7 October 2024 –Tahiti – Niue- Day 7
Before I start I have another need. Someone now cannot make the New Zealand to Sydney leg in early January 2025 so I need ideally a sixth person. You would have to be in Auckland, New Zealand by about 3/4 January 2025 with a view to us leaving for Sydney, weather permitting, by about 7 January 2025. We should get to Sydney by about 14-16 January 2025. If anyone is interested please email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com Thanks.
We continued on our course direct for Niue sailing fast and continuing to do 7,8 or 9 kts each hour. The waves remained at their 3 meter plus state so we were rolled a bit from time to time which made life quite tricky. Sean and I had the 11.00am to 2.00am slot which went quite quickly and without incident and then we were on again at 8.00am.
Joyce made scrambled eggs for breakfast which we had with the loaf I had made and which went down well. It was a nice day and the sun came out. The wind and sea state stayed consistent and we sailed well and fast. This was our last full day as we plan to arrive in Niue early tomorrow morning assuming the wind stays at this level.
There was excitement in the air as the day wore on and Sean and I did our daily checks. Others slept, read or chatted. Our 24-hour daily run was 184nm which was only 2 miles less than yesterday so 370 nm over a 48-hour period making a good dent into the distance left. We had lunch of cheese and bread and coleslaw and life went on.
I had a rest in the afternoon and am shaking off a cold which one of the crew had brought with them. Erica after my bread, lesson decided to make a loaf of bread and we enjoyed tea and biscuits whilst watching the miles climb down as our good progress continued.
There was excitement when we saw the Antelope Reef on our starboard side, which we will miss and then suddenly we saw a boat come up on our AIS. We have not seen any since Tahiti. This turned out to be a Cruise Ship called Cloudy Bay and it was on its way to one of the Cook Islands. We called them up on the radio and said hello and said we had not seen another boat since Tahiti. They were friendly in return and said we were the first sailing boat they had seen for a long time. We chatted briefly and wished each other a safe passage. Stormbird and its crew had done our bit for diplomacy and we watched as the Cloudy Bay motored on and it was moving up and down in the swell. We were not the only ones being affected by the swell.
We watched the sun come down toward the horizon and it was really the first evening there has not been cloud at the horizon and the sun dipped below the horizon for what we hope will be our last night before Niue.
I put on some Tahitian music which lightened the atmosphere and it was a sort of looming half term moment. Erica and Carolyn made a delicious supper of courgette and tomatoes with past and tuna marinated in ginger, soy sauce honey and crushed almonds. This was very good and we all enjoyed it.
We discussed our approach to Niue and how we will have to come round the south and east of the island and have to call Niue Radio some 10 nm off to get permission to proceed. The Niue Yacht Club has about 20 moorings off their capital Alofi and we have reserved number 6 which can take large boats. We should arrive around 6.00am when the sun will come up so we should have good visibility of the island and for our approach. During the day I put the Niue courtesy flag up which is essentially yellow with a union jack in one corner. I also put up a Q flag which is only yellow. This is put up before you have checked in and can be taken down once the formalities are complete.
We are all looking forward to our arrival and exploring this small island before we have to move on to Tonga where we cross the International Date Line.
The picture of the day is me as author and skipper checking the weather again.
Opportunity Year Two
In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.
If there is any interest do email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com
The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com