October 2008: South Pacific
Rivergate Marina, Brisbane, Australia (S 27.26.690 E 153.06.356)
(YouTube Clip)
Couldn’t Noumea just say ‘see ya’ and let us leave peacefully instead of shooting us through the outer reef Dumbea Pass like a watermelon seed between fingers? That’s pretty much what happened. The winds were in the 20s at the anchorage and increased to the 30s by the time we reached the pass and the point of no return. We continued on after passing thru on a heading that was a bit off our desired course. We were dealing with winds in the high 30s, waves in the 4'-10’ range and made a course that took the wind and wave angles into consideration. The video that I got of some of this is fantastic. Late in the afternoon before sunset and while I was on watch the autopilot wanted a break. Maybe it was due. It made a hard left and luckily I was looking aft watching the quartering waves and caught the wheel to hand steer before we were fully abeam the waves.
Bob and the other Dave were down below resting for their watches and I was in the cockpit alone. This turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences for me of this entire journey. The winds were very strong and the waves were an issue and I needed to keep the boat moving quickly enough for rudder authority and was able to surf up to 10.7 knots. I thoroughly love to surf sailboats. The technique involves not looking back, feeling the boat lift up and start to turn on a wave, counter-steering to stop the yawing of the boat, surfing down the face of the wave and then turning out and getting ready for the next wave. Seas this big and a boat this big requires solid footing and sometimes a heavy hand on the wheel to get it moving quickly enough. If you are behind the curve and the boat turns abeam the waves you can usually get lucky and skid sideways down the face. Luckily, it did not happen to me this time. Several years ago off California I unfortunately had a few skids and quickly learned.
We were heading due west right into a setting sun. The glare on the water didn’t help much but it sure made for some scenic waves. Well after sunset the largest wave I saw was probably around 12’ and this was after I surfed it and it rolled ahead of us.
In the daylight it was comforting to see the horizon and get a feel for the conditions. Once the sunlight was gone I used Venus, as it is always on the western horizon at sunset, as a mark to sail to. Instead of looking at the compass or gauges you can keep a star inside the shrouds or in reference to the mast and not have to look down for course corrections. This allows for more concentration on steering. Venus is known as the sunset star and eventually drops below the horizon and negates its use. As luck would have it the moon came up. I was then able to use the moon’s reflection on the water as a mark to steer to. Steering this way made me think of all the sailors in the past that used the sky to navigate.
This was one watch that I was glad to hand over to Bob when it was his turn. Probably not needed to mention is the fact that I did not get much sleep on the first part of this passage.
I have accumulated approximately 18,000 offshore nautical miles making a big dent in a circumnavigation and at the end of these journey’s a recurring thought comes to mind which is; nothing goes to weather like a 747.
Dave
PS: And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun.
Pink Floyd
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