On Anchor in Jacks Bay, Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Sailing from Tonga to New Zealand was expected to be the most difficult passage between home and New Zealand. Our Pacific Ocean wind chart indicates the wind often blows from New Zealand. To travel up wind, we have to point the bow off of the wind about 50 degrees. Therefore, we would travel almost two miles to travel one mile up wind.

Also, the geography around New Zealand is famous for producing storms. Highs and lows form over the landmass of Australia. Prevailing winds move these highs and lows over the Tasman Sea. Wind and current from the Bass Straight, south of Australia comes whipping up the Tasman Sea, and intensifies the weather coming off of Australia, and delivers many sever storms to New Zealand and the surrounding ocean.

Before we left Tonga, we collected lots of information on frequencies and times for weather forecasts. We found that all of the information that we needed was provided by PinOak (our email provider) and the Flying Fish Net. The most useful information was provided by the Flying Fish Net. This net and similar nets are simply a group of people who congregate on a particular radio frequency at a particular time each day to disseminate and gather information that increases the safety of their voyage. On the Flying Fish net, every morning, one person would read the official weather forecast, another would read the headline news, and then all boats that signed on would report their position, boat speed, heading, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, and any problems they were having. The ones who had been reporting the longest would report first, so generally, we would hear what is going on close to NZ first, and then work our way back to Tonga. Individuals would also make requests to talk to certain other boats listening on the net, on another frequency, or after the net was finished. All of this is done on a volunteer basis. We listened to the net on a regular basis. We did not report, but if we had a problem, it was comforting to know that we could talk to the boat closest to us for help, if necessary. The members, and leaders of the net are constantly changing because people join in when they leaving on the passage, and terminate their participation as soon as they reach New Zealand. While we were making the passage, about 20 boats, on average, were reporting into the net.

Lucky for us, the wind was more favorable than expected. The highest wind speed recorded in our log, where we record an instantaneous reading on each hour, was 29 knots, or about 35 mph. The highest we saw on the anemometer was 35 knots, or about 42 mph. But much of the time, winds were so light that we had to motor. A passage that lasts more than a few days is always subject to weather that can not be forecast before departure. We planned our departure as best we could, but the rest is left to chance. We were fortunate.

The entire trip took us just about 9 days. We motored about 1/2 of the time, mostly because we had insufficient wind and one day when the wind was directly on our nose and not enough to make good time, We had plenty of fuel, and we decided not to sail off the wind at a slow speed.

On the entire trip, we have been surprised that we have not seen more boats on the open ocean. The Tonga to New Zealand was not a major exception, but we did see three boats: one sailboat, and two freighters in 9 days. All three boats were just at the horizon.

On this passage, I made good use of my night watches by studying the stars. This passage was excellent for this purpose, because the moon was at the end of its cycle and did not provide much light to compete with the stars and planets. Every part of the sky was covered with stars. When looking through binoculars, the stars made the sky appear in 3D, with brighter areas looking closer, and less bright areas looking recessed. Reflections of Jupiter, Saturn, and the brightest stars could be seen across the water.

I decided to try to learn to identify a few of the stars. When Aaron visited, he brought a Phillips Stargazer for the Southern Hemisphere. It included a star wheel, a chart, and a beginner's guide. With the help of the guide and star wheel, I was able to get my celestial bearings, and identify numerous objects in the sky, including Pegasus, the Pointers, the Southern Cross, the two Magellanic Clouds, Orion, Taurus (Elke's astrological sign), Pleiades, Sirius, Betelgeuse (Beetle Juice) and a globular cluster called 47 Tucane. The two Magellanic Clouds are fascinating because they represent two complete Galaxies that are companions to our own Milky Way Galaxy. And of course the Milky Way spread brightly across the sky.

To anyone as ignorant as I was about star identification, I strongly recommend spending a few hours with a dim flashlight and a stargazer on a moonless night away from light pollution. Read and use the booklet first, and the wheel second. The wheel took me some time to get used to, but it became easy to find more and more stars, and the planets.

We arrived in New Zealand during the daylight, which is better than most of our arrivals after long passages. Because of changing winds and therefore changing boat speeds, we can't plan our arrival time very well. It seems like more often than not, we arrive just after dark and because I won't go the first time into a new port at night, we have to stand watch off shore until morning. We first spotted New Zealand shortly before noon, and we arrived at the Quarantine Dock about 4:00 PM on the 19th of November.

The customs people were the most organized that we have seen. As George mentioned in his report, they confiscated numerous food items. When they handed me the many long forms to fill out, I told them that my mother doesn't even know that much information about me. Of course they smiled, but the forms still had to be completed. About a hour later, we were allowed to lower our Q(uarantine) flag, and raise the New Zealand courtesy pennant.

One tidbit for those that want to be New Zealand "in-the-know." The trendy name for New Zealand is pronounced, "Enzed." Several people have used it on me since my arrival.

The area that we are in now is called the Bay of Islands. It is dotted with nearly 150 islands, and as many small bays and coves with excellent, beautiful anchorage. The shoreline is rocky and could be mistaken for some beautiful, twisting section of Maine's coast. In less than three days, we have been on three lovely anchorages. We decided that it would be lovely to work our way to Whangarei by making a 5-mile passage each day. But time will not allow.

The plan from here forward is to check out the various places that Cosmos could be left during my return to Maryland. Opua was included in that list until we checked out the facilities and no sufficient mooring, berth, or haul out facility is available. Next stop Whangarei and if no sufficient facilities are found there, on to Auckland where I know sufficient facilities exist, and we even have an informal reservation.

In search of a temporary home for Cosmos,