Tag: sailing with teens

  • Day 5: Passage Tonga to NZ

    Sunday, November 10, 2024:  Passage Tonga to New Zealand Day 5 This morning…more of the same?!  Big beam seas, winds 20-28, amazing to watch these waves lumber through the ocean, as we go up and over, Terikah is flying!  Calder, doing dishes below, gets a mist of saltwater to the face as a big wave…

  • Passage: Tonga to NZ Day 4

    Saturday, November 9, 2024:  Passage Tonga to New Zealand Day 4 The wash machine continues, as we are in the spin cycle of this stretch of water.  Daylight on these waves makes it much better, as we can anticipate them and change our COG (course over ground) as needed based on the direction of the…

  • Passage Tonga to NZ Day 3

    Good morning, just 10 miles from Minerva Reef and a decision day for us.  Winds and seas decreased and the sailing is slow today, but not wanting to motor and waste our diesel this early in the passage.  We ended up stopping at North Minerva Reef for a 4 hour rest.  Mind bending to see…

  • Day 1: Passage Tonga to NZ

    Wednesday, November 6, 2024:  Passage Tonga to New Zealand Day 1 10:20am and anchor up in Tonga for the last time.  We are out here with other boats taking this weather window.  Today is supposed to be sporty and it’s not disappointing – average winds 23, beam seas 1.5-2 meters, hauling along at 9 knots…

  • Goodbye Tonga

    Back to the Ha’apai Group in Tonga for another week of adventures; this one topped off with 52 knots of wind…read on! Our arrival to the Ha’apai was just after sunset, as we wove between coral bommies at a snail’s pace in the dark, trusting in the track we had created our last time to…

  • Arrival Kingdom of Tonga

    Passage from Niue to Tonga On our way from Niue to Tonga; sunny blue skies, the large colorful asymmetrical sail up for downwind sailing.  Cora’s fishing rod whirred and she worked and worked to bring the fish to the boat; it was a large billfish, a marlin.  Decided to let it go and, as we…

  • Magnificent Niue

    Niue – a place I didn’t know existed.  Once I learned it existed, a place I desperately wanted to go.  Once I learned the weather conditions that needed to be in place to go, a place I thought we’d likely never go.  It is a fair weather stop and many cruisers bypass it due to…

  • Ocean Passage to… Niue!

    Day 5:  Decided to go wing-on-wing (butterfly sailing) through the night with some modifications, overall uneventful watch.  Morning started out great, as sleepy-eyed, not yet fully awake Calder joined us in the cockpit and immediately heard the whir of his fishing rod.  Something hit and hit hard, almost spooled him, arms shaking as he brought…

  • Maupihaa Part 2: Waiting for a Weather Window

    About 1200 nm to Tonga.  Here we sit at anchor, listening to the wind howl across our boat, waiting for a weather window.  Our weather consultant (Sailing Totem) had warned us that our initial 3,000nm across the Pacific would prove less challenging than finding the right weather window in these squirrelly parts of the ocean. …

  • Society Islands Part 3: Mantas in Maupiti

    Underway at sunrise, the seas were calm and the winds light, allowing for a “productive passage” of bread-baking, laundry, and water-making.  The entry into the Maupiti lagoon via its one pass, Onoiau, can be tricky and was somewhat exciting.  One cannot enter the pass unless there is less than a 2 meter swell; we had…