OPUA - FIJI SAILING VOYAGE
Voyage log book 28.04.2021 - 06.05.2021:
My job was charting our progress - direction and nautical miles. Below is a brief snapshot of what we covered each day.
Day One - 160 NM - We left New Zealand on Wednesday evening under the light of a full pink supermoon. The next day, Neptune decided to take our propeller (we are guessing somewhere off NZ territorial waters). We had two choices - turn back to New Zealand, or continue the rest of the way to Fiji under sail. The weather window meant we have wind and we all wanted to carry on. So, with no motor, we sailed the rest of the way to Fiji.
The Air Force were out and about, so they did a few fly-bys and a radio in to check on us, along with an albatross!
Day Two - 198 NM - 5-6 knots - 1 metre swells. Eat, sleep, sail, repeat. You get into a routine and this was pretty much what it was for the next few days!
Day Three - 90 NM - 8 knots - 1-2 metre swells.
Day four - 168 NM - 7.5 knots - 3-4 metre swells.
Day five - 165 NM - 8 knots - 4 metre swells.
Day six - 134 NM - 7.2 knots - 4 metre swells.
Day seven - 81 NM - 5-6 knots - 4-5 metre swells - quite big!
Day eight - 61 nm - We got a tow in through the reef by the Fijian Navy, into Denarau, Fiji!
Total nautical miles sailed - 1057 NM
If you do a 360º look around you in the middle of the ocean, all you can see is the blue ocean surrounding you. There is nothing but movement: you have just finished going down one wave to be going up another. You have a lot of thinking time in the middle of the ocean. Being surrounded by a circle of deep blue ocean made me think of an analogy for our lives:
If you had a 360º look around where you are right now, you can only see a certain distance. If it is clear and without obstruction, the human eye can only see 4.8 kilometres into the distance. This means you can only see so far in the future in all directions.
Life is like a petri dish. No matter how hard you try to look further than the 4.8 kilometres, you cannot see any further. As life is happening in your petri dish, everything seems like a big event because that's all you can see at that time. Maybe in your petri dish it is raining and you all you can see is fog. Maybe you are in a room with walls obstructing your vision. Maybe it is dark.
When you are in the middle of the ocean, the constant motion, the relentless 4 metre swells and the howling wind can at times get too much because that's all you can see. However, I believe there is someone greater than us; you could even call them the 'Scientist' for this analogy. The Scientist knows what the next step they are going to do on the petri dish. They know the future plan because it is written in the method. This method can be tweaked and changed depending on how the petri dish is reacting to the experiment. However, they still have an idea of what is further than the 4.8 kilometres.
The moral of this analogy is that we may not know what is happening in our petri dish at this current time. However, there is a greater plan and it will come into the site (and sight) of your petri dish soon. It helps to have a bigger perspective.
When it wasn't smooth sailing on my voyage up to Fiji, I had to keep reminding myself that there is a greater plan. This would not last forever. The movement would stop. Sure enough, it did. We made it safely to Denarau and it was calm, warm and I could take a breath, we had made it!
If life was all sunshine and coconuts, there would be no stories to tell!
Overall, experiencing an offshore passage gave me some lessons I will take throughout life. It was cool to see the ocean in its vastness. It was a deep navy blue. There was actually very little wildlife, but it was awesome to see albatross in their natural habitat and the odd flying fish or two! Like on the Spirit of Adventure, there was plenty of time (about 6 days) without phone reception - this is actually a nice thing! When we got to Fiji it was nice to be welcomed with a big ‘Bula!’ and see smiling Fijian people.
Completing an ocean passage is an experience I am grateful to have had and was a real feeling of accomplishment having done it.