Tasman Day 2

Forecast barometric 4 Feb

Summer on the Tasman involves a steady W-E flow of high pressure systems separated by often powerful troughs and punctuated by the occasional Tropical Cyclone.

The attention-grabbing TC's (what we call 'typhoons' in Hong Kong or 'hurricanes' in the Atlantic) are born in the tropics and - often with little notice - are capable of rushing south to the latitude of NZ in a matter of days.

Our pre-departure weather-watch through sites such as Passageweather considered both the TC threat and attempted to pick the best course going forward as the train of weather systems developed. Our shore team took over this task as the crossing continued, with daily (often twice-daily) updates by Satphone & HF.

Forecast winds 4 Feb

Profound thanks here go to Sue (comms centre in Hong Kong), David (HF in Sydney) and Steve/Alain/Pat (wx-watch) for all your efforts on our behalf. It was very reassuring to have you looking out for us!

The initial weather picture was complicated by the enduring ex-TC Oswald, still moving south down the Australian coast and reinforcing the advancing trough. We had started in an E'ly, and could expect the wind to back round the clock as the trough arrived and blew through. It was only a matter of how quickly it all happened.

A-watch on lunch duty

This left us with a difficult decision regarding our planned stop-over at Lord Howe Island, where we had a mooring booked and paid for. At about 1/3 of the way across the Tasman, we'd been looking forward to an exotic lay-over and a spot of R&R here after the busy departure prep...

But we were now days behind schedule. If we sailed the 100 nm further south of rhumb line to LHI we would be stepping off the 'slingshot' we were enjoying before the arrival of the next cycle of SE'ly headwinds, and with the forecast strong S'ly, we weren't even sure we would be able enter the Lord Howe lagoon to reach our mooring.

Decision made - let's press on.

From the logbook:

Tuna bake

0610     Sunrise. 2 whales sighted, blowing
0900     HF sched with David, reasonable comms
1000     Wind dying, Eng on @ 1,400 RPM charging
1200     Eng off, full M&G. Prep reefs for later
            Lunch:  tuna bake with pot's & salad
1500     Still course 105 degs with NNE/15 kts
            180 nm last 24 hrs
1755     Gen on
1800     HF sched
1900     Dinner: Jim's tuna fried rice
1930     NNE/15-22 kts. 1 reef in M&G, making 8.5 kts / cse 105 degs
         
Brilliant starscape, 2 satellites & appropriate accompanying music (Yann Tiersen, Ludovico Einaudi, Adele, etc) before moonrise @ 2205. This is what's it all about...