So here we are in Tonga after what I can only describe as a character building passage.
Aboard Fully Involved our weather information comes from several different sources, for the benefit of the non sailors reading this I won't go into too much detail, basically we receive weather information using our satellite phone, and it comes in the form of Grib files and fleet codes, along with a weathergram from a guy in New Zealand called Bob McDavitt.
Having all this information to hand we made the decision along with a few others to head to Tonga rather than Samoa, thus avoiding a Convergence zone predicted, however like weather forecasts world wide the actual weather bore little resemblence to the forecast.
After two days it was apparent that we were in for some heavy stuff, and with a 1200 mile passage ahead of us that wasn't good news!
To cut a very long story short, we got stuck in a Squash Zone for about four days, this is an area of steeply increasing winds and waves between two high pressures, and traditionally a very real hazard to mariners and best avoided like the plague. We had 6mt seas with 45 knot winds 24/7. After about 48 hours of constant watching we were exhausted and with no land within a thousand miles we decided to deploy our sea anchor and get some rest.......wrong! Bloody thing failed after three hours and consequently we spent the night pivoted off the bow rocking and rolling like a roller coaster but more so. Then we had our mini knockdown which entailed, as Mike puts it, Jan goes flying. I was standing in our galley having just finished some chicken soup for supper then all of a sudden I flew across to the head door, hit it with my hip then before I knew it I was back in the galley with my thigh pressing into the stove and my head crushed against a portlight, eye first. I think I may have said oh dear whoops that hurt a bit or words to that effect. Those of you who know me well will recognise that lie, as in fact the air turned blue. Mike of course was a proper little Florence Nightingale and ministered to my injuries compassionately but when I then threw up I do believe he was thinking that he could have had some more of that chicken soup after all!
So no really bad injuries but oh boy the bruises – and I have a shiner to be proud of. Perhaps I'll post a photo of it now that it looks all green and sickly.
Other things which beset us where the jib falling into the water after the halyard failed, the water pump failing and the storm anchor damaging the wood of the toe rail somewhat, oh yes and we could not get the stupid parachute off so we had to cut it away – if anyone wants a sea anchor I'll give you the co-ordinates of where I last saw it! The final hurrah on our last night at sea before Vavau was a dual storm cell with 51 knot winds – not gusts, but actual wind. Yeah.
Anyhoo, we are now safely in Tonga with so far is great and we are loving it. On the search for internet so I can upload some photos to Picasa for you all.
Glad to be on a mooring for a while, next stop will be Fiji but not for a week or ten days from now.
Feels like we are almost home!
