May 8, 2016
Position: 23 28.70 S, 169 49.05 E
May 8, 2016
After coming through the rain yesterday we were becalmed, and got under way using the engine. Soon, however, a nasty 25-30 knot wind on the nose developed! We sailed into it for several hours until I’d had enough, and we hove-to under storm staysail and double-reefed main. Heaving-to is where you back the headsail and lash the rudder hard over, and it stops the boat. Privateer is an extremely capable boat for heaving-to, with her full keel underwater. She creates a nice slick on the windward side which knocked down any waves that might otherwise slap up against the boat. We were effectively “parked” in the middle of the ocean. We stayed hove-to through the night and caught up on some much needed sleep after all the excitement of the gales. It was wonderful, and to have the option of heaving-to is so important. In our case, we could have blasted on to windward, but I was just too tired! I got up around 10am and we had a nice brunch. Finally, around 4pm we got under way again, just as the contrary winds died out. We had been parked for 10 hours and didn’t even drift more than 5 NM, in 30 knots of wind. The decks stayed dry and the motion below was comfortable. We’re using the “Iron Genoa” again for the final 2-day push to Vanuatu. Intense lightning storms are lighting up the distant horizons and we’re hoping they stay far, far away, as we’ve had our share of weather on this passage. Now we can focus on putting the ship right for port, top up our water tanks, etc. We gave Taz a hot bath in our laundry tub and he loved it. He fussed every time we tried to pull him out and he stayed in until the water got cold (as cold as it can get in the tropics anyway) and his toes were all shriveled. I cleaned out my ship’s papers locker today and threw all of the NZ Immigration paperwork into the sea! I’ve been looking forward to doing that for quite some now. Of all the countries paperwork we’ve navigated so far, NZ has been the biggest pain in the butt! As it turns out, NZ is not the carefree, relaxed nation it claims to be. They take rules to a frustrating, hair-pulling level of ridiculous. We had entire binders full of Immigration forms, that are now safely behind us and turning to pulp in our wake.
