Worrall Wind Update - Fiji -Shakedown Cruise to the Yasawas

UTC/Local Time: 0600/6:00 p.m.

Latitude: 17 10.315 S
Longitude: 177 112.12 E

Leaving Vuda Point Marina through the Channel in the Reef

Update: May 27, 2011
Today was a great reminder of why we love sailing.. Just a little over one month after our return to Vuda Point Marina in Fiji, we cast off the bowlines and headed northeast to the Yasawa Islands. The sun was out, the wind was blowing 10-15 knots, and the boat was ready to go. The 2 Sail R's were
ready too, even though our hearts were pumping rapidly. It's been seven months since we've been sailing with WorrallWind, and we wondered if we remembered all the things on our check list.

READY
Since our return to Fiji from New Zealand, we've been scrubbing, polishing, reorganizing, shopping,

Bus Trip to Port Denerau

Nadi

Nadi Market Place

Stacked, Sweet Green Mandarins

working on this project and that. In between boat tasks, we've enjoyed the company of friends, dined out,

Suzi Sidewinder, Roz WorrallWind, Lori Trim

Russ WorrallWind, Ken Trim, David Sidewinder

explored the local area,

Garden of the Sleeping Giant Ho Ho Ho

Beautiful Orchids!

played cards, lounged around the pool reading books, learned to scuba dive, hunted and found some geocaches, and watched the royal wedding and the reports of Osama Bin Laden's demise on the big
screen TV's in the bar.

SET
We've actually been ready to go for the past week, but themweather wasn't quite ready for us. First it was rainy, then too windy, then moderate to strong seas, then a slow moving troph, then high overhead clouds.

GO
All of the reports and visuals looked good to go this morning, so we paid up our bill, unplugged the electricity, disconnected the water, and were eased out of our slip by the marina staff. It was a tricky process as we were rail to rail and bumper to bumper with our slip mates. We waved goodbye,
at least temporarily, to Trim, Sidewinder, and other folks we had met. We'll be back to Vuda in a week or so for final provisioning and fixes before we check out for Vanuatu.

The tide was low, but still deep enough for us to exit the channel even though the reefs were exposed on either side.  Russ had meticulously keyed in all of the waypoints through deep water channels to our first anchorage in the Yasawas.

By 9:00 a.m. the fenders that were needed in the crowded marina to separate us from our neighbors were stowed, and we were motoring across a calm morning sea with no wind to the first
way point. There was a balmy sea breeze on our faces as we headed west.

The wind picked up about an hour into our journey. We raised the main, jib, and mizzen and then cut the motor.  Silence….only the gentle lapping of the water against the hull and the rush of the wind in our ears.

We really hadn't expected to sail today. Our wind vane steering system was not yet set up, but it didn't matter. It was fun to hand steer and to feel the acceleration of Worrall Wind to 6 knots as we
skimmed through the water. Besides we needed to be very alert and on task navigating through the reefs.  Aaah!

We should reach our destination by 4:00 p.m. It's only half way to our ultimate destination at Blue Lagoon where the movie with Brook Shields was filmed. The last part of today's journey will be the most dicey as we thread through some reefs. Fortunately, we are following the waypoints we
recorded on our reconnaissance mission we took a couple of weeks ago on the ferry. When we get to that point, we'll be going slowly, and I will be on the bow.

We bought some radio headsets called "marriage savers". We no longer have to yell at one another and make spectacles of ourselves while anchoring. Well, we may still make a spectacle of ourselves,
but no one will hear us yelling at one another. ;)

Our tack changed directly into the wind around 2:00 p.m. We pulled in the jib, tightened the main, and turned on the engine. By the time we got to where we thought the reefs were, the tide was high and we couldn't see anything breaking like we did the day we were on the ferry. We could only hope
that the waypoints we had recorded were correct.

It was close to 4:00 p.m. by the time we got to the Manta anchorage and the sun was behind us, not great for seeing reefs or water color changes, so we went very slowly and stayed tightly on our waypoints. We would have been better leaving at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. I stood on the bow while
Russ was at the helm. Our radio headsets worked well, and we could carry on a normal conversation. If you consider this a normal conversation. "Do you see any reefs? I don't see any reefs!"

TIME TO RELAX

Home for 2 Nights

When we passed the last waypoint that indicated we had cleared by the reefs, we were both mighty relieved. I'm curious to see when the tide goes out where the reefs are and how close we came to them. We are now anchored in 62 feet of water with 180 feet of chain out. The wind has died, the sun is setting, and there is only one other large sailboat in the anchorage
with us. It's time for a glass of wine.

CONNECTING WITH US
Oh BTW….we don't have any 3G or WIFI service at thisanchorage, so I will be sending this blog through our radio.  Family and friends should use our sail mail address if you need to get in touch with us while we may not have Internet, not hotmail or gmail. For our cruising friends with SSB radio. We will be monitoring these frequencies for 10 minutes in the morning and afternoon if you
would like to get in touch with us.

2100Z 0500Z (5:00 p.m. Fiji Time)
14.315 for five minutes, switching to alternate frequency
6.150 for additional five minutes, then clearing.

Our VHF will be monitoring 16.  We are sometimes (often actually) forgetful about these times, but hopefully we will be able to connect.

All is well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind.