Viti Levu – land trip

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We’ve arrived! We picked up a mooring outside Vuda marina, where a couple of officials came out to check our boat papers before we were allowed in to the quarantine dock in the marina itself. There we were met by two ladies who handled immigration, customs and biosecurity. They took our remaining fresh fruit, our defrosted meat (the freezer couldn’t handle the heat of being next to the hot engine for 4 days), our honey, and stamped our passports. We’re in!

The marina staff gave us frangipani flower garlands and sung a wonderful welcome song. Time for a celebratory beer!

We rented a car for a few days so we could explore the main island of Viti Levu before heading out sailing again.

Day 1
Headed up into the hills with Adelle and Sierra to find some waterfalls. An exciting off road trip in a not-offroad car, into the clouds. Hundreds of flame trees around with bright orange flowers. Smell of burning and smoke; lots of fires burning around the countryside, keeping the brush down; this is what we could smell as we approached from offshore.

Day 2 – Sunday 12th Sept
First stop, Garden of the Sleeping Giant … an orchid nursery and tropical gardens where we wandered around for an hour or so, soaking up the sounds, shapes and colours of the Fijian bush.

Next up, the main town of Nadi (pronounced Nandi) where we stopped in at the impressive Hindu temple. The colours, impressive paintings, shrines of Ganesh, Shiva and general uniqueness seemed to make a strong impression on Tilly. We spent some time over the next few days looking up more about hinduism – great learning! Lunch at Nadi was a yummy curry. Lots of Indian influence here, but being a Sunday most of the shops were shut.

We continued around the south – the Coral Coast – to Sigatoka, staying at a small budget resort for the night. It happened to be “entertainment night”, with dancers and fire poi. An interesting change from boat travel, seeing how “normal” tourists see Fiji. We all joined in and got up on stage for some dancing. There was a pool at the resort which Tilly loved, and she made friends with another girl who was visiting from Australia. We also met a local family enjoying a weekend away from home; he worked on a dive boat and she was a masseuse for a resort.

Day 3
Onwards east along the coast to the Sigatoka Sand Dunes – even though it was first thing in the morning, it was too hot for us to take Tilly on the full dune walk (she was pretty tired from the previous day playing and swimming) but we managed a small loop through the woods and along the beach, where over the years people had built lots of driftwood tipis.

Then onwards to Suva, a few hours drive through countryside that got more and more lush as we headed east and south to the windward side of the island. Tilly had a good sleep in the car.

Suva (the capital of Fiji) is a decent sized town, with lots of traffic and noise. We had a good wander about. Picked up some fabric for a bag we wanted to get made [for Tilly’s birthday lego], which we dropped off at a tailor lady in the back of the huge fruit and veg market. Then headed back to the old colonial hotel on the hill where we were staying, for a swim in the “oldest pool in Fiji” – supposedly 100 years old.

Day 4
Back to Vuda! A long 4/5 hour drive back along the coast to the marina, stopping to pick up provisions for our next few weeks sailing around the islands, and a coffee at a handicrafts centre. We happened to bump into the Fijian family we’d met at the resort, and their little boy wanted to give Tilly a turtle necklace as a “welcome to Fiji” gift.

They say that the people of Fiji are some of the most welcoming anywhere in the world, and it’s probably true. There’s no pretence or ulterior motive; just huge smiles and a happy “Bula!” wherever you go. Even in the main towns, it doesn’t seem busy or overpopulated, and almost no sign of true poverty.

It was an interesting few days; exploring nature, towns and getting a feel for the “inland” parts of the island. Roadside villages by mangroves, with houses on stilts. Sugar cane plantations. The biggest produce market I’ve ever seen. Hundreds of kids in Suva at school closing time, climbing onto open-sided buses for their ride back home.

Day 5
We were back on Songline in Vuda marina for the night…. then a quick trip to Lautoka town where there’s another market, this time to stock up on fresh stuff before we head off sailing again. Rose also needed a filling replacing, which she managed at a local dentist for a fraction of the price we’d get in the UK!

To Fiji

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Songline rises and falls gently on the huge, confident yet gentle swells as we approach the lights of Fiji at 3am after 5 days at sea. There’s almost no wind and we are motoring, with the sails up to steady the motion and to catch the small gusts that blow over the back of these marching giants of water. Generated thousands of miles away in the south by some sub-Antarctic storm, probably, they have carried that immense energy all the way to the tropics to explode onto the reef, each side of the pass we are now approaching.

It’s been a challenging passage. The first two days we were pounding into a strong headwind, and then Rose and I came down with a nasty tummy bug. At the best of times unpleasant, but with nowhere stable to lie down – everything always moving!- our insides just didn’t stop. And no time to rest. One night I spent curled in a ball on the cockpit floor, no energy to pull ropes and just enough to poke my head up from time to time to watch for ships.

The the wind dropped- that was on Tuesday I think… So we’ve been motoring for days now.

## continued ##

We’ve recovered from the bug and energies are improving.

The strong, tropical smell of land comes over the warm breeze (which still isn’t enough to sail). Smoke from bonfires, soil and vegetation. Being at sea for days tunes the senses. Ears are always listening for creaks, pings, plops, bangs or squeaks that give early warning of trouble ahead. The air is ultra clear, there are no smells (other than dirty bodies and engine fumes) – so when land comes you can really smell it from miles away.

A little while later, we motor through the reef pass (still in the dark) and then, finally, just as the sun is rising over the land, the breeze fills in enough to turn the engine off. Yay! I wake Rose up with a cup of tea so she can enjoy the arrival as we silently slip along in the flat waters of the lagoon, heading for the check-in marina at Vuda point.

We arrive a short while behind Santana (as usual) and tie to them while we wait for officials to arrive. Check in (part 1) complete, we motor into the customs dock for the final stages; immigration and biosecurity, where they take away some fresh foods and our honey… Boo.

And then, fully checked in to Fiji, we are welcomed in the traditional way with a garland of frangipani flowers and a happy clappy song!

Next few days we’ll in the marina washing, catching up with emails, news, work etc.

Tanna

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With a name the same as ours (almost) and an active volcano, Tanna was not going to be missed, especially as it’s pretty much en route to Fiji.

We’ve spent just over a week here, getting to know the locals and exploring the area. Port resolution is the only tenable and calm anchorage – where captain Cook based himself when he visited all those years ago. Around the bay, hidden in the thick tropical scrub, are a few thatched huts; homesteads for the very traditional locals. There’s a small village just a short walk inland, really just a collection of huts with a few concrete buildings for important people, the school and the church, a football field and a couple of kava drinking (ceremony) circles under impressively intricate banyan trees.

The Vanuatu people speak English which makes it easy to wander around and meet people. There’s a “yacht club” on a hill overlooking the bay- nothing more than a run down hut on the chief’s plot, with flags left by many sailors over the years gone by.

First day (even before any of the officials had come to check us into the country) we tagged along with some others in the pickup ride to the volcano. This was a very lumpy, bumpy hour journey on the worst “track” I’ve seen, slow and fascinating going through the local vegetation, past villages, pigs and smiling people. Tilly (and many others) rose in the back.

The pickup dropped us at a car park just short of the summit- very late in the day when it was already dark. A short 10 minute walk up and we were at the rim, looking over into a fiery orange pit belching dark ash smoke. Every now and then an explosion threw molten lava into the sky right before us – pretty awesome in the true sense of the word. The eruptions were not as big as they sometimes can be (when tourists have to dodge falling rock!) But sill amazing to experience up close.

We spent the following days getting to know locals, helping out (fixing a broken torch, making a new sign for a local ‘tour’), walking, swimming and relaxing. No snorkeling; water not clear in the bay.

Some names to jog our memories:

Stanley and Werry at the yacht club, Donovan and his beach crew doing the Iwea Discovery Tour, Miriam and David at the village an hours walk/scramble inland, Sam the chief and his wife Jocelyn … And many unnamed grinning kids!

As part of a thank you for us helping erect and paint a sign, locals laid on a beach feast. They caught a small pig on a forest walk the day before, it was killed and roasted, and shared with us alongside lots of local food (taro, a version of spinach, sweet potato, and other unidentified veg, some cooked in the boiling hot spring water on the beach)

I spent some time giving tow rides to local kids behind the dinghy, on the kayak. Rose spent some time drawing. Tilly hung out with the Santana kids and a couple of other Aussie boys who has just come in from New Caledonia.

On the last Saturday we had to get a pickup ride over to Lenakel on the other side of the island as the immigration official hadn’t been over to port resolution to stamp our passports: a couple of hours either way, passing over the ash plains on the far side of the volcano. Like driving on the moon.

A pretty special experience, and for Tilly to soak up such a different, friendly, basic culture was wonderful. She completely grasped the importance of understanding and respecting someone else’s culture, even when you can’t fully communicate in the same language (some of the more remote huts and villages had almost no English speakers).

Thank you Tanna!

To Vanuatu

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We left Ouvea at dusk, after walking back from the airport. The passage to Vanuatu was about 200 miles; two nights at sea. The south east trades make it harder to sail east as we’re going into the wind, so we timed out departure for a period of lighter wind; while not ideal, motoring in light winds with the sails up for an extra boost is one of the better ways to cover miles in the right direction.

This passage was a bit noisy as a result, with 28 hours of motoring over two days. Even when the wind picked up on day 2, it was dead on the nose and we needed engine power to make good ground.

As we rounded the southern tip of Tanna island for the final miles before the anchorage of Port Resolution, the volcano came into view. Throwing big black ash clouds into the sky it was pretty dramatic.

We dropped anchor among 8 other boats (including Santana who had arrived a couple of hours ahead of us). Around the anchorage hot steam vents from the cliffs, boiling water streaming into the sea. On the hillside a big plume of steam is rising between the coconut trees. Black sand on the beach. Dense, lush vegetation.

Adventure awaits!

Ouvéa

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The only true atoll in New Caledonia, Ouvéa is a huge 25km-across lagoon with the land on the eastern side and shallow (12m) flat water on the west. With the wind blowing over the land, it’s a sheltered spot to spend a few days, and a good place to leave the boats and families when we go back to Nouméa to check out.

First couple of nights we spent anchored off the Hotel de Paradis, swum, walked and relaxed in good weather. The Loyalty Islands are much more Kanak — local — than the main island. Even so far as being firmly anti-French, so we took our french courtesy flags down and made it clear we were English / Australian. Beautiful turquoise water meant lots of sand… But no coral or fish for snorkelling, so for the third night we headed south a few miles to an anchorage closer to the cliffs and coral; off the village/”tribu”/tribe of Mouly.

Local custom here (“Coutume”) dictates that you ask permission from the local chief before you swim in his water, walk and explore. We found the chief, presented ourselves and a gift of rice and cloth, and made it clear we were not going to be fishing (taking their precious resources). Unfortunately this chief was reluctant to let us go up the beach towards the cliffs – from what I could ascertain from his French anyway. We hung out on the beach for the afternoon. Being a Sunday all the local kids were out playing and our gang had good fun with them in the sea and sand.

Next morning I phoned the airline to confirm the flights… They are on! So we sailed up north a few miles to be anchored close enough to walk to the airport in the morning. Jumped in the dinghy to go ashore and find the chief… Who this time was a jovial bundle of welcoming smiles in a scruffy falling-apart tee shirt who had no problems with us doing what we wanted.

The islands are remote, a combination of traditional and modern. People live on separate well-tended plots, usually with a traditional thatched hut and a more modern timber/tin shack next door. Nice to see the huts still in use, in the same way as they will have been for hundreds of years. A few French around, in administrative and police roles, but mainly Kanak.

Wandering along the beach we bumped into an old fisherman cleaning his net. With limited French (and a limited number of teeth) but smiling and welcoming, he nipped off into the trees to bring us back some coconuts to drink.

…

Now, writing from Nouméa, we’ve managed to check out! Customs, immigration and port captain have given us the OK to leave the country. Passports are stamped, boat papers signed, and James and I are waiting for our flight back to Ouvéa to reunite with the mums and kids (who spent last night at anchor) before setting sail for Tanna (Vanuatu) tonight. It’s a couple of hundred miles, should take two days, bringing us in on Friday at some point.

Vanuatu is going to be remote and very different from New Caledonia… looking forward to it! After that, Fiji, which is a further 4/5 days on from Tanna. As it’s a slightly longer passage, into the south east trade winds, we are going to wait in Port Resolution on Tanna for a good weather window. Might take a couple of weeks, and we won’t have internet in Vanuatu so next update will be from Fiji, perhaps mid September.

I’ll post mini blogs on the iridium tracker page for the next few weeks.

Lifou

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There are 3 islands to the north east of New Caledonia ‘s large “grand terre” which are less developed, more remote and sounded interesting: called Ouvéa, Lifou and Maré. Checking the weather forecast at Ile de pins, we could see some nasty wet windy weather coming up, and wanted somewhere to hunker down while it blew over. Lifou has a marina, and while we’re not out here to hop from marina to marina we figured we could tie it in with checking out of New Caledonia; captains fly back to Nouméa to do customs and paperwork while the families and boats stay in Lifou.

A brisk 6-knot overnight sail brought us to the port of Wé in the middle of the eastern coast of the island, where we threaded the boat through a narrow entrance between coral heads and into the marina. It’s a tiny little place, just a few boats, and only just enough space for the two of us. Crystal clear water, one other tourist boat, and a few french live-aboard locals.

Snorkeling just outside the marina was amazing for coral, but not many fish. Tilly getting confident in the water and loving looking at everything!

Hitch hiked to the airport to get a flight back to main island to do checkout paperwork… Flight cancelled due to strikes, but managed to rent a car which meant we could explore the island. Squeezed all seven of us into a tiny hatchback (kids in the boot and on laps!) and found caves, cliffs and jungle walks.

No flights, ferries all full. As well as the airline strike, it’s wedding season on the island. 38 weddings this week! So, getting back to Nouméa is looking pretty much impossible for the next week. We’re going to sail up to Ouvea to have a look at a new island (and where there is also an airport). The sailing angle from Ouvea to Tanna in Vanuatu is not as good (more into the prevailing South Easterly wind) so it’s not an ideal spot to leave from but at the end of the day it’s not a significant difference.

Filled the boat tanks with water, bought a few fresh veg from the local supermarket and headed off at dusk on the 17th for Ouvea, an overnight passage of about 70 miles.

We sail overnight so that the 12/14 hour trip ends at dawn rather that dusk… If we are delayed then we still arrive in daylight, so that we can see the reefs and rocks and coral around the island and anchorage. For a single night passage, it’s not too demanding on sleep, with Rose taking the watch for a few hours either at the beginning of the night or (in this case) a few hours at midnight for me to then take over again for landfall. Tilly woke at 3am ish poking her head up into the cockpit… “Time for my watch” she proclaims! We have a good look around, check the chart, watch some phosphorescence in the waves, talk about the sails and the weather, and eat our “night watch snacks” (the highlight of the watch for her!) After a few minutes she decides she’s tired and heads below again to sleep the rest of the night.

Dawn brings us to the pass into the atoll of Ouvea, dolphin welcoming us to the island, diving and surfing around the bow.

Ile de Pins

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Left Nouméa Monday and arrived at ilot Mba after a brisk 40mile day sail. Just enough time to go ashore and explore before dusk. Tons of sea snakes coming out of the sea to spend the night in the rocks and bushes ashore. First sighting of reef sharks, tiny ones in the shallows. Windy, so not great for snorkelling.

One night last week Santana had a sea snake slither aboard through a sink drain into the heads (bathroom!). Not dangerous though. Venomous, but mouth not big enough to bite a human and quite placid.

Decided to make the most of the rare westerly weather to continue down to Ile de Pins next day. Arrived Kuto bay in the afternoon, exactly where I had anchored 7 years ago on Rafiki!

Spent a few days on the island, walking up Pic Nge, the main hill, swimming, tow surfing behind the dinghy, playing on the beach. Then decided to continue out to the Loyalty Islands, another overnight passage.

Exploring the islands around Grand Terre

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We spent a few days in the marina in Noumea, a short day trip out to Ile Nge for some snorkeling, and then headed out north into the lagoon for some exploration!

New Caledonia is made up from a number of islands; Grand Terre being the large long one, surrounded by a fringing reef and a huge lagoon. Within the lagoon sailing is on mostly flat water, with hundreds of islands to anchor off. Mostly uninhabited. This is what we came for.

The weather wasn’t brilliant; with some windy days meaning snorkeling was tricky, but we did get some great island time.

Towing the kids behind the dinghies, lots of swimming, exploring on kayaks, cooking on the beach and exploring on land.

Had a short surf at Passe de Vincent on the reef break which was a bit unnerving, seeing the coral so close below. Not that I caught any waves, but it was good to get in the water.

We caught a spanish mackerel, towing a lure behind the boat. Santana caught two, which we barbequed on the back of Songline one evening- beautiful, fresh delicious fish.

Ile Moro was a lovely protected anchorage, where we tucked behind the island for a couple of nights. Calm water in the morning, turtles swimming around the boat, and lots of water fun.

Next on to Tenia (via Passe de Vincent); another lovely spot but a little rolly at night. The islands are small enough to walk around in a few minutes. Lots of clean white sand. Water not that warm yet – but it is just coming out of winter here and we are not quite in the tropics yet … by a tiny smidge. Still, plenty warm enough for swimming and snorkeling.

Wind started to pick up so we moved around to the Bay de Moustiques on Ile Ducos. Silty water, much bigger islands covered in trees and scrub, closer to the main land. Managed a kite surf! And a long walk up the hill overlooking the anchorage, through scrub and thorns. Great views from the top looking out across the lagoon and reef.

After two (three?) nights in Bay de Moustiques, we moved over to a calm spot in the lee of Presqu’ile de Uitoe. The Santana kids (Tas and Sierra) were back at school in Australia for a week [to stay registered]. Tilly managing to swim 10m unaided now… on the brink of being a “proper” swimmer!

Next stop was Ilot Mbe Kouen; a tiny idyllic spot, a typical “tropical desert island” with a few scrubs on. Not many coconut trees yet; we’re not quite far enough north. The usual casurina (sp?) and tropical vegetation ashore. Lots of dead bleached white coral on the beach to play with. Not great snorkeling… perhaps we’ll get that when we head further south into the “outer lagoon”. Though for Tilly it’s all fantastically exciting.

Then, back to Noumea on Friday. We didn’t really need to stop in for anything; we have weeks worth of water and months of [non-perishable] food, but as we’re going past, and Santana had to drop in to pick up the kids, we figured it was worth a stop. There’s always another spare part to get (just in case), and always fresh fruit and veg to top up on.

Our friends on Jacana were also still in the marina; they have decided not to explore any more of New Caledonia this time, or Vanuatu, but instead head straight on to Fiji, and were departing on Monday morning. Tilly had made good friends with their 8 yr old boy Sasha and we wanted to give them some more play time together. We hope to see them again in Fiji.

And it’s another excuse for a proper shower and a meal out at a restaurant!

On Sunday we took the bus out to the Tjibao Cultural Centre, a museum/exhibition centre celebrating local Kanak culture. The architecture was from the same stable as the Pompidou centre in Paris, and the local art, carvings, totem poles and Pacific islander genesis stories were fascinating.

We didn’t get very far up the east coast, but really to see it all we’d need to spend the whole season just in New Caledonia! We also want to explore the more open southern lagoon and try to see more whales, and the coral and fish are supposed to be better further away from the mainland.

Noumea

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Port Moselle is a modern marina in a western French town … no remote adventures yet but a good place to recharge our energies, repair boats and restock on fresh food.

I completed all the arrival formalities (customs, immigration etc) at the marina office, then we waited on board for customs to arrive and check our supplies. Technically until they have visited and stamped us in, we aren’t allowed ashore; a bit like coming through customs in an airport when entering a new country. After their two hours had passed with no sign, we were OK to explore. First thing was a celebratory drink and meal out with the Santana crew!

Everything on Songline was damp after a week at sea with no opportunity to dry things out, so we made a basic attempt to tidy up, to make room for bodies to sleep, and turned in for a deep sleep – the first one for 8 days where we weren’t being rolled around.

Next morning, at about 7am, there was a tap on the hull … “Bonjour!”. All of us were deep asleep. I poked my head up through the aft cabin hatch and remembered we were due a visit from biosecurity! I thought I’d be awake well before 7, but no – sleep was very needed. Being an island, New Caledonia is strict about what fresh produce and animal products can be imported, and the official line is that they take much of your left over food away from you at this point. Either the rules have relaxed, or the biosecurity lady wanted to turn our job around and get off the damp, stinky mess of a boat as soon as possible! Anyway, she took some rubbish and fresh fruit and left us to it.

The day was dry enough to hang some wet stuff out, make use of the local laundry, and of course get a coffee and fresh French croissant! I switched the spare autopilot pump in without any trouble, made a few other minor repairs and made Songline ready again.

Across the Coral Sea

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Thibaud arrived on Sunday night and we all had a tasty meal out – getting to know eachother and making the most of the shore while we were still able to.

Monday morning we climbed up the local hill – Muttonbird Island – to see what the harbour entrance looked like. We were planning to leave on the back of a low pressure system and ride the favourable winds most of the way to New Caledonia, but that meant that the first day or two of passage would have waves and swell left over from the low’s passing. The swell coming into the harbour that morning was almost breaking across the entrance, with some of the larger waves looking quite threatening. It was low tide, and the swell was forecast to drop so we left it a few hours (a higher tide means more water over the ground and the waves are more mellow).

After lunch a second visit to the top of the hill gave the green light and we were off! We filled the boats with water and fuel and hoisted the sails in the outer harbour.

Santana led the charge out through the heads, just as a huge set wave came through. Up, up, up she went and I distinctly remember seeing the whole of her deck as she lunged towards the sky. The wave didn’t break, but as she came crashing down the other side she lost the life ring. We weren’t far behind over the same wave- which had mellowed out a little when it got to us – but Tilly was still fully lifted off her mattress in the forward berth as the bow dropped off the back of the wave! After that, we were out. Two reefs in the main and sailing at nearly 7 knots, bound for a new land.

The first couple of days at sea were pretty standard for an offshore passage with reasonable weather; varying from light winds where we motored to keep up the average speed, to 20 knots which is perfect sailing wind. We had the spinnaker up a couple of times, kept up with Santana (just) to make a rendezvous on Wednesday (day 3).

Next day brought squally weather which is never nice; rain and gusts of wind with each squall means you need to either just keep small sails up and drift through the calms, or keep changing sails up and down with the wind. We worked the boat hard, trying to keep our speed up; both so that we could keep up with Santana, and so that the overall passage time was sensible. The difference between 3 knots and 4 knots is a full 25%, which over a 1000 mile distance can add a couple of days.

On one day we spotted a mini twister coming down from the clouds; sure we could see disturbed water at the bottom. Kept an eye on it. It dispersed by itself – the speed at which the cloud formations changed was surprising.T

Thursday 14th evening’s log entry shows “storm cells passed over, skies clearing”; it was an uneventful night, but with waves and swell from all over the place – not particularly comfortable… but even so Rose manages to crack out another amazing “at sea” evening meal.

After a good day of sailing on Friday, with the wind building through the afternoon to a brisk force 7/8, the autopilot started to misbehave at dusk; never a good time of day for anything to fail. With light fading quickly I tried a few options; topping up the hydraulic fluid, going onto the other tack briefly to try and bleed air, but no joy. The system managed to steer in one direction but not the other, and with the constant port/starboard adjustments that it always does at sea, we ended up just veering off in one direction. Not good. Instead of doing more ‘engineering’ and risking losing steering altogether (even hand steering with the wheel), I decided that our best option was to hand steer until we could get a good look at the system. Either a flat calm day, or in the next port. As it turned out, flat calm wasn’t on the cards…

The wind remained strong through Sunday, Monday and into Tuesday. The log is empty, apart from a few very brief notes to mention, of all things, “Tilly enjoying eating shredded wheat” and “first sighting of flying fish”. Thibaud and I shared the steering, 24 hours a day. The wheel couldn’t be left alone for more than a few seconds before the boat headed off course, which meant that sail changes and sail trimming was pretty much impossible while on solo watch. If we weren’t driving, we were eating or sleeping. With large waves and a lot of wind, it needed all our attention while at the wheel, so Thibaud and I got pretty tired. At one point during a 50 knot gust I though we were going to lose the solar panels (which I’d not quite finished bolting down in Coffs).

Eventually, on Tuesday morning (day 8), the wind calmed down. Land Ahoy! The island of New Caledonia appeared at daybreak, but soon disappeared with the rain which came in soon after. With the wind dropping off to pretty much nothing, coming directly from where we wanted to do, we ended up motoring the last few hours, through Dumbea pass into the fringing lagoon, and on another couple of hours to arrive at the Port Moselle marina at 3.30pm.

In the pouring rain (turning out to be typical Songline arrival weather), we dropped the sails, made our way to the dock, and rested.

Everyone had done brilliantly; Thibaud progressed from an offshore novice to an experienced watch keeper and helmsman, always learning and thinking two steps ahead of each situation. After we lost the autopilot and the dynamics of watch keeping changed considerably, Rose did an amazing job of keeping us all fed; even with the boat pitching and rolling in gale conditions we had tasty, hot food. Tilly took everything in her stride, relaxing, sleeping, listening to lots of stories, and even joining the odd night watch. For the few times the sun came out, we all enjoyed time out in the cockpit together, watching the ocean, chatting, laughing and lifting our spirits.

Songline was fantastic; a strong, safe ocean boat, and apart from the one mechanical problem – albeit a significant one – nothing else major broke or failed.