Rocking and Rolling
Silver Fern waiting patiently
Silver Fern update of first 24 hours of our Opua- Fiji passage! It’s taken a while for it to be flat enough to comfortably write the blog. We departed Opua after conducting MOB drills and setting up the storm jib. Chomping at the bit, we cast off our lines and waved goodbye to Te Kaihopara’s envious crew. I’m surprised none of them tried to stow away. Overnight we saw up to 42kts of wind and still have 4m swells pushing us along. A bout of seasickness spread through 3 of the crew last night but the cure came when Russell, John, Anne and Kylie cracked the sheets at 6am and aimed the boat downwind - once we reached latitude 33°30.6’S. We are honking along between 6-10kts of boat speed, I think the record overnight was 14kts but I didn’t see it with my own eyes so it totally doesn’t count. Most valuable player goes to Russell for looking after the seasick crew members and tidying up after them, but biggest chunny bag award goes to Felicity. We quickly realised that Not-a-nonna Anne is a gally guru and we all appreciated the warm tasty spag bol that appeared in our hands.
Hoist the mainsail you scurvy seadogs
Yep, it goes up!
The moon rise last night was spectacular. Picture this: fragments of cumulus clouds on the horizon, black sky against an even blacker ocean. A neon orange moon rapidly ascending from beyond the waves that were giving chocolate sauce vibes. Russell is singing a rendition of the song by Credence Clear Water Resurgence ##I see a red moo-oon risingggggg##. John has popped his head out of the hatch and looks like a drowsy meercat just checking in on the world above deck. Felicity, Andrew, Dan and I all have white eyebrows and eyelash extensions from the salt crust.
Steely Dan and Handy Andy holding court
Back to now: Another wave just crashed into the cockpit on Steely Dan and fierce Felicity, handy Andy is in the galley cooking rice for tonight’s dinner. The trusty storm jib which I haven’t named yet looks pretty cool up the front and is working well with 2 reefs in the main to keep us easily on track. There’s storm petrels, black petrels and the occasional albatross that are playing in our air. “Clouds are coming our way” says Dan, and we’re grateful the squally looking ones passed astern to starboard. Rain is expected but that will hopefully wash the salt from the windows. I’ve decided that John is a heavy weather junkie and that flat water cruising is something he’d rather not do. It’s all very exciting out here and occasionally we have a reality check and think ‘wow, we’re actually sailing to Fiji!’ Keeping the helm watch fed and watered is particularly entertaining, Andrew assimilated this to feeding animals at the petting zoo.
Russ awakens from snoozy time
Feeding time at the zoo
That’s all for now. Check in for our next update to see how much we’re losing our sanity.
Hannah Wilks, Chief Mate, Silver Fern.
