glasses!) of wine.  We decided that was kind of fun, but the third kind of fun that is better after you wake up the next morning.  For now we agreed, “Let’s not do that again soon!”

Many thanks to Controllers John and Lisa from Orcinius.  You guys are awesome!

Position: 16 degrees 27 minutes south; 177 degrees, 46 minutes east

It’s coming on 1900 on our second night out from Nagelelevu. We’re about 16 miles from the north end of the northern most Yasawa island and are headed for Yasawa-I-Rara. It’s a bay just down from the top of the island. Orcinius got there this afternoon, so we have a bit of a description of the anchorage as well as some waypoints for coming in. It’s a bright moon, so with the waypoints and our radar we’re going to go in. We expect to get there sometime around 2200 or so. If it doesn’t look good we’ll stand off for the night and go in during daylight. We’ll see.

Last night was one of those nights that keep you coming back for more. We sailed all night in the brilliant moonlight. No clouds, stars, moon, calm one meter swell and nice warm breeze that kicked us along between 4 and 6 knots. It doesn’t get much better for a passage. Then today around noon the wind died way down and we reluctantly turned on the engine and have been motor-sailing ever since in an effort to get to the anchorage at a reasonable hour (if you consider 2200 as reasonable. Well it’s better than, say, 0300)

So stay turned tomorrow and we’ll tell you how it went and maybe describe a little of our first impression of the Yasawa chain of islands. It’s in the northwest part of the Fiji archipelago. We didn’t go here last year, so it will be all new.