July 25, 2015 Passage to west side of Fiji

When we left Yanuca 2 days ago, the wind was about 20-25 knots and the seas about 3 meters, but it was all downwind sailing so we were excited about a fast sail to the west side of Fiji 65 miles away.  We started sailing with only the 3rd reef in the main and were doing about 6 knots. We decided that we would shake a reef and just sail with a double reefed main. That got us going about 7.5 knots. Really fun sailing and surfing down some good waves.

My back was bothering me so I was lying in the cockpit watching auto (the autopilot) sailing the boat and enjoying the day. All of a sudden we got a 40 degree right wind shift, with 40 knots of breeze and the main gybed with the preventor still attached but letting the boom go about half way to the other side. I instantly turned auto off and tried to gybe the boat back. That is when I heard the loud pop of the steering cable. A couple profanities later I looked around to see what else was wrong and realized the runner was still on, so I just released it and a few moments later it was streaming away from the boat, but the mast was still standing. Axel was jolted out of bed by the load breaking sound beside his head, and Gary popped up from his disturbed breakfast. He put auto back on and we tried to turn the boat back to course, but there was too much strain with the main on the wrong side. So we had to get the main gybed without turning the boat. I brought the main sheet in while Gary released the preventor. Gary went into the kids cabin, pulled out their cabinet to get access to the steering quadrant and we dug out the emergency tiller. Which gets installed in their cabin and someone steers blindly while someone on deck directs them. Fortunately we did not need to do that.

While all this took place the main was luffing, causing a reef line fitting on the boom to pull out and the main sail to rip. So our next mission was to get the main down. The seas had risen to about 4 meters and we had to go straight into them to drop the main. Nirvana didn't like bucking those waves with no sails. Once the main was down, we tested auto to see if it could really steer a decent course. Luckily the breakage did not affect auto. Next was the process of identifying the issue and coming up with a solution. Gary pulled out part of the wall from Axel's bunk to get at the quadrant easier.  He pulled off the steering wheel, it never feels right to be in open ocean without a steering wheel attached. Then he took off the compass and pulled apart the binnacle. He discovered that the steering chain, looks like a large motorcycle chain, broke in a few places due to rust.

He came up with a plan and wedged himself into many small nooks in the kids' cabin to work. The kids kept bringing him tools and they helped in every way they could. They understood that we had many serious issues and they really responded well.

Once we got the boat on her correct course we had the seas behind us and we were motoring and surfing the waves at 7.5 knots. The wind slowly built so that we had 25-30 knots sustained in 4 meter seas, with gusts 35-40 knots and a few waves that hit the boat funny. We put the companionway hatch boards and the kids cabin window in after one wave got a little too close. On this stretch of coast there is nowhere that you can pull into a harbor if the seas are high, so we knew we had to go all the way to the west side of Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji. We had contact with a nearby boat after our steering broke and he experienced 50 knots in that same squall. We both commented on how hard it was to see these gusts/squalls coming, they were not at all distinctive from the rest of the day.

Gary worked tirelessly for hours. I stayed on deck to monitored the weather situation, other boat traffic and auto, who fortunately only had 2 hiccups but were quickly fixed. The shit hit the fan at 10:30 am and it took Gary continuously working until 3:00 pm to fix the steering. I am very lucky to have a husband as talented as Gary when things like that happen, as he can fix anything. We still had another 1.5 hours until we reached the easy well marked Navula reef pass and another hour after that until we were safely anchored in Momi Bay. After a few stiff rums and a nice meal, we finally calmed our nerves.

The next day we had to figure out what to do with the main sail. We made a few phone calls and arranged to bring it into the local loft. We also arranged to have our watermaker pump, that had just arrived from the US, delivered to the marina. So we headed off to Vuda Point marina 15 miles away. We went to the fuel dock and unloaded our sail, got 450 liters of diesel, 60 liters of gasoline for the dinghy, water in our tanks, hot showers for everyone, 2 massive bags of laundry done, and thoroughly cleaned the boat with fresh water. 3.5 very productive hours. The harbor is very tight, so turning Nirvana required a 10 point turn, but more concerning was the falling tide. I was on the bow spotting for the reef and Gary drove out. Axel let me know once we were in deep water that we only had 0.1 feet below the keel in the channel. I am so glad I didn't steer that time.

We headed just around the corner to Saweni Bay to be with our friends from Nautilus and so we could go to Lautoka for shopping in the morning. After we told them of our troubles sailing from Yanuca, they told us during their passage at 3:00 am they took one large wave over the transom. It completely filled the entire cockpit, swooshed down the companionway and through the cockpit ports into the kids' cabins. So much water came in that the boat was filled knee deep. Their 12 year old daughter got such a dump of water over her that she woke from her sleep thinking they were sinking and gasping for air. Katrien cleaned for 5 hours to get rid of the water. Just makes you think about how powerful natural forces are and not to ever get complacent.

On from those fun stories, we have just bought a ridiculous amount of food today and plan to head to the Musket Cove, Tavarua, Namota area tomorrow. Gary can't wait to spend a bunch of time at these world class surf breaks.

Calm winds and fair seas,

Julie