Bundaberg

All good here, we arrived this morning and couldn't have been better, Customs ect were excellent and it all went smoothly and we are now out in the anchorage for 2 days to finish quarantine and then we are free😊
Will update how it all goes once we finish the process 👍

Nearly There

Sunday 17/5
What a day, been really squally since the early hours of this morning but all from behind and not getting over 30kts so it's been pushing us along nicely. So many little rain systems all around, wind up and down like we yoyó and just all over the place, just about had enough. Trying to get to the channel at the top of Fraser Island just before dark and then we have 50nm more miles into Bundaberg and should be a little less rolly so we will just take it slow overnight for a 8am arrival.
Sunflower is loving it with a bit of headsail let out, much happier even though still got 3 reefs in made 135nm today.
25nm to Fraser, 75nm to Bundaberg, we are getting there

A Bloody Mess!!

Ahh the wind died of yesterday evening and left us rolling for a while but then calmed off nicely and we plodded along at a terrifying 2knts making Sunflowers record lowest days run of 90nm!! We did set up the pole this morning though and are going along now doing 4-5 with a little bit of Genoa and it's looking good for arrival first thing Monday morning without having to heave to and wait, lets see.
Being such a nice day we decided to fire up the watermaker as it had not been used for 6 months, we then flushed and pickled it once again with sodium metabisulphite. (A tip for anyone interested you can buy this at your home brew shop or sometimes supermarket anywhere that sells home brew beer supplies, costs about $5 and enough for 5 times, just make sure it's 100% Sodium Metabisulphite, same as baby bottle steriliser and a lot cheaper than from Spectra!)
Now we will fire up the BBQ and have homemade burgers, all we need to top of this day now is to catch a fish!!
Saturday 16th Pos 24*59s 156*09e 215nm to Sunny Bundaberg

Update-asked for a fish and got one, never seen such a mess, even 2m up the mainsail is covered with blood!!!

Rolling

Nothing to report, pure torture here, absolutely perfect wind and we can't use it, Sunflower is not happy, this could be an all time sail.
Emailing Customs Australia today to see if our sea time still counts for quarantine and all else is the same, fingers crossed.
Winds sse around 20kts, small swell but rolly.
Clear sky's, warming up, no fish as of yet
POS 25*33s 157*48e
111nm day, 310nm to Bundaberg

Waddling

Not much excitement to report from here, yesterday and today Sunflower would have been in her perfect element, nicest possible sailing with 2 reefs, staysail and just a wrap or 2 on the Genoa with the wind behind at 120 degrees. But no, poor Sunflower is left waddling like a duck with 3 reefs in the main and nothing else trying to go as slow as possible to make Bundaberg Monday morning, so far we are on time and won't have to heave to and wait.
The freezer also started working again in the early hours of this morning which is great news although it is still not really tropical rum and coke weather as today it is all grey sky's and drizzle rain, hopefully today is the day though we will catch a fish.
Hasn't really been fishing weather so far but we have landed a couple of really big flying fish but I let them go alive. A fishing boat went astern of us yesterday "Esbjorn" I tried to call them up thinking they might be Aussie and want a chat but they didn't respond, must be French
POS 26*32S 159*30E
416nm to Bundaberg 112nm days run

Happy Days

Well thank fuck that's over!! Ha what a day we had yesterday.....
After downloading a new forecast after lunch it confirmed what was already happening and it was going to keep picking up so we decided to heave too, and 'try' and relax a little, wind was steady 25-30 with squalls on top. Heaving too proved quite nice, sitting well with the 3rd reef in the main, traveller let out and main sheeted in and a preventer holding it tight. We sat really well only making about 1kt, was nice to watch and then a couple of hours later we had a big squall gusting to 45kts and it was amazing we just sat there sweet hardly moving and the waves parting around us. The squall being that windy it actually flattened out the seas was quite full on thinking our solar panels were going to get blown off any minute!! Luckily it didn't last long, probably only 5 minutes at full force then went back to the 30-35 mark but this is when the seas started picking right up and it was like a washing machine, Sunflower started going all over the place and twice nearly tacked into the wind with the main luffing. I think this was also because we were coming up to a contour and the seas were all over the place and really building, if we did tack we would be in a world of hurt with the preventer and the wheel lashed so while it was still light we decided to leave and just run with it heading north. This felt a lot better but soon after another squall and the seas really were big, this is when I am really happy to have a double ender, we surfed a few but if we ended up side on to one of these is not worth thinking about, luckily this squall just before sunset was the last one and slowly the seas died as the wind went back to a nice 20-25 and by midnight 20, then it was good enough to put out a little bit of Genoa and start heading a little more west again, happy days.
From midnight the seas dropped really fast, amazing and today we have just 18-20 and it feels like its flat calm, nice big lunch of chicken/salad and a beer to celebrate and now with a nice forecast for the next 5 days we can kick back and relax once again, and all of this will be forgotten soon enough
POS 27*24s 161*15e.
525nm to Bundaberg

How nice is the Pacific??

What a shitty night.... yesterday we motored until 1630 and then the wind filled in from the south and we sailed along nice. Looking at the new forecast it didn't look so bad saying we would have around the 20kt mark for the night. It slowly built at dark and by 2130 we had squalls gusting to 30 with lightning and the seas had built. Problem was also the wind angle SSW which meant to keep our reasonable course we have it right on the beam. With 3 reefs in and the tiniest triangle of Genoa we carry on WNW with very little sleep and a lot of creaking. It's a fine line as we don't want to go to fast and when we bare away we are doing 7+kts flying down the faces of waves so we then try and point up a bit but if to much we cop a few crackers slapping the side of the hull with a mighty crash.
Then just after daybreak the mother squall she came through bringing 40kts, she was really cranking. We started to go with it but then thought better and hove too for the last bit of it with just the main and waited for it to pass, it only lasted an hour and we were back sailing again. Looking west on the grib it shows we should have clearer sky's by this afternoon so the further west we get the better the conditions hopefully are, even though it says stronger winds at least there hopefully won't be the squalls, by tomorrow hopefully it's a lot better, it's definitely not a fishing trip!!
Our freezer has also given up, doesn't like the weather either but hopefully it comes good when it calms down, its like it gets a bubble in the gas or something with all the movement, so no opening it up today to get ice for the rum and coke that's for sure.
There was also a Chinese fishing vessel on AIS typically as everything is going on so no doubt there are more around will have to keep a closer eye out, first boat seen since NZ 6 days ago.
So all is well and hopefully the next forecast brings some good news
Midday update POS 29*00s 163*04e.
648nm to Bundaberg

Rainy Day

Had great sailing all day yesterday and through the night. Wind picked up just enough yesterday morning and slowly went around to the north by the afternoon until we were on a perfect beam reach. We then swapped the spinnaker pole over to the port side and put in a 3rd reef ready for what the forecast may bring later today and tomorrow, easier to do it then when it's calm and not raining and we are in no rush anyway. The wind lasted until 6am this morning and then it was like we entered a big wall of rain and the wind direction went all over the place and died so we just started the engine and have been carrying on west and sailing for bits in between. The rain is just consistent heavy drizzle, sky's completely grey, the forecast says the wind will swing around 180 degrees by this afternoon bringing strong southerlies into tomorrow so with the 3rd reef we will be cruising very comfortably heading in the right direction for Bundaberg and it looks like the wind will then stay in SE for the rest of our journey so it should be very nice
Still haven't seen a single ship since leaving NZ, very quiet out here but the little swallow bird keeps dropping in to say saying hello, not shy at all

Noon Pos 29*54s 165*18e 776nm to Bundaberg Monday 11/5/20

Norfolk Island

Going good today, motored though most of last night but then the wind came in this morning nicely and we have been heading west. Passed about 80 miles south of Norfolk Island and it's a real shame we couldn't stop in to check it out.
The sky's are grey today with a big swell coming in from the north, looks like we will get a lot of rain the next days but it's all good.
Sunflower is sailing really well considering we have 2 reefs and a reefed Genoa, we do have a favouring current though. We don't want to go too fast as we want to arrive in Bundaberg not until Monday the 18th. Check in for Australia is already $600+ and if we arrive on the weekend you can probably double that for overtime! No hurry anyway , part of the condition of entry with all this Covid 19 is we have to quarantine for 14 days. When we left the rules were that the quarantine starts from the hour we leave NZ so arriving on the 18th will be 12 days at sea and then we can do formalities and go to anchor for 2 more days quarantine before being set free into the world, well Bundaberg and that could be dangerous!!
Hopefully these rules don't change before we get there.
Not a lot more going on, lots of reading, eating, spilt half a litre of dirty engine oil all over the cockpit, couple of little birds flying in and out of the cabin and a big Albatross has been checking us out from time to time, the days are rolling on nicely but still not BBQ weather

Pos 30*19s 167*27 Days run 133nm, 889nm to Bundaberg
38 hours on engine since leaving

9/5/20 Rolling

Yesterday we were going along nice but a lot more west than planned then late afternoon we jibed and headed more north to find a bit of warmth. Last night I lost my shit, we are sailing as dead down wind as we can with all sails poled out and even though it wasn't that windy, only about 13kts the sea was horrible. A big rolling swell had picked up and if you look at the chart where we are the contour lines are just crazy with all these trenches and mountains the currents are pushing you all over the place and Sunflower ends up corkscrewing all over the place with sails banging like crazy so the only thing to do so we can each get a few hours sleep was start the engine. By 4am the seas had dropped and it was relatively calm again with just a little current against us and we set the sails and are still going fine. The winds are meant to go more east this afternoon so we will make some more west from that hopefully.
Fishing hasn't been happening, haven't even wet a line yet as I don't want to get even more smelly, it's so bloody cold we haven't had a shower since we left but today is the day! We are probably about 500km north of where we were in Whangarei NZ and it's making all the difference also the water temp is also up nearly 5 degrees so happy days. The suns out today with just a few rain clouds about and our solar is topping things up and there's just enough wind to sail so Happy Days

Midday Pos 31*29s 169*45e
114nm made good to Bundaberg, 126nm made good towards Norfolk Island
1025nm to Bundaberg

Covid 19

Thurs 7/5/20

Well I think it might nearly be a year since I have updated the blog, I'm not sure if I even wrote about Tonga it was that long ago, I just lost touch with it all as I'm over the blogging writing about the same stuff always over again but I do miss writing about the sailing which is why we are here for.
So let me just say Tonga was great, Minerva Reef was brilliant, passage to NZ uneventful, New Zealand absolutely fantastic and Covid 19 sucks balls.
We were fortunate enough to be in one of the best places in the world for the Corona virus, New Zealand an isolated modern 1st world country that loves sailors, so very lucky. Then there is the town Whangarei that we spent the lockdown in, absolute gem of a place the friendliest locals and a good handful of our really good sailing friends that we have known some since the Caribbean, we were so lucky to be there I tell you.
The only deterrent was it is getting bloody cold, real cold especially with those southerlies. Just before the 5 weeks NZ covid lockdown finished I had been contacting ABF, Australian Customs to see if it was possible for me and Julie to sail for Aus, after a fair amount of paperwork we were both allowed as I'm an Australian citizen and Julie got an exemption being my immediate family so we got the ball rolling and went ahead contacting NZ customs and filled out another heap of paperwork and then they determine if we are allowed to go. I think we may be one of the first yachts to actually leave, if not the first. When I first contacted them there wasn't much in place and then the forms started and it evolved from there, all parties really great to deal with but they are very understandably very cautious of letting first anyone in to Australia but then also NZ have to have their worries about endangering their workers or us sailing off and needing assistance if we get into trouble out there, fair enough.
Anyway after waiting for a half decent forecast we decided to leave and here we are just over 24 hours out and past the North Cape into the Tasman/South Pacific on a course heading for around Norfolk Island then heading more west up towards Sunny Bundaberg the land of the worlds worst rum!!
We left on the back of a big shitty weather system with freezing cold southerlies, heading out the heads we were wondering what the hell we were doing trying to motor sail out of the channel into 25+kts with the tide against waves and the bow burying into the waves and me soaked to the bone, also with the harbour master in his little boat behind us wandering what the fuck we were doing as he was probably copping it worse than us! Anyway it was enough excitement and after we rounded the heads we had the 25 behind us and we were rushing off with a just a double reefed main doing 7kts, happy days and time for a celebrated beer.
As predicted the wind died and by midnight we were motor sailing for a few hours but then some beautiful sailing in just enough breeze but then with a big cloud that died at lunch today as we neared the Cape and are motor sailing once again, forecast has light winds for the next few days so I predict it will be much the same until we get up to Norfolk Island and soon after there is a bit of a trough coming through and then wind after then, let's see

Fri 8/5/20
Sailed nicely yesterday afternoon until nearly midnight when we lost all the wind and had to start the engine. From the Cape and up until this morning we had a strong current against us but this morning we finally lost it and may even have a touch with us let's hope it lasts. At daylight there was just enough wind to sail so we poled out the genoa but the wind comes and goes so with a big side swell our fully battened mainsail was bashing around so we put in the second reef and poled out the staysail and have been going along alright, at least nice and quietly without the engine.
12to12 run 120nm made good for Bundaberg, 1138nm to go.
Hey and it warming up a bit!! Really amazed how quick it has changed but it is still far from tropical
Pos @ 1230= 33*02s 171*23e. 21 hours on the engine since leaving Marsden