Yacht Delivery Blog

Well, we made it out of Port Moresby! Let me tell you, there are only two reasons to go there, and neither of them are worth the risk of getting your head smashed in and violently robbed. You can get fuel, and the steak at the yacht club is the best I've ever had. My strong suggestion - Get extra fuel somewhere else and become a vegetarian for a week. It's just not worth it. We had to wait 24 hours to get checked in, which didn't exactly put me in a great mood. Then, seven customs officers in big black boots and red betel stained teeth came stomping around the boat for hours, pulling apart anything they thought was suspicious. A drawer with tape over it to stop it from sliding open? Suspicious! Anything in a bag? Dumped on the floor and rifled through! They eventually came to our pretty impressive medical kit, which is all organized in plastic boxes. I could just see what was going to happen. The officer goes, "WHAT'S THIS?" I said, "A medical kit....

The swell and breeze have died down slightly, and we're now experiencing fairly consistent mid-to-high 20 knots over the deck. We were well on our way to the elusive 200-nautical mile a day run, having covered 50 nautical miles in 6 hours, but victory seems to have slipped through our fingers. We've only managed 96 nautical miles in 12 hours, and our average speed has dropped to a disappointing 7.6 knots. We're approaching the first atolls in the Tuamotus, and it's a toss-up at the moment whether we'll be able to see them. These atolls are incredibly low-lying, only a couple of feet above the water, with palm trees on top. I'd be happy to make a slight detour to sail past and take a look, but that decision will depend on the wind. I don't want to deviate from the wind by more than 120 degrees apparent. We still have 300 nautical miles to go to clear the Tuamotus, and then it's a straight run to Tahiti. Unfortunately, the forecast suggests we might be fla...

Now I'm under a personal gag order to avoid discussing the "watery wingsuiters." I've been racking my brain for a different topic, but it seems that once you've covered weather, waves, and oceanic aviators, there's not much else to write about. Yesterday, we put the clocks back another hour, so the sun was just lighting up the sky when I got up for my watch this morning. It's definitely a cheerier experience than waking up to pitch black until 7 AM. If we adjust the clocks again in a few days, Adam can also enjoy a sunrise, and we can arrive in Tahiti without being too out of sync with local time, and our body clocks won't be too disoriented. We spent yesterday motor sailing with light winds from around 120 degrees. We had the main, headsail, and a Volvo pushing us westwards with 10-14 knots of apparent wind. During the night, the wind died down to 8 knots apparent, so we dropped the main and continued with just the headsail until very early morning wh...

I think this is the fourth day since we left Marina del Rey. The days tied to the dock and sleeping all night seem like a hazy dream. Now, we are fully immersed in the rhythm of the sea and the sky, sailing towards our next destination: Sabang. The wind picked up at sunset to a very appreciated 16 - 21 knots and I guess you can see the bump in the boat speed - the extra couple of knots of breeze makes a huge difference. We are making good progress, averaging about 7 knots over the ground. The boat is handling well, with a reefed main and a full genoa. The autopilot is doing the steering, and we take turns to keep an eye on the instruments and the horizon. We have around 1200 nautical miles until we get to Sabang, which is located on the northern tip of Sumatra. It is one of the main ports of entry for Indonesia, or in our case exit, and a popular stopover for yachts cruising in Southeast Asia.  We have settled into our watch system of 3 hours on and 3 hours off, with some flexibili...

The last 24 hours have been the most exciting on our trip. We’ve been motoring for days, but the wind finally picked up at 15 - 18 knots, and the boat is going very well at over 8 knots. The islands of South Vanuatu came into view on the horizon which was a welcome sight. To top it off, we had two rare sightings: another yacht, a distant spec on the horizon, and a large ship that passed within a nautical mile of us. It's a reminder of just how vast and lonely the ocean can be. We had hoped to make it into Port Vila by Tuesday night, but the weather had other plans. So we gave up trying and decided to arrive on Wednesday morning instead.  A minor setback, but it's all part of the adventure.  The stars shine bright above us as we ride the waves, with Sirius - the dog star - twinkling to the south, and it's nice to be out on the open sea.  

The last 24 hours have seen us chasing the wind. If our tracker looks as though I’ve been trying to write my name in the water, now you know why. Typically, a few knots of wind from behind gradually pick up to almost a sailing breeze so we get the sails up. Then the breeze will either drop off or even worse start shifting further south. For us to keep the apparent wind speed up, we have to follow it around until we are so far off course it’s quicker to motor the right way. According to the GRIBs , we will be moving into pretty much zero wind and then we will carry on to Port Vila with the area of no wind following us for the last few hundred nautical miles. Of course, it’s definitely better than too much breeze or headwinds. All is well on board and even though there are only 39 cheese burgers left moral remains high. 

The past 24 hours have been a bit slow. The wind has been practically nonexistent, and what little breeze there was came from directly behind us, so it was useless for sailing. I've been keeping an eye on the GRIBs, hoping to catch a break from a low-pressure system forming to the east. Last night, we got the occasional gust, but nothing strong enough to justify turning off the engine. This morning, there's finally a bit more wind—around 12 knots apparent—so we've hoisted the main and headsail and turned off the engine. We’re making about 6 knots, but we’re heading slightly west of our destination to keep the wind in our sails. And on a more serious note there are now only 39 cheeseburgers left. 

Looks like the weather is finally warming up as we head north! Either that or I’m becoming acclimatized to the cold. The wind died off yesterday afternoon and we’ve been motoring on one engine since then. Checking the GRIB s, it looks like we might get a decent southerly push tomorrow as we’ll be on the west side of a low-pressure system. After that, it’s looking like light southerlies or even calm conditions for the next few days. Looks like that duty-free fuel is going to come in handy! And Starlink is a fantastic addition to any yacht delivery .