Tumua's Pacific Voyage 2017-2018
by Jan Beydels / Island Cruising NZ 4 Mar 2019 07:09 UTC
Tumua anchored off Fatu Hiva, the most southerly Island in the Marquesas © Jan Beydels / Island Cruising NZ
After losing the mast a few days out of Opua, New Zealand at the end of May, I restarted my planned clockwise circle around the Pacific on the 8th of August 2017. I sailed in total about 20,000 miles in 15 months, almost all single handed, apart from the Philippines to Japan when my friend Diny Naus joined me.
The highlights were The Marquesas. Revisiting these had in fact been the inspiration for this trip and I was not disappointed. They were as unspoilt and stunningly beautiful as I remembered them from 30 odd years ago, when I spent some time there on my way to NZ.
Another highlight was cruising through the Philippines. This involved a lot of motoring with light wind, but compensated by its beauty and getting involved with very interesting and nice communities.
During my first leg from New Zealand to Fiji I encountered bad weather with heavy swells, washing my dinghy away (fasting points broke off) and doing some damage to staunches. This lead to further delays for repairs and waiting for new dinghy in Fiji (I ordered a Takacat from NZ). These delays meant that I was quite rushed all the way to the Philippines.
Fiji-Vanuatu-Solomon was fast and nice trade wind sailing. I cruised a few weeks in each of them. Vanuatu and Solomon Islands were both very beautiful and nice cruising areas. From Solomon Islands to the Philippines via Palau was frustrating sailing in the doldrums. Light wind and heavy squalls, with ++ wind and constant sail changes. My hydraulic steering started to play up and in the end I had to top up the system every three hours with cooking oil! I entered the Philippines south of Siargao and motored as fast as I could via the Hinatuan channel, with its notorious strong current to Carmen by Cebu to be there in time before Christmas, when Jeff was going to join me for a few weeks cruising through his native country. But unfortunately I got sick and was admitted to hospital with dengue fever, pneumonia and amoebic dysentery. We flew back to New Zealand, where I stayed till the 16th of February for further recovery.
After my return I spent another two months cruising mainly in the Visayas (Central Philippines). Diny arrived on the 10 of April and we left on the 28 of April from Catanduanes to sail via Okinawa to Osaka making good use of the Kuroshio current (up to five knots !). Japan was of course a huge contrast with the Philippines. We stayed in a marina in Tannowa (village by Osaka) and explored city life by train to Tokyo and Naha.
From here Diny flew back home and I left on 11 of June for Hawaii. I enjoyed the crossing. It took 38 days and due to a lot of zig-zagging sailed close to 5000 miles. The autopilot stopped working on the second day out. So the windvane had to do all the work and I was becalmed for a few days. In the beginning I had to dive south to avoid the worst of two cyclones. In the latter part I went quite far NE before sailing a direct course to Hawaii to make use of the east going current at this latitude (further south there is a west going current) The last two weeks was nice sailing in easterly winds. In Hawaii I spent one month in Honolulu in the Waikiki Yacht club, very nice with bar restaurant and swimming pool. Jeff came over for three weeks. We had a great and luxury time.
Hawaii--Marquesas crossing took 27 days and was rather tricky with several cyclones passing through. First I avoided Hurricane Lane (which caused considerable damage on Hawaii) by leaving and sailing NE 2 days before its arrival. It was a bit odd sailing NE away from my goal but it was successful in avoiding the cyclone and I gained some easting for a better angle later on.
However I had to go south as quick as possible, giving up all my gained easting, to get far enough south before a whole number of cyclones were passing through, one after the other.. It felt like being in a race but I did get far enough south before they arrived. At latitude 7-8 North (well south of Hurricane Highway) the east going counter current was very useful to make good easting. Thanks to all the cyclones there was little or no ITCZ and eventually I had a very nice sail in E / SE trade wind all the way to Fatu Hiva the most southerly Island in the Marquesas.
As mentioned before The Marquesas were still very unspoiled and stunning. I teamed up with another Solo sailor, Eric from Sweden and we explored the Islands together including some very spectacular walks and tramping through the mountains. The last leg to New Zealand was non stop because it was getting late in the season and I wanted to be back home. It took 28 days. The first part was fast trade wind sailing. Than a couple of days motoring in a mirror flat sea. I past just north of Raoul Island in the Kermadecs and the next day the wind started to increase and eventually I was beating up against a very strong SW wind and swell.
Tumua was doing well making 5-6 knots but about 80 miles out of Marsden Point, as expected the wind further increased and I was eventually hoved to in 45- 50 knots. This was the roughest weather I have had on my whole trip and that so close to home! I was quite concerned that something might break but all went well and I entered Marsden Cove Marina at 2PM on Saturday the 3rd of November for custom clearance (Auckland is no longer a port of entry for yachts) and where Jeff was awaiting to take me home for my first shower in weeks!!