Freewind back in the Bay of Islands

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The northerly gale this week in the Bay of Islands brought Freewind back to Russell after a 7-day passage from New Caledonia. It was not one of those perfect trips with nice breezes and clear blue skies. The first few days was sailing to windward, a little off course but making good speed. Once Freewind reached the northerly winds from the storm to the south it was all go towards New Zealand, with 30-35 knot winds the whole way. A rough, but speedy progress.

The boat is now safely on her mooring in Mathauwhi Bay in Russell and Ron is getting his “land legs” after all those months on board. Not for long, though – on Friday, Freewind will be out again with our first charter of the season, and another, overnight trip on Sat-Sun this weekend. For details, see September Specials on www.sailbayofislands.com .

Freewind, on her mooring in Savusavu before her passage to New Caledonia and New Zealand		Bar-tailed Godwits with their long, upturned beaks, back on NZ shores after their long passage from Alaska

The timing for returning to New Zealand must be perfect – we heard that those amazing voyagers - the Godwits - are also starting to arrive back in New Zealand, and their voyage is much more impressive than Freewind’s: after flying 10 days non-stop 11,000 km all the way from Alaska (!!) the Bar-tailed Godwits have also started to arrive in their wintering grounds (our gorgeous NZ summer) here in NZ.
They spend the southern summer on the Christchurch coastline and every year the City Council organises a spring celebration to mark the arrival of the first Godwit migrants. The Christchurch Cathedral bells ring for 30 minutes when the first birds are seen on the Avon-Heathcote Estuary. This year the cathedral's bells are out of action due to the earthquake, so the bells of St Paul's Anglican Church in Papanui will ring out at 12.30 for the birds today, Wednesday Sept 14th.

Welcome back Freewind, welcome back Godwits!

Ron has posted photos from Savusavu and New Caledonia on http://captainronsblognz.blogspot.com/ .

Details on our Bay of Islands sailing trips and schedules on www.sailbayofislands.com .

Single-handed across the ocean

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Freewind is on her way again; she set sail from Noumea (New Caledonia) on Tuesday, heading for Opua (New Zealand).   Mid-September marks the start of the summer charter season*, so Ron will be swapping his “cruiser's hat” for his “charter boat skipper’s hat” as soon as he gets back.
		Last sight of land – the lighthouse on the reef leaving New Caledonia

On this ocean passage, Ron is ‘single handing’, that is – sailing alone, just him, the boat, and the big ocean. A great way to get away from the hectic life ashore and be ‘at one with the sea’.   Many people ask how one manages to get any sleep at sea; do you stop the boat? how do you avoid running into other ships? etc. The answer is: no, the boat keeps sailing on her course, steered by the electronic automatic pilot that is attached to the boat’s steering gear. There is also an electronic lookout device which detects vessels within a certain range and sounds an alarm.    Of course, there is no automatic system that trims the sails when the wind changes, so the single-hander never really has a good sound sleep, her/his ears are always tuned to the sound of the wind through the sails and the waves against the hull.

On a more humorous/philosophical note, a quote from Roz Savage’s blog, which she is currently writing as she rows (yes, that’s correct!) across the Indian Ocean. This is the third ocean she is attempting to cross, after successfully rowing across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Roz Savage is an inspiration to any single-handed sailor and her daily lively blog entries, written from the middle of the ocean in a 35-ft boat are always a treat to her readers. Roz talks about a book called How to Avoid Huge Ships by Captain Trimmer, and one of her favourite reviews (see the full blog page here) of the book is this:

“This book really is one of the best huge ship avoidance references I’ve come across, not just for the effective methods it teaches as to avoiding huge ships, but also for exploding some of the huge ship avoidance myths that
many of us take for granted. For example:
- Do not charge the huge ship at full speed in an attempt to scare it off.
This may work with coyotes, but it is less effective with huge ships.
- Similarly, do not roll your boat over and play dead. Unless the huge ship
is captained by a grizzly bear, this will not work.
- Do not attempt to go under the huge ship. This is typically not
successful.
- Do not attempt to jump over the huge ship.
Captain Trimmer presents a rather novel technique for avoiding huge ships - move your boat out of the path of the huge ship. I know what you’re thinking, this goes against conventional wisdom, but Trimmer presents significant empirical evidence to support his theory. Indeed, over the long run, moving out of the way will dramatically decrease the number of huge ship collisions you will have to endure in your daily life.”

Roz is currently on her 126th day at sea alone, so compared to that, the 6-day, 900 nautical mile sail from New Caledonia to New Zealand should be a breeze.

  Follow Freewind on her trip across the Pacific on: www.skipr.net and click Freewind.

* See our Season Opening Specials on http://www.sailbayofislands.com/september-specials

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  Today’s quote comes from one of the world’s most admired single-handers, Bernard Moitessier:

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the sea."

--    B. Moitessier                                             

Laser racing in the South Pacific Games

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 Freewind is in Nouméa and Ron is enjoying the great hospitality of the New Caledonians. The South Pacific Games 2011 organising committee have done a fantastic job of preparing the venues and making sure all participants and supporters are well looked after and enjoying the games. Ron is part of the support team for the Fijian sailors, who are represented by the Savusavu Junior Sailing Club.

Coté Blanche - the venue for the boat racing in Nouméa, New Caledonia	The teams preparing their boats for the race	Laisa of Savusavu – representing Fiji Women’s Laser sailing
Robert and Mikey from Savusavu – representing Fiji in men’s Lasers	The boys set sail for the race	The racing was superb – good breezes and strong performances

We wish all the teams and participants all the best – reach for the sky and enjoy the games!