Time for a reality check.
Friday, 22. May 2009, 12:49:26
We have become blasé about our sailing and every now and again get a reality check. Just before we left Opua (NZ) a boat that was planning to leave for Fiji same time as us - called '3 Amigos', hit the rocks coming into Opua (Bay of Islands) at night and sank in 3 minutes, the people were rescued but ended up in hospital.
When we left New Zealand, friends on the boat 'Scarlett O Hara' turned back with engine problems. They missed the weather window for the dash North and were therefore delayed for a week or so. They eventually left with a bunch of other boats, then, 2 or 3 days out picked up a mayday from a boat called Elusive that must have been in VHF range - that boat started to take water and sank! (We feel a bit more secure in a cat without that lump of ballast lead to drag us down) 'Scarlett' rescued them (took the couple and their son onboard) Their son had just joined them for a cruise as he was made redundant from his job in New York. Very sad for them to have lost their yacht but fortunately got off unscathed. 'Scarlett' has just now made it into Fiji, we have just spoken to them via VHF and they are fine but had a fairly rough trip encoutering bad weather along the way. Had to run before a storm that took them way off course and suffered some gear damage. We have to be really careful out here in Fiji and not relax our guard. The reefs are not all on our charts. They are treacherous, hitting one can be unforgiving. See the "rescue of 'Timella' crew" in our prevoius blog entry. Having said that we are now in a particularly nice sheltered bay just off a reef in Fiji just off Malolo island near musket cove. Check Google Earth 17.44.3S and 177.08.8E
James and Lorna
When we left New Zealand, friends on the boat 'Scarlett O Hara' turned back with engine problems. They missed the weather window for the dash North and were therefore delayed for a week or so. They eventually left with a bunch of other boats, then, 2 or 3 days out picked up a mayday from a boat called Elusive that must have been in VHF range - that boat started to take water and sank! (We feel a bit more secure in a cat without that lump of ballast lead to drag us down) 'Scarlett' rescued them (took the couple and their son onboard) Their son had just joined them for a cruise as he was made redundant from his job in New York. Very sad for them to have lost their yacht but fortunately got off unscathed. 'Scarlett' has just now made it into Fiji, we have just spoken to them via VHF and they are fine but had a fairly rough trip encoutering bad weather along the way. Had to run before a storm that took them way off course and suffered some gear damage. We have to be really careful out here in Fiji and not relax our guard. The reefs are not all on our charts. They are treacherous, hitting one can be unforgiving. See the "rescue of 'Timella' crew" in our prevoius blog entry. Having said that we are now in a particularly nice sheltered bay just off a reef in Fiji just off Malolo island near musket cove. Check Google Earth 17.44.3S and 177.08.8E
James and Lorna
WIDGETIZE
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