Oooh La La

Oh but the French know how to do it!

We've arrived safely in Noumea, New Caledonia and have met up with a rather bedraggled, but safe, Peter aboard Troutbridge. It appears that the opinion was that that was a cyclone that hit us (not sure if I'd classify it as such but it sure was nasty).

Anyway, dinner tonight was our long awaited baguettes, brie and pate and, oh my, it was gooooood! We went to the local supermarket which looks more like the most incredible delicatessen one can imagine. I can't remember ever seeing such choices. Just the cheese and cold meat section alone, is mind boggling. Now, all we need is the budget to go along with it.

However, I'm missing out on mentioning our time in Vanuatu. It was very brief but great. We dropped anchor early on the Monday morning and managed to arrange our trip to the volcano within an hour of doing so. By late afternoon, we were in the local village awaiting a truck to take us up the mountain.

We arrived just about sunset and sat at the edge watching sprays of lava shoot up into the air. Every once in a while, a huge thunderclap would sound and the lava put on a terrific show. As the night got darker and darker, so the viewing was more and more spectacular. And, this was apparently only a level one or two. Can't imagine what a level three would be like. By the time it reaches a level four, no visitors are allowed near the mountain at all; just too dangerous.

Getting out of Port Resolution the following morning was a bit of a mission as the seas were horrendous and the wind was right on the nose (where else?) but once we were able to turn southwards, we zapped along at quite a pace covering far more distance than we'd originally anticipated.

This, unfortunately, meant that, with another full day of good winds, we were going to arrive too early to enter the passage into New Caledonia. To try to right this, we decided to hove to and spend a relaxing night out at sea to tackle the tricky parts in the light of the following day. Not a good decision as it turned out as we ended up drifting 17 nm away from our destination despite two drogues employed to slow us down. The following day, it took us several hours to make up the lost mileage which meant that we only arrived at the pass by late morning instead of early morning. Oh well, from then on, it was literally plain sailing.

Photos of the volcano will be posted as soon as we get onto internet tomorrow or soon thereafter.

The following photos are of Troutbridge.  One in the calm waters after we'd lost and found him after the first night and the second when we finally met up again in Noumea.  He'd been through some rough times in between.

The Calm Before the Storm

A very sad kitty

Paul trying to cut the sail down

Mount Yasur, Tanna Island, Vanuatu

During our brief stay in Vanuatu, we wandered around the charming village of Port Resolution for a few hours while waiting for the truck to take us to the top of Mount Yasur, the active volcano.  Although we found the local population to be somewhat more reserved than their neighbours in Fiji, they were still very friendly and welcoming.  It was a particularly charming village, well laid out, well maintained and chock full of bananas, papaya, guava, almonds, and all the local root vegetables.

The glow of Mount Yasur was apparently what attracted Captain James Cook on his journey to the island in 1744, so I guess it's been quite a sight for many years now.  The level classifications of 0 to 4 are an indication of how active and how dangerous it becomes.  The normal level of 1 is what we experienced.

Vanuatu, formerly New Hebrides, is a series of 82 small volcanic islands, with a population of only around 225,000.  There are several active volcanoes besides this one, as well as a few underwater ones.  Volcanic activity is common with an ever-present danger of a major eruption.

It was first claimed by the Spanish in the 1600's but a French/United Kingdom consortium took control and Capt Cook (he seems to have got into everywhere around these parts) renamed it the New Hebrides which remained until they gained their independence in 1980.  

In our short time there, we discovered that the local school was English but also heard that some of the islands still taught in French.  With New Caledonia's French population so nearby, that seemed to make sense.

 PHOTO GALLERY:

 

 

Port Resolution, Vanuatu

We arrived safely in this little bay early this morning after a fairly boisterous night sailing with a postage stamp of a head sail in order to ensure we didn't arrive before first light.

No sooner had we dropped anchor when an outrigger canoe approached to discuss arrangements to take us up the volcano which, by the way, seems to live under a fairly large and permanent cloud nearby.

Sleep, cleanup and some food then off we should be.

Miracles DO Happen!

We received the following message from KiwiRescue early this morning:

We are continuing with our enquiries today, starting with a RNZAF
KiwRescue P3 Orion aircraft overflying the general area of Peter's last
position while it transits to a separate search up at Kiribati. It will
make VHF broadcasts in the hope of getting a response. Depending how it
pans out, we may ask to divert the P3 to run a rhumbline search to
Tanner Island on it's way back from Kiribati.
------------------------------------------

AND THEN THIS!!!!!!!!!

------------------------------------------

From KIWI RESCUE 314.
COMMS ESTABLISHED WITH SV TROUTBRIDGE. VESSEL SUSTAINED SOME STORM
DAMAGE BUT IS MAKING WAY. DESTINATION NOUMEA. EST NEW CALEDONIA 4 DAYS.
PRESENT POSITION 19 13S 173 07E, 4-5 KTS. SOME LEAKS, PUMPS COPING. 1 X
SAIL LOST, 1 X DAMAGED, 1 X REMAINING. 1 X POB. SV TROUTBRIDGE REQUESTS
RCCNZ PASS INFO TO SV CALYPSO. SV TROUTBRIDGE ADVISED HE IS EQUIPPED
WITH EPIRB, LIFERAFT AND LIFEJACKETS AND OFF SHORE FLARE PACK.

All I can say is this type of result makes our day! I will now inform
all agencies of the fantastic result.

Bon Voyage

John Ashby
RCCNZ
-------------------------------------------

Need I say more? Once the tears of joy have subsided, I think we'll break out the last few drops of our whiskey but, then again, rather we save that for our reunion when we finally get down to New Caledonia.

Is No News Good News?

Position as at 03:00 25/11/2012

19 09 013S 172 16 855E

Still no further news on Troutbridge but we have now given full details to the Pacific Seafarer's Net who have reported the incident to the authorities in New Zealand and will take over from here on. We feel a little more relieved but remain very concerned.

Our day was one of great sailing conditions on the most part and we're now averaging around 6.5 knots in relatively calm seas so can expect to arrive at Port Resolution some time on Monday morning.

In all the turmoil over Peter, I forgot to mention that we had, prior to being hit with that thunderbolt of weather, caught a really nice Wahoo, one of our absolutely favourite fish and one that we've so rarely caught. We also hooked a decent sized Mahi Mahi but it got away at the last second. It always feels a little bit of a relief when a Mahi Mahi gets away as they are such beautiful fish, it seems a shame to kill one. We had joked with Peter about him rowing over to join us for sushi that night - we'll save some in the hopes that we'll all get together on another occasion.

In the meantime, we just pray for some good news.

A Night from Hell

Last night has, without exception, got to be the worst we've ever experienced in our eight years of cruising. One minute the water looked like a mill pond, the next all hell had broken loose and we couldn't even read the instruments in our cockpit.

Winds whipped up the seas to such an extent that we hauled in all sails, blocked up the companionway steps and huddled below with the world bashing and crashing around us. Never known such fury.

The worst part of it all is, we've lost contact with Peter. We last spoke to him just before this hit and all seemed well but have not managed any contact since. When things calmed down a bit at first light, we started looking, calling on the radio every few minutes but, sadly, nothing.

We had drifted over 7nm during the night and figured he would have done something similar so stayed in the area, constantly calling on the VHF. After many hours, we decided to head back up to the rhum line in the hopes that he's back on tract. The hours passed by and still no sign of him.

We continued trying to contact him throughout the day but could find no other vessels to relay messages so got onto SSB's emergency channels. Still no luck. Paul has now sent out emails to friends back in Suva and others trying to establish if his EPIRB has been activated. The replies have returned to indicate that no activation has taken place as yet. We can only hope that that's a good sign.

By mid afternoon, with another system possibly coming through, we had to get out of there. We simply can't put ourselves and our boat at risk through another storm like that again. We're feeling helpless and somewhat ill at the thought of Pete out there in last night's conditions. It can't have been easy.

Sadly, we lost all our snorkelling gear. It was always kept in a canvas bag secured with a bolt rope and three bungy cords but it was obviously ripped off in the high winds. Two shortie wet suits, two masks & snorkels, three pairs of fins (my brand new ones) as well as booties and hoodies. Damn, damn, damn. Didn't need that! However, if you'd experienced those conditions, you'd agree that we got off very lightly.

We're now continuing on to Port Resolution in Vanuatu and are just praying that we find him coming into the bay in a few days time.

Our current position at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning is 18 53 8S and 174 24 2E. Please hold thumbs and cross fingers for Troutbridge.

Slow Progress

Our current position after over 40 hours is only 18 30 28S 176 41 05E

We finally left Suva at noon on Tuesday with Troutbridge following behind. Peter's leaving was fraught with so many problems but he was actually placed between a rock and a hard place.

He'd applied for an extension from the authorities to allow his boat to stay in Fiji for a while longer to ensure that all systems were up and running and it was safe for him to leave. They turned down his request forcing him to either leave with a boat that was unsafe or having to import the vessel into the country - a cost he simply couldn't consider.

Had it not been for Dave, a fellow cruiser, there was literally no hope that his boat was remotely seaworthy. The engine (after paying a mechanic some horrendous fees and many many months of frustrating non activity from said worker) proved to be anything but sound. So too with the electrics that he'd paid out a fortune to have repaired. And the final blow came the day we were to check out when he discovered that the GRP work in the form of the hull and keel repairs were badly delaminating, causing serious leaks.

Dave looked into all of this and did a remarkable job under the circumstances but we left with Peter having to pump out 70 litres of water every hour and an engine that still overheated periodically. Thus, it has taken us this long to get next to nowhere.

To top it all, when we tried to make radio contact this morning, nothing. The hours went by with us just sitting on the rhum but still nothing. After mid morning, by which time we were extremely worried, we decided to motor back, calling him on the radio every few minutes. This finally paid off, we found him and were able to wait for him to meet us back on the rhum line several hours later. What a relief.

There has been no wind all day so we motored for most of it hoping to get clear of a nasty low system heading our way. I think we've avoided it. However, Pete has very limited fuel so we are, at this stage (two in the morning), wallowing away with a bit of sail up in the hopes of finding some small tad of breeze that will move us forward. Not much out here, I must say.

Anyway, the important this is, he's keeping up with the inflow or water and his engine behaved quite well during the day. His auto pilot is playing up a bit but, then, so is ours - they don't like trying to steer when there is no wind to assist.

Other than that, all is well and we're heading for Tanner Island in Vanuatu, a shorter route for Peter and, hopefully, an active volcano for us to see.