November, 2000
It took us two tries to make it out of New Caledonia. On Thursday November 9 we turned back before reaching the pass after encounting strong westerly winds, squalls, and heavy rain instead of the Southeast Trades which were forecast. It seemed that a pesky low had developed overnight just south east of Noumea and we were getting the clockwise wind on the back side of it. In the hurry to get underway that morning we had not looked carefully at the weather information we had available. That night, back in port, we listened on the SSB radio to the boats which had carried on complain about their wind conditions, meanwhile the weather office confidently stated that Friday morning the wind would finally go SE. We prepared to get underway again Friday, nevermind the old superstition about the bad luck of leaving on a Friday.
So, on Friday we set out again and this time we had favorable winds. By Monday we realized that this was probably going to be one of our best trips. We had experienced ideal conditions with southeast tradewinds at 15 to 25, reasonably smooth seas and clear sunny skies. It had been beautiful sailing and we were going like crazy. Our destination was Bundeberg, Australia but we headed a little north of the rumb line and we found better wind than the other boats travelling the same route more to the south. We were been on a beam reach with a full main and #4 headsail, doing over 7.0 knots continously. Monday we logged a noon to noon run of over 170 miles, a very nice distance for us, and since noon Monday we averaged 7.75 for a couple of days, making a run of 186 miles. Besides being fast, this passage has been easy, not too windy or rough, no sail changes, few squalls or rain, just lots of rest and reading, and a full moon at night to make the night watches easier. This is how passage making ought to be.
We finished off the trip with one dark and squally night as we approached the Australian coast. Surfing in south of the Great Barrier Reef we reduced sail to arrive at Bundaberg at dawn. In four days and 21 hours we covered the 800 mile distance that had been estimated by the majority of the cruising fleet as being a five to eight day passage.
While we enjoyed the sail we are also happy to be in Australia. Australia! We've arrived in the land of Ayers Rock and Alice Springs, of 'Roos and Wallabies, and Dancin' Matilda. This is an exciting landfall for us and we can hardly wait to get ashore and look around.
Fred & Judy