Dave's Latitude 38 Article

Dave's article on South Pacific Crossing Strategies just got published in the February edition of Latitude 38. Latitude 38 is a west coast sailing magazine similar to Southwinds in the SE.

You can download the whole Latitude 38 for free from here:

http://www.latitude38.com/ebooks.html

Or just Dave's article from our website here:

http://www.svsoggypaws.com/files/Lat38-SoPacStrategies.pdf

Next Up is Tropical Cyclone Jasmine

We are watching Tropical Cyclone Jasmine approaching from the SW. It has been slowly coming our way for about 10 days, and was originally forecast to head south and die. But the latest long range forecast shows it drifting ENE toward Tonga, and then looping back down south. The forecast showing it weakening, as it gets closer to us.

Tropical Cyclone Jasmine Current Satellite Photo
The current forecast shows it staying about 300 miles away, and weakening. Our local conditions are supposed to only build to about 25 knots here, but no one here trusts the forecasts any more!!

At least this time we'll have internet and can watch it more closely. It's walking along the 25S latitude line, which is the border between the Fiji Cyclone Center and the New Zealand Cyclone Center. It should be interesting to see how the forecast changes as it goes back and forth across that border.

The link for this sat pic is here:
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/sohemiloops/shirgmscol.html

Pictures of the Damage to Soggy Paws

We have moved from Tapana back around to Neiafu town, where we have some internet, so below are some pics of the storm and the damage to Soggy Paws.

Neiafu Harbor During Super Bowl (the day before)-Squalls to 30 knots.
Looking Out Our Port Side at the Height of the Storm
Sea Flyer on Our Starboard Side Minutes Before Collision
It looks like we had already started to drag by this picture, though in the excitement, we didn't really notice it until the wind shifted a little more south, which put us right on top of them.

Dave Checking on Sea Flyer and Dinghy
This is about when the shit hit the fan--the dinghy (on davits) started to flip over and flap about, and I noticed how close we were getting to Sea Flyer, and went to start the engine. About a minute later, a gust swung us towards Sea Flyer and across their mooring line and onto their bow. I quit taking pictures then, and unfortunately, no one in the harbor was taking pictures of us either.

Our Port Quarter Smashed to Hell
This shows the worst of the damage to the hull.

Oh My God!!
Port Hole Totally Bent But Glass Undamaged!
Toe Rail Smashed to Bits
Damage on the Stern
Our Monitor Wind Vane and Swim Platform Ripped Off
Fiberglass Pieces All Over My Bunk
Buckets in the Bunk to Catch the Rain

We have taped over the damage with three sturdy trashbags, yards of duct tape, and some butyl rubber (modeling clay-like stuff), yet still it rains inside when it rains outside. I'm sleeping on the settee for the time being.

Not pictured: Dinghy with one pontoon punctured in 2 places, Dinghy Motor ripped in two, smashed solar panel.

Our swim platform is being reconstructed and should be ready on Monday or Tuesday. Dave has been hustling for fiberglassing supplies. There is a guy on a mooring at Tapana that worked as a fiberglasser at a boat yard, so we'll probably have him do the fiberglassing work. We'll probably re-locate the useless porthole in the closet on the starboard side to replace the bent one on the port side. But we do need a week's worth of dry weather to do anything, and that's not in the forecast for the next 10 days.

We have a borrowed dinghy for the time being, until we can get to the dinghy repairs. Our 20 year old outboard motor, which Dave is really attached to, is in the hands of a motor mechanic who has some old motors he can use to rebuild ours with. (Dave salvaged the important parts and got them rinsed and in a diesel bath ASAP).

Please, God, let the sun come out!!

Surprise! Cyclone Cyril Pops Up Overnight

We were expecting bad weather overnight, as yet another Tropical Depression went past us. But it was supposed to peak at about 9pm and get better over time. By morning, the forecast was for less than 20 knots, and we hoped, sunny skies.

We got back from our overnight trip into town (for the Super Bowl) in the late afternoon, in the middle of a squall. Since Super Sunday (Monday here) was supposed to be nasty, we had gone ashore on Sunday evening, taken an inexpensive room in town, and watched the Super Bowl on (here) Monday afternoon.

It was a tossup whether to stay in town another night, to let the weather go by, or go back to the boat. Since the weather wasn't too bad after the Super Bowl, we decided to go ahead back to the boats.

We managed to time our arrival on the beach terribly, and ended up going back to the boats in the dinghy in a squall, but got back OK with no troubles. We were glad to be "home".

Barometer Trace from TC Cyril
The low point on the graph was about 8am our time
As predicted, it was a little wild in the evening, but a reasonably quiet night. However, about 6am, we were woken up by a nasty squall. And I noticed the wind was out of the north. "It shouldn't be north--north means we have something else coming," I said knowingly.

I started trying to pick up weather, but gave up when the 'latest' Spot forecast (taken from a GRIB file), said the wind this morning was supposed to be about 15 knots. It was gusting to about 45 then.

One of the local ex-pats got on the radio with a special weather bulletin. Apparently about midnight, a "bad spot" in the satellite picture strengthened up into Tropical Storm Cyril. Our "fun meter" (wind meter) quit working yesterday (in a 42 knot gust), so we don't really know what the wind got up to this morning, but two of our hatches blew open, and the last time it did that, the wind was 60 knots.

Soggy Paws in the Storm (taken by Sea Flyer)
And, the really fun part was... we were on a lee shore with quite a fetch. At the height of the storm we had 5' waves, and were taking sheets of water over the bow. Fortunately we were well secured to a "hurricane mooring". Unfortunately, the mooring started dragging in the middle of the worst part of it.

And our dinghy, which we'd pulled up in the squall last night, was on the davits and starting to tip over. Dave was back trying to do something with the dinghy when I noticed we were getting really close to the boat behind us. I suggested we forget the damned dinghy and start the engine. Too late... we ended up with our stern caught on the other boat's mooring and bow pulpit. We couldn't seem to pull loose manually, and couldn't run the engine for fear of wrapping our prop. Dave finally went in the water to see the situation, and their mooring line was between our skeg and our rudder. No way it was coming out under those conditions.

The other boat (Sea Flyer) had 2 lines to the mooring, and only one was caught in our rudder. Dave was trying to get Gary to cut his mooring line so we could get free, and Gary was up there trying, but the situation was so violent that Gary couldn't get in close enough with a knife without losing his arm.

Fortunately for us, the 1 1/2" mooring line finally parted. But not until we spent 10 minutes with our port quarter caught on his bow. Slamming and slamming... tearing up his bow pulpit and anchor rollers, and tearing up our fiberglass, port quarter porthole, swim platform, wind vane, etc. We had about 5 foot seas at that point, and we were broadside to the wind, about 50 feet from a really rocky shore. I really thought we were done for.

Once Sea Flyer's mooring line broke, we floated forward just enough that I could motor out of there. Fortunately Sea Flyer's secondary line held them for the rest of the storm. Dave was still in the water, and couldn't get back aboard, because our boarding ladder is the swim platform, and it was gone. So he climbed up on Sea Flyer. I spent the next 2 hours by myself on Soggy Paws, motoring to relieve the strain on our mooring, and try to keep out of Sea Flyer's mooring and away from their boat.

The wind just wanted to line us up right up on Sea Flyer, so I had to keep "tacking" back and forth, still tied to the mooring. I couldn't just motor into the wind--eventually the wind would gust from another direction, push the bow around, and I'd have to gun the motor to get past Sea Flyer's mooring again on the other tack. Dave couldn't get back aboard under the conditions, and I couldn't do anything, but keep trying to keep us off Sea Flyer.

As we came free from Sea Flyer, our dinghy, which was attached to our davits, stayed with Sea Flyer. I think Dave eventually cut it loose, because it was beating Sea Flyer to death. It ended up on the rocks, but fortunately 'only' has one chamber (of 3 punctured). Our motor is completely toast. It got beat to death--we still had the motor mount attached to the dinghy, but the head was broken off.

In looking at the port quarter after it was all over--thank god we have a CSY. We took a severe beating--it totally stove in the heavy bronze porthole, and the fiberglass is beat to hell. But the boat is still mostly intact. It will be an extensive repair, but we are floating. And no one got hurt.

Our Friends on Shango (taken by Sea Flyer)
Fortunately, this thing was really fast moving, and by about 10am, it had calmed to about 20 knots. I was still motoring--couldn't leave the helm for more than about 30 seconds--and Dave was still stuck on Sea Flyer. Fortunately, the only neighboring boat with a dinghy that they could deploy, offered to go get Dave and bring him home. Shortly thereafter, we got a line on another mooring, where we are now.

We are safe, we have at least a day before the next high wind event is due. Trying to dry our bed out so we can have a good night's sleep, and attack the problems fresh tomorrow.

One forecast says the wind will be light tomorrow. Another one says "fresh breezes to 25 knots". Not sure who to believe.

I want some calm wind and sunshine!!

A Couple of Days at Vaka'eitu (Anchorage 16)

We have had a steady succession of Lows blowing through Tonga, but we did manage to escape the moorings for a couple of days at Nuapupu's south anchorage, known as Vaka'eitu. Also known as Anchorage 16.

The Tongan dialect, a variation of the same Polynesian language we have been hearing all the way across the Pacific, is full of vowels. To an english-speaking person, the names of places around here are often unpronounceable. When poorly pronounced, it is difficult to distinguish WHERE a person is talking about. So the Moorings charter outfit here, has published their guide with anchorage numbers. Most cruisers don't even bother to learn the Tongan names for the anchorages they are in, but use the Moorings anchorage numbers. But we are trying to learn the proper names as we cruise around.

The recommended anchoring spot at Vaka'eitu is situated for the prevailing SouthEasterly winds, which we haven't seen in weeks. And our friends on Shango beat us to it, so we made a new recommended anchoring spot for N-NW winds. We anchored in about 35' at 18-43.29S / 174-06.10W. We couldn't see the bottom, but could hear our chain rubbing on rock or coral. It didn't feel like a great spot, but we held OK in the squally weather overnight.

The rain quit for a day, and though it was still overcast, we did manage to go snorkle in 3 places near the anchorage. The "Coral Gardens" on the reef to the north, turned out to be outstanding. (Approx 18-47.82S / 174-06.16W) Beautiful clear water and fantastic coral growth. We'd like to come back and make a dive there, if the weather ever turns nice. We did manage, a near high tide and mild wave conditions, to drive the dinghies out over the reef from inside the anchorage area to deep water.

Another spot with some nice coral and diveable depths is along the wall to the south, at approx 18-46.65S / 174-05.51W. Though both of these spots would only be accessible in very light winds, if the wind was out of the east.

We had another low pressure area go by while we were at Vaka'eitu, and the weather got very nasty overnight, but it is a pretty well-protected anchorage. There's a bit of a fetch from the NE, but it is still inside a lagoon. It is very protected from SE around to NNE.

In the next break in the weather, we moved back to Neiafu. The long range forecast is for more bad stuff coming, and we wanted to use the break to get some internet and stock up for the 10 days of bad weather in the forecast.
-----
Sherry & Dave
Hanging out in Tonga for cyclone season!
http://svsoggypaws.blogspot.com

At 02/01/2012 3:25 AM (utc) our position was 18°39.77'S 173°58.93'W
http://svsoggypaws.com/currentposition.htm

Diving in Vavau, Tonga

Our friends Amy and Roger from s/v Shango arranged to get their PADI dive certification here in Tonga last week. After talking with all the dive shops in Neiafu, they chose Karen from Dive Vavau.

Karen working with Amy and Roger
We got an opportunity to go diving with them on the last day. We rounded up Gary and his crew Linda from s/v Sea Flyer and the 6 of us had the dive boat to ourselves (plus the Dive Vavau crew). While Paul drove the boat, and Karen worked with Amy and Roger, Izzy showed us around the dive site.

Exploring a Cave
We did 2 dives. In Vavau, the #1 attraction is diving with whales. But the whales are frolicking in their summer home off Antartica this time of year. So no whales. The other attraction around here are caves. Being part of a volcanic ridge, Vavau has a lot of caves. Both of our dives originated near the mouth of a shallow cave, and after we got through exploring the cave, we went out on the wall.

Linda Playing with a Basket Star
We didn't see much in the way of big fish, but some pretty little fish, some very colorful fans and soft corals. The water was warm and visibility was pretty good. A great way to spend a day.

Roger is Enjoying the Underwater World
Sherry Exploring the Wall
Newly Certified Divers, Roger and Amy

More Photos in our Album

Dealing with Convergence

Rain, rain, rain, rain...that's the short story.

The long story is that the South Pacific Convergence Zone has been hanging over us for over a week, and looks like it is hanging out for another week.

The South Pacific Convergence Zone is an area where the NE winds from the northern hemisphere meet the SE winds from the Southern Hemisphere, and cause an area of 'convergence' that generally means clouds and rain. The SPCZ is quasi-stationary, but does move north and south a little bit, usually seasonally. Unfortunately, right now it has parked right on top of Tonga.


Yesterday's Satellite Picture
This is actually the weather we expected this time of year, but we were spoiled our first week back with just beautiful sunny weather. Now we're not spoiled. Starting to go a little crazy with the constant rain. Hoping it will continue to drift eastward and clear out some. And hoping that none of the marching string of low pressure areas develop into anything worse than a little more rain.


The Surface Map from Fiji's Weather Service

The winds have been an unusual direction... N-NW... for about a week. While the SPCZ hangs over us, the forecast is really unreliable. So much depends on where it wiggles.

Even with the rain, we'd like to go out cruising a bit, but it's hard to tell what the conditions are going to be--to pick a good anchorage for NW winds (but maybe switching to E unexpectedly).

So, for now, we are sitting in Neiafu harbor enjoying internet, and socializing with the people who are here. Only about 5 boats we know of are still in this area--the other ~300 boats who passed through here in the fall have long ago left for Fiji, Australia, or New Zealand.

Yesterday, we attended an Aussie Day celebration at the Balcony Restaurant--about a dozen ex-pat Aussies were there in mufti, and about another dozen non-Aussies who were designated Temporary Aussies for the celebration. We drank Fosters beer. practiced our "G'Day" and had a good time.

Back in Tonga

We had a long but uneventful flight and arrived yesterday about 4pm. A few minor issues aboard, but nothing we can't handle.

We took a sunset swim in the nice warm water. Sunny skies and gentle breezes, at least for now.

Cyclone possibility seems to have dissolved, but watching the wx carefully.

Goodbye America, Hello Tonga!

We are leaving on a jet plane... (sung to the tunes of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and 1970's hit song).

We take Air Tran from Atlanta to LA, then Air Pacific from LA to Fiji and then to Tongatapu. From there we take the local airline, Chatham's Air, to Neiafu. About 36 hours of travel time. With the date line and time zones, we leave on the morning of the 8th and arrive on the afternoon of the 10th.

Unfortunately, the long range GRIB file for the area shows a cyclone starting to brew up almost on top of us. We'll have about 12 hours after we arrive (if the current forecast holds) before things start getting nasty.

Follow the weather in our area, here:

Samoa IR Satellite

Fiji is on the left of the picture, Samoa is in the middle near the top, and Tonga is a sprinkling of islands running north and south, below Samoa and east of Fiji.

or here:

Fiji Cyclone Center

Happy 2012

We spent the day with son Chris and his wife Sandy, going over all the old McCampbell/Heliker photos. Lots and lots of photos and memorabilia. I'm still scanning!