June 6- 18, 2013
We departed Opua, NZ (35-19' S ; 174-07' E) at 1300 hrs bound for North Minerva Reef (23-37 S; 178-56' W). The distance is about 759 nm once outside the bay at Nine Pin Rock. From Minerva Reef to Suva, Fiji it is another 358 nm: total trip distance = 1117 nm. Since no sailing vessel keeps a straight course rhumb line, the distance is somewhat longer. New Zealand is on the Eastern side of the international date line therefore it is one day ahead of the USA at most times of the day. Time can be confusing so I generally use GMT and then make all the conversions. NZ would be +12 on GMT. This means that when it is midnight in Greenwich, it's noon time in Opua and 2000 hrs on the East Coast - one day earlier.
The Wx window for approaching and leaving NZ has to be given careful consideration. The systems are complex and fast moving. In general, Highs and Lows approach NZ from the Great Southern Ocean south of Australia via the Tasman Sea. In order to have the best sailing Wx, a yacht has to time it so as not to find itself in heavy Wx with too much wind and big seas. One way of departing is to leave on the back of a Low. Lows circulate clockwise in the Southern hemisphere which means they are moving E-SE. Also, Lows are forming over Fiji and have to looked at very carefully as they can develop into Tropical Depressions. The best way to negotiate all this is to hire a professional weather planner and router that will advise the best times for departing. One of the most renowned in New Zealand is the Weather Guru, Bob McDavitt, known as the Weather Ambassodor of New Zealand. His fees are modest and he does a good job of making sure that you can make the best use of, or avoid, any forming depressions.
So, we left on the back of a Low and had a great sail from the Bay of Islands to North Minerva Reef. We started off with winds around 20 kts with big ocean swells coming from the South but they gradually came down and the rest of the trip was with 12-18 kts ESE Trade Winds and a 6' swell. We arrived off North Minerva at 0100 hrs in the morning and lay ahull until daylight. We made really good time with an average of 6.2 kts under double reefed mainsail and genoa. The Valiant 40 is a great boat: seaworthy and seakindly. It doesn't take much wind to move her along and she can move out once the winds get to 15 kts.
There are two Minervas: North and South. The southern one is about 20 nm SSW (23-56' S; 179-08' W) of North Minerva and is less frequented because it presents more challenges for entering and anchoring. Additionally, it's reef structure is less developed and lower than North Minerva which means there is less protection from the ocean swells. The Minervas are claimed by Tonga and navigational lights are maintained on both by the Tongan Navy. In the past, Fiji has claimed the Minervas and at one time came in and chased out all the yachts and blew up the navigational lights. Tonga submitted a claim to the World Court and it was decided in their favor so there seems to be no ongoing conflict between the two countries. Back in the 1970's, a crazy Aussie tried to set up what he called "The Republic of Minerva" and brought in some sand barges and minted coins with Minerva's head on it. I believe he wanted to set up some kind of independent country with a resort. Anyway, once the Tongan's got wind of it, they sent out a warship and chased him out. I don't see how anything could survive on North Minerva in the long run. The reef looks like and amoeba. It is fairly round and three miles in diameter with a single entrance on the Northwestern side. The reef is wide enough to break the big ocean swells of the South Pacific Trade Winds but not sufficient to weather a storm. One can tell when it's High tide because enough water comes across the reef to cause a little rolling. When it's Low tide, the lagoon is quite comfortable. There are fish, lobster and sharks within the lagoon structure. The reef is over a quarter mile wide and can be walked on at low tide. There really isn't much on the reef other than a few shells and odd shaped stones. The current at High water keeps it scrubbed out. Up in the Northeastern corner, one can see the remains of an old wreck and a big anchor. I had wanted to dive for lobsters but, unfortunately, I had a small infection on my right hand and was taking antibiotics so I didn't dare to do it.
The beauty of the Minervas is that they are 300nm from the nearest point of land and provide a good stop-over to rest and wait for a favorable weather window to sail on to Tonga or Fiji. We stayed in North Minerva for three days and then left for Suva, Fiji some 358 nm distant. We would have stayed longer but our weather guru indicated that the winds would fall light in a few days so we picked up anchor on June 15th at 1200 hours and headed out for Suva, Fiji. We had ESE Trade winds 15-20 kts with a 6' sea almost the whole way. There was one frontal passage with strong ENE'ly winds to 40 kts during the evening of June 16-17. I had dropped the mainsail and put a deep reef in the genoa but due to mismanagement on my part, I ended up doing some damage to the leech and foot of the sail. Not big damage and can be resewn by a sail-maker.
We entered Suva harbor (18-07' S; 178-25 E) and dropped anchor in front of the Royal Suva Yacht Club on June 18th at 1200 hrs. This Yacht Club makes all the arrangements for Cusotm's officials and provides showers and facilities for visiting yachts. The harbor is fairly well protected but open to the SW. Fortunately, they don't get winds from that direction very often. If that should happen, we can run up to another bay within the harbor with good protection.
Our first impressions of Suva and Fiji are very very positive. I'll update this once we have had a chance to get out and around.
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