Freewind's Log: June 2011

www.sailbayofislands.com

All photographs: Scott Willis

Bula to all our friends,

Freewind, with Ron and Scott on board, left Tonga on Wednesday with light easterly winds, heading E-NE to Vanua Levu. The 3-day trip to Fiji was uneventful, apart for the ‘mystery island’ which appeared on the horizon on the first day. After studying the British Admiralty chart (the “sailor’s bible”) and finding no trace of this small island, we thought we might have discovered a newly-erupted island; however, our hopes/dreams of naming a new island were quickly shattered when on inspection of the US naval chart of the same area, we found it had already been discovered, many years ago.


Loading the dinghy on deck before leaving Nuku’alofa, on the island of Tongatapu	Freewind sailing into the setting sun, heading for Vanua Levu, Fiji

Sailing into Savusavu Bay was like coming home for Freewind and Ron. The weather was perfect and the friendly smiles and greetings of “Bula!” soon made Scott feel at home too, despite the tropical heat.


Sailing into Savusavu Bay	Arriving in Savusavu and the Copra Shed Marina

Anyone who arrives in the islands of the South Pacific soon switches to “island time” and adopts the local easy-going attitude. Although Scott had only a few days to soak in the “Bula” state of mind before catching his flight back to cold New Zealand, he got a chance to meet Ron’s friends and relax on the mooring and the Savusavu waterfront.
Ron is already busy with the never-ending maintenance on Freewind as well as the Junior Sailing Club’s boats which again need work to keep them in good shape. Saturday saw the usual crowd of enthusiastic kids sailing the Lasers and Optimists, and everyone is looking forward to next Saturday, where the plan is for the kids to sail the fleet of small boats across the bay for a picnic on the beach, in company of Freewind and Talanoa (Geoff’s new boat). More on that next time.
Until then – Lolomas, from Fiji.