Hello
s/v Evergreen has arrived Opua safe and sound. Captain and crew are enjoying land time. Thank you all for monitoring our passage and providing weather and routing support. This was one of our best (if not most fuel efficient crossings).
Cheers
Dennis and Carol Morrison
s/v Evergreen
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Saturday, November 9, 2013
Friday, November 8, 2013
Day 8 Land Ho
0400 UTC
lat 34.41 S
Long 173.53 E
course 168 T
speed 5 kts motor sailing
wind speed 8 kts SE
swell 2 ft
bar 1000 cloudy
Sure is nice to see land. Estimate arrival Opua midnite tonight. Last 24 hours have been a mixed bag of sun and squalls. We all had our turn. Have to say that it is cold. All the blankets are out and being used. Hopefully the whole customs and immigration deal won't be too painful. I over provisioned - we got here on the low end of the range, so lots of extra food that will probably get confiscated. Oh well, don't care happy to be done with this crossing.
More tomorrow - maybe on real internet???
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lat 34.41 S
Long 173.53 E
course 168 T
speed 5 kts motor sailing
wind speed 8 kts SE
swell 2 ft
bar 1000 cloudy
Sure is nice to see land. Estimate arrival Opua midnite tonight. Last 24 hours have been a mixed bag of sun and squalls. We all had our turn. Have to say that it is cold. All the blankets are out and being used. Hopefully the whole customs and immigration deal won't be too painful. I over provisioned - we got here on the low end of the range, so lots of extra food that will probably get confiscated. Oh well, don't care happy to be done with this crossing.
More tomorrow - maybe on real internet???
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Thursday, November 7, 2013
Evergreen Fiji to Opua Day 7
7/11 0430 UTC
lat 32.19 S
Long 173.21 E
course 180 T
speed 5.6 kts motor sailing
wind 10 kts W
swell 1-2 M W
bar 1006 sunny
Sunny uneventful day. Wishing for more wind. Swell has calmed down some. Josh had a small squall on his watch as did Paul. I lucked out, Dennis let me have an extra hour of sleep and no squalls. Moved along pretty fast overnight, too bad not so much today. Hoping we make Opua in the daylight on Saturday - hey it could happen. And hoping to see land tomorrow.
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lat 32.19 S
Long 173.21 E
course 180 T
speed 5.6 kts motor sailing
wind 10 kts W
swell 1-2 M W
bar 1006 sunny
Sunny uneventful day. Wishing for more wind. Swell has calmed down some. Josh had a small squall on his watch as did Paul. I lucked out, Dennis let me have an extra hour of sleep and no squalls. Moved along pretty fast overnight, too bad not so much today. Hoping we make Opua in the daylight on Saturday - hey it could happen. And hoping to see land tomorrow.
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Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Fiji to NZ Day 6
06 Nov 0400 UTC (1700 local)
lat 29.54 S
long 173.20 E
course 194 T
speed 6.2 kts sailing now triple reef main, stay and partial jib. Motor sailed most of the day
wind 17 W has come around from SW to NW now W
swell 2 M west
bar 1006 cloudy occ squalls - the last one got me not Josh, but he got last night's after dinner squall.
4 on board - no one has had to walk the plank yet.
Random thought for the day:
Did you know that your sense of taste gets all out of wack in zero gravity? Crystal (a most excellent over achiever if there ever was one) of s/v Heart Strings told us that. At the time she was working with a NASA team to figure out a menu of food that astronauts would find palatable. There you are miles above the earth, the shuttle comes with a dominos pizza and it tastes like manure! bummer! While many kudos to Crystal and her teammates, I digress from my point. A survey of two (Dennis and myself) has brought to light that the same type of phenomena occurs during crossings. For whatever reason, all the go to comfort things taste nasty (e.g., beer, chocolate, caffeine, red wine) and the appetite just isn't the same either, nothing really sounds or tastes good (at least to me). For me it is also accompanied by a horrible taste in my mouth that even compulsive teeth brushing can't make go away. Now, not eating surely won't hurt anyone on this crew, especially since with few exceptions, all we do is move from one stationary place to another, but it just doesn't seem right somehow. Oh well, doesn't seem to stop me from cooking or the guys from eating.
Otherwise - not too bad of a day today. Sunny to start, winds were light and flukey overnight so the engine was on until late this afternoon. Oh the conundrum of going fast vs. running the engine. As Brad would say, "welcome to the southern ocean". We haven't had to run the generator but once so far. I shudder to think of the cost of refilling the tanks, but hey what do you do?
Had a squall at the end of my watch today. The starboard jib sheet managed to escape and wound itself into macrame around the port sheet. No big deal really, Dennis turned us up wind so I could go untangle everything. Yee Haw, pretty bouncy up there. Fortunately when it came time to put the third reef back in the main, Josh (the resident expert at this now) was available to do the honors. We are now on a starboard tack, first time in a while. Not my favorite tack in this boat. Paul is loving it though as this tack keeps him in bed. Not so much for Josh - Oh well, only 3 more days or so.
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lat 29.54 S
long 173.20 E
course 194 T
speed 6.2 kts sailing now triple reef main, stay and partial jib. Motor sailed most of the day
wind 17 W has come around from SW to NW now W
swell 2 M west
bar 1006 cloudy occ squalls - the last one got me not Josh, but he got last night's after dinner squall.
4 on board - no one has had to walk the plank yet.
Random thought for the day:
Did you know that your sense of taste gets all out of wack in zero gravity? Crystal (a most excellent over achiever if there ever was one) of s/v Heart Strings told us that. At the time she was working with a NASA team to figure out a menu of food that astronauts would find palatable. There you are miles above the earth, the shuttle comes with a dominos pizza and it tastes like manure! bummer! While many kudos to Crystal and her teammates, I digress from my point. A survey of two (Dennis and myself) has brought to light that the same type of phenomena occurs during crossings. For whatever reason, all the go to comfort things taste nasty (e.g., beer, chocolate, caffeine, red wine) and the appetite just isn't the same either, nothing really sounds or tastes good (at least to me). For me it is also accompanied by a horrible taste in my mouth that even compulsive teeth brushing can't make go away. Now, not eating surely won't hurt anyone on this crew, especially since with few exceptions, all we do is move from one stationary place to another, but it just doesn't seem right somehow. Oh well, doesn't seem to stop me from cooking or the guys from eating.
Otherwise - not too bad of a day today. Sunny to start, winds were light and flukey overnight so the engine was on until late this afternoon. Oh the conundrum of going fast vs. running the engine. As Brad would say, "welcome to the southern ocean". We haven't had to run the generator but once so far. I shudder to think of the cost of refilling the tanks, but hey what do you do?
Had a squall at the end of my watch today. The starboard jib sheet managed to escape and wound itself into macrame around the port sheet. No big deal really, Dennis turned us up wind so I could go untangle everything. Yee Haw, pretty bouncy up there. Fortunately when it came time to put the third reef back in the main, Josh (the resident expert at this now) was available to do the honors. We are now on a starboard tack, first time in a while. Not my favorite tack in this boat. Paul is loving it though as this tack keeps him in bed. Not so much for Josh - Oh well, only 3 more days or so.
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Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Tuesday 5/11
0400 UTC 5/11 1700 local
lat 27.51 E
long 173.47 S
course 208 T
speed 6.4 kts motoring - all day. I took pictures. it was how you think it is, but generally isn't
wind 13 direction N waiting for that west component so we can sail instead of motor
swell 1 Meter - practically a lake
bar 1010 sunny, still cool, but really comfortable. We were able to open up and air out a bit.
So yeah - we are not there yet. Had a pretty non eventful day. I did some housekeeping and Dennis had to replace the bilge pump diaphragm thingamajiggy (as in medicine a highly technical term). The high water alarm went off just as we had increased revs on the engine, so a bit of an adrenalin surge. But a generally easy fix and what the heck the seas were calm. Piece of cake compared to other instances I can recall.
We got an update from Brad (last night) and Commanders (this morning) so are enjoying the sun and flat while we can. Looks like we are going to get a small dose of the southern ocean late tomorrow or Thursday. Doesn't look especially bad, winds in the high 20s and maybe some rain. We should be going downwind by then, so the winds won't feel so bad, unfortunately the rain will come right in the cockpit, so watches will be wet. We're as ready as we can be, and like every other crossing, it is just one more thing to get through - at least we are on the downside of the run - hoping to make Opua on Saturday - we'll see I guess. At least the drains all work on this tack. yeah I know it is definitely the small things.
Mexican night tonight. Made guacamole (overpriced, picked too green avacados), pinto beans, rice and beef/cheese burritos. Might be pasta the next couple nights depending on the weather.
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lat 27.51 E
long 173.47 S
course 208 T
speed 6.4 kts motoring - all day. I took pictures. it was how you think it is, but generally isn't
wind 13 direction N waiting for that west component so we can sail instead of motor
swell 1 Meter - practically a lake
bar 1010 sunny, still cool, but really comfortable. We were able to open up and air out a bit.
So yeah - we are not there yet. Had a pretty non eventful day. I did some housekeeping and Dennis had to replace the bilge pump diaphragm thingamajiggy (as in medicine a highly technical term). The high water alarm went off just as we had increased revs on the engine, so a bit of an adrenalin surge. But a generally easy fix and what the heck the seas were calm. Piece of cake compared to other instances I can recall.
We got an update from Brad (last night) and Commanders (this morning) so are enjoying the sun and flat while we can. Looks like we are going to get a small dose of the southern ocean late tomorrow or Thursday. Doesn't look especially bad, winds in the high 20s and maybe some rain. We should be going downwind by then, so the winds won't feel so bad, unfortunately the rain will come right in the cockpit, so watches will be wet. We're as ready as we can be, and like every other crossing, it is just one more thing to get through - at least we are on the downside of the run - hoping to make Opua on Saturday - we'll see I guess. At least the drains all work on this tack. yeah I know it is definitely the small things.
Mexican night tonight. Made guacamole (overpriced, picked too green avacados), pinto beans, rice and beef/cheese burritos. Might be pasta the next couple nights depending on the weather.
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Monday, November 4, 2013
(no subject)
0500 utc 1800 local miles so far 580ish again would be nice if were in a straight line......
lat 26. 00 S
long 174.06 E
course 185 T
speed 5.5 kts sailing
wind speed 13.5 kts ESE slowly coming around
swell 1 M
bar 1010 sunny and clear
Nice day today, good watches last night. Dennis thought he saw a light, but couldn't find it on the radar, so he decided it was a submarine. That's his story and he is sticking to it.
We all had showers today - fresh like the proverbial daisies we are - all dressed up and no where to go. Sunny weather just makes you want to bathe. Wind is quite cool though, so they were fast showers.
This whole crossing thing, going cold turkey off of alcohol and caffeine is definitely no fun. My body about 1500 everyday goes "really? no caffeine and no beer thirty? Fine, have a headache". I get my drug fix one way or another I guess. Those advil come out like clockwork for me - every afternoon. But, I guess a headache is better than nausea - which is what I get with the other two choices. Sigh...... We figure we are just about half way there - I have a diet coke in the fridge waiting. cold beer too, but think my preference will be for the diet coke.
Expect the winds to start moving around in the next couple of days. We will see -no other choice.
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lat 26. 00 S
long 174.06 E
course 185 T
speed 5.5 kts sailing
wind speed 13.5 kts ESE slowly coming around
swell 1 M
bar 1010 sunny and clear
Nice day today, good watches last night. Dennis thought he saw a light, but couldn't find it on the radar, so he decided it was a submarine. That's his story and he is sticking to it.
We all had showers today - fresh like the proverbial daisies we are - all dressed up and no where to go. Sunny weather just makes you want to bathe. Wind is quite cool though, so they were fast showers.
This whole crossing thing, going cold turkey off of alcohol and caffeine is definitely no fun. My body about 1500 everyday goes "really? no caffeine and no beer thirty? Fine, have a headache". I get my drug fix one way or another I guess. Those advil come out like clockwork for me - every afternoon. But, I guess a headache is better than nausea - which is what I get with the other two choices. Sigh...... We figure we are just about half way there - I have a diet coke in the fridge waiting. cold beer too, but think my preference will be for the diet coke.
Expect the winds to start moving around in the next couple of days. We will see -no other choice.
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Sunday, November 3, 2013
Fiji to NZ day 3 (Sunday)
03/11/13 1745 UTC
lat 24.28 S
long 175.03 E
course 200 T
speed 6.5 kts sailing, triple reef main, stay and partial jib
windspeed 16 kts SE
swell 5ft
bar 1008
- miles traveled 412 - wish we were going in a straight line.....
no wet stuff to report today so far. Although Josh is just going on watch and he is a magnet for that. A fast day, lots of heeling, bouncy, but either I am used to it, or it is fairly regular. No death rolls (knock wood) yet. Crew seems okay - stoic.
I had to close the kitchen drain as this tack seems to fill it up and not drain, so using a bucket to catch the water. Paul saw a bug in the sink area last night, I killed it, but did such a good job couldn't tell what kind it was. I am assuming it was a roach, so I put out a butt load of traps today. We have done so well in the no bug department - would like to continue that way.
Definitely cooler, I actually wore my sweatshirt this afternoon on watch. Cool is nice as I have the boat buttoned up tight. Would really like to have an Evergreen crossing first and have a dry trip - too early to tell yet, but I am trying.
My chilli from Thursday lasted thru lunch today - I hope it says more about how bellies are on the first few days of a passage than it does about my chilli. Made scalloped potatoes w/ ham and cheese, and green beans for dinner. That went all the way away.
Paul is doing independent watches now, so it is pretty luxurious only having to be on 3 hours at a time. Seating gets a little weird when everyone is awake, but that is only a few hours each afternoon.
Ran the generator this afternoon - yay hot water and double yay it worked perfectly. Third times the charm I guess for that stupid thing. Now that the water intake is from the place as for the big engine, we are sittin' pretty.
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lat 24.28 S
long 175.03 E
course 200 T
speed 6.5 kts sailing, triple reef main, stay and partial jib
windspeed 16 kts SE
swell 5ft
bar 1008
- miles traveled 412 - wish we were going in a straight line.....
no wet stuff to report today so far. Although Josh is just going on watch and he is a magnet for that. A fast day, lots of heeling, bouncy, but either I am used to it, or it is fairly regular. No death rolls (knock wood) yet. Crew seems okay - stoic.
I had to close the kitchen drain as this tack seems to fill it up and not drain, so using a bucket to catch the water. Paul saw a bug in the sink area last night, I killed it, but did such a good job couldn't tell what kind it was. I am assuming it was a roach, so I put out a butt load of traps today. We have done so well in the no bug department - would like to continue that way.
Definitely cooler, I actually wore my sweatshirt this afternoon on watch. Cool is nice as I have the boat buttoned up tight. Would really like to have an Evergreen crossing first and have a dry trip - too early to tell yet, but I am trying.
My chilli from Thursday lasted thru lunch today - I hope it says more about how bellies are on the first few days of a passage than it does about my chilli. Made scalloped potatoes w/ ham and cheese, and green beans for dinner. That went all the way away.
Paul is doing independent watches now, so it is pretty luxurious only having to be on 3 hours at a time. Seating gets a little weird when everyone is awake, but that is only a few hours each afternoon.
Ran the generator this afternoon - yay hot water and double yay it worked perfectly. Third times the charm I guess for that stupid thing. Now that the water intake is from the place as for the big engine, we are sittin' pretty.
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Saturday, November 2, 2013
NZ to Fiji day 2
0430 UTC
miles traveled 287
lat 22.37 S
long 176. 26 E
course 205 T
speed 4.5 kts motor sailing flukey winds today, but did sail some
wind 15 SSE
swell 5 feet
bar 1007 steady. rained overnight - poor Josh got soaked on his watch.
quiet, uneventful day. Take the reef out, put the reef in, take the reef out...... Everyone feeling well. So far has been a relatively comfortable passage. Cooler which is nice.
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miles traveled 287
lat 22.37 S
long 176. 26 E
course 205 T
speed 4.5 kts motor sailing flukey winds today, but did sail some
wind 15 SSE
swell 5 feet
bar 1007 steady. rained overnight - poor Josh got soaked on his watch.
quiet, uneventful day. Take the reef out, put the reef in, take the reef out...... Everyone feeling well. So far has been a relatively comfortable passage. Cooler which is nice.
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Friday, November 1, 2013
Fiji to NZ Day 1
lat 20.28 S
long 176. 46 E
course 188T
speed -6 kts
wind 15-18 E
seas 1 meter
Happy Halloween - Get up, Get ready and leave - a day early! Is that a trick or a treat? Not sure, but we are underway to NZ - a day earlier than we thought we would be. Gotta love weather - or not.
So Yesterday (Thursday) at 0500 I was awake and stressing about things. I finally went back to bed around 0630. At 0715, Dennis wakes me up with "guess what honey...". And the mad dash began. First get the part for the stantion that they were welding (yes, number 2). Got that. Then check with the office that its okay to checkout -yes. Okay. All hands on deck. The tarp came down, the stantion replaced, boards tied on, decks washed, windvane rudder and vane on, chilli started, meat loaf put together, customs papers filled out, last emails (hopefully) for my nursing license sent, garbage out, tools put away, fan, tarp and chairs back into the anchor locker, contraband plant and last 4 bottles of beer to Moondance, cabin partially stowed. At 1030 - go to customs and wait in line, check out (easy, my papers were filled out in duplicate), pay, final showers, hugs goodbye to Moondance and undersail at 1230. Shit I think we qualify for the marines. Lord knows we smelled like marines - 89% humidity does that. Actually managed to leave Fiji with no fijian money. We spent some at the store, and the rest went to customs and the marina bill. Nice change.
After we got the sails up and settled, we had chilli for lunch (yum). Then I spent another hour finishing up on the inside of the boat. Whew! But all the crew is happy to be underway.
Around 1700 we passed through our final Fijian channel and into open ocean waters. Was quite bouncy for awhile, but finally after dinner we reefed to my favorite 3rd reef and it settled down some. The wind moved more northeast as the evening progressed and by the time I came on watch at 0300 (Dennis forgot to change his watch) we were running downwind. Sure was nice of Dennis to give me an extra hour of sleep! Paul came up with me for the 0300 - 0600 watch. The first day was kinda tough on him, but he seems to be getting over it now. Better living through applied pharmaceuticals as I like to say.
Today has been okay. We motor sailed until 1430 as winds were light from behind us. They have come back up and are more from the east now, so we are cooking right along. Looks like rain in front of us, hopefully we won't get too wet.
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long 176. 46 E
course 188T
speed -6 kts
wind 15-18 E
seas 1 meter
Happy Halloween - Get up, Get ready and leave - a day early! Is that a trick or a treat? Not sure, but we are underway to NZ - a day earlier than we thought we would be. Gotta love weather - or not.
So Yesterday (Thursday) at 0500 I was awake and stressing about things. I finally went back to bed around 0630. At 0715, Dennis wakes me up with "guess what honey...". And the mad dash began. First get the part for the stantion that they were welding (yes, number 2). Got that. Then check with the office that its okay to checkout -yes. Okay. All hands on deck. The tarp came down, the stantion replaced, boards tied on, decks washed, windvane rudder and vane on, chilli started, meat loaf put together, customs papers filled out, last emails (hopefully) for my nursing license sent, garbage out, tools put away, fan, tarp and chairs back into the anchor locker, contraband plant and last 4 bottles of beer to Moondance, cabin partially stowed. At 1030 - go to customs and wait in line, check out (easy, my papers were filled out in duplicate), pay, final showers, hugs goodbye to Moondance and undersail at 1230. Shit I think we qualify for the marines. Lord knows we smelled like marines - 89% humidity does that. Actually managed to leave Fiji with no fijian money. We spent some at the store, and the rest went to customs and the marina bill. Nice change.
After we got the sails up and settled, we had chilli for lunch (yum). Then I spent another hour finishing up on the inside of the boat. Whew! But all the crew is happy to be underway.
Around 1700 we passed through our final Fijian channel and into open ocean waters. Was quite bouncy for awhile, but finally after dinner we reefed to my favorite 3rd reef and it settled down some. The wind moved more northeast as the evening progressed and by the time I came on watch at 0300 (Dennis forgot to change his watch) we were running downwind. Sure was nice of Dennis to give me an extra hour of sleep! Paul came up with me for the 0300 - 0600 watch. The first day was kinda tough on him, but he seems to be getting over it now. Better living through applied pharmaceuticals as I like to say.
Today has been okay. We motor sailed until 1430 as winds were light from behind us. They have come back up and are more from the east now, so we are cooking right along. Looks like rain in front of us, hopefully we won't get too wet.
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