#TBT - Crisscrossing the Dateline

Since we're not aboard Nine of Cups sailing at the moment (be patient, we'll be back aboard soon), reminiscing by reading and sharing some old blogs is a good way to refresh our memories about life aboard during passages. Storms are a popular topic of discussion among old salts and newbie sailors alike. These posts recount a couple of miserable days on our 2011 passage from the Chatham Islands back to New Zealand's North Island.

En route to Mainland New Zealand

 Day 6 -Across the dateline

Around 10 AM today, we finally crossed 180 degrees and are now in the Eastern Hemisphere again, west of the dateline. The winds have been obstinate and we're clawing our way back to the New Zealand mainland and fighting for every inch of westerly gain. The ride is uncomfortable with big waves and it's squally making sitting in the cockpit unpleasant.

We were hoping to clear East Cape by this evening, but the wind increased and our tack, though gaining us westerly progress, diminished our northerly progress. Thus, we are too far south to clear the cape as we had hoped and with gale warnings in force and the wind and waves increasing each hour, we finally could make no progress at all and opted to heave-to for the evening until the worst of the winds and waves had passed.

Usually heaving-to allows a pretty comfortable ride, but tonight we are heeled over and being tossed about. Though Cups seems to be weathering the storm well enough, the crew is not.

Day 7 - Blown back across the dateline again

Yesterday's miserable winds and weather deteriorated significantly overnight and though we were hove-to, life aboard was most unpleasant. Winds increased to 40+ knots with commensurate wave height and wave action. The wind shrieked and Cups shook and shuddered. The noise was deafening as huge waves crashed with a sudden bang and washed over her. Heavy rain punctuated with hail bombarded the decks.

Prisoners below, there was little we could do, but wait it out. "Grinning" was out of the question; "bearing it" was the only option. At one point I complained to David "Get me off this ride!" to which he replied with grin "I'll work on it". Trying to sleep was useless. We napped a bit, but we were always shaken awake by the sudden jolts and jars of the boat … an amusement ride gone amok. We were lame and sore, back and limbs aching from being scrunched up and wedged in the same position for so long on this heel.

The morning sun rose displaying a mackerel-clouded blue sky … a change in the weather on its way. Our position at dawn had us back east of the dateline. We had been blown back 25 miles east during the night. The wind had abated to westerly 30s, allowing some northerly progress, but against the built-up NW waves. We crawled along awaiting the promised SW winds in the next day or two. The sea is a washing machine, but on a slightly more gentle cycle.

Just after dark, we heard a loud snap and the main started luffing. We are triple-reefed and the reefing line broke. It's a brand new line, so it must have chafed through. With much difficulty, David was able to use the port side reefing line to secure the reef again and then reinforced it with another line. Getting this accomplished with the wind blowing 30+ knots, the boat thrashing on a heel and the waves crashing on and around him was a monumental task.

By the end of the day as I write, we have only recaptured the 25 miles we lost overnight plus two positive miles...a total of 27 miles to the good in a whole day … 25 of which we'd already sailed. We are still just off East Cape and on the east side of the dateline. The promised SW winds are coming, but the forecast is now calling for gale and/or storm conditions with winds up to SW 50 knots. Oh, my! THIS is the part of cruising that sucks!

In summary ...

The passage back to New Zealand was one of our biggest challenges. We had no wind (0-5 knots), too much wind (50+ knots), rarely the right amount of wind (15-20...lovely) and mostly "on the nose" wind (NW). We anticipated 4-5 days to get back and it took us forever moving at a sea slug's pace, usually in the wrong direction.

We suffered our first-ever knockdown in a storm just off East Cape which blew out our mainsail, tore the bimini to shreds, knocked out a deck stanchion and generally took our breaths away. Additionally, we had watermaker and transmission problems which thankfully, David was able to fix en route. We hove-to for another night and, sick and exhausted, we lay ahull for another after the mainsail blew. The projected 750 mile passage took 12 days and was actually 1,140 nm by the time we reached Opua.

Just saying … it's not always paradise out there.

The hardest thing we ever did

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to leave sight of the shore.”

Andre Gide

We've been asked many times what our biggest challenges have been as cruisers and we always respond that the hardest thing we ever did was leave the dock in Kemah, Texas. I cannot imagine the angst and fear and anticipation that sailors of old must have felt as they sailed from the comfort of their home ports to explore an unknown world. I remember the mix of anxiety and exhilaration as we left Kemah ... and we were only heading across the Gulf of Mexico to Florida.

We've written about slaying dragons often in the past. Perhaps that's why our “just a little further” philosophy has worked for us. Having to worry about all the new things we were going to encounter … all those little dragons to slay … like night watches, squalls and storms, navigation, sailing skills …. was hard enough. Add to that bigger challenges/dragons like long ocean passages, rounding southern capes, high latitude sailing and circumnavigating the globe. Just contemplating those possibilities was beyond the realm of our realistic imaginations. Had we worried about all that before leaving, I think we might have stayed in a nice, cozy marina and perhaps gone coastal sailing on weekends. But we didn't.

Getting up the courage to leave was easy when we were just talking about it. Doing it … well, that was quite another thing. Remember, we didn't have years of sailing experience under our belts, but rather we took sailing lessons in our 40s, read lots, chartered a bit and then we sold up and sailed off. The morning we tossed off that last dockline and slowly watched the coast disappear into the horizon was a “gulp and swallow” kind of experience. Yikes … what were we getting ourselves into?

So what does it take to make the big leap? Well, along with a bit of courage, it takes preparation. Certainly, confidence in yourself and each other is a main ingredient. You need to trust each other. You have to have confidence in your boat, that she'll handle whatever comes your way because you've maintained and equipped her properly. Confidence and a mindset that whatever happens, you'll figure out what to do. Once you're out there, there's no telling where the wind will blow you, what you'll see, what you'll discover … about the world and yourself.

Yup. We left Kemah, Texas and then we were sailing and we kept going around and here we are … some 86,000 miles later … all because we left the dock.

Our 12 Most Exotic Sailing Destinations

In the past 15 years of rounding the globe, certain destinations were high on our “exotic” scale. We define an exotic place as one that's beckoned to us, maybe because of its historical significance, maybe for its tropical, faraway appeal, maybe because it always seemed alluring, out of reach and fascinating with that we've-read-about-it-in-books-and-now-we're-really-here quality.

San Blas Islands, Panama

The San Blas Islands, known by the locals as Kuna Yala (Land of Kunas) is the home of museum-worthy molas, women who wear gold rings in their noses and beads on their arms and legs, and proud, independent people who live in thatch huts and get married and buried in hammocks. This was our first really unusual, exotic adventure into a totally different culture and we relished it.

Galapagos Islands

Charles Darwin and his discoveries in the Galapagos Islands … something we'd read about since grade school and here we were, visiting the Galapagos just like the HMS Beagle. The animal life was incredible with Galapagos penguins swimming around the boat, marine iguanas sunning on rocks, sea lions sleeping in dinghies and giant century-old tortoises munching on greens.

Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile

If you've ever read Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, this was the island upon which the real Alexander Selkirk was marooned. We scrambled to the top of the lookout that Selkirk climbed daily watching for a ship. We saw endemic Juan Fernandez hummingbirds (picafloras) feeding on cabbage trees. We took in the history and legends of a place few will ever visit.

Easter Island, Chile

Rapa Nui, Isla Pascua or Easter Island … whatever you call it, it's an exotic place to visit. Moai statues stand sentry, facing inland to the island and its people, not facing out to sea. Wandering around these giant monoliths was incredible.

Pitcairn Island, Pacific Ocean (British Territory)

Anchoring off Pitcairn Island, we tried to imagine what the mutinous crew of the HMS Bounty must have thought as they chose this isolated island for their new home. Brenda Christian, great-great-granddaughter of the infamous Fletcher Christian, and her husband, Mike, provided hospitality and tours of the island that stretched up, up, up out of the sea.

Chatham Islands, New Zealand

We'd never even heard of the Chatham Islands until someone happened to mention them to us as a potentially interesting place to visit. Located 500 miles east off the coast of New Zealand's South Island, we found the inhabitants of the “first island to greet each new day” warm and welcoming though the wild and windy Chatham Islands weather was not. The expanse of the Te Whanga Lagoon abounded with graceful native black swans, fossilized shark's teeth and endemic flora and fauna.

Tristan da Cunha, Atlantic Ocean (British Territory)

Touted as the most isolated island in the world, Tristan da Cunha's 300 self-reliant inhabitants are a hardy lot clinging to a volcano top in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. We know several sailors who passed by because of bad weather. We were fortunate enough to have settled conditions to call at this seldom-visited island for a taste of Tristanian hospitality.

Chesterfield Reef, New Caledonia (France)

Located in the Coral Sea on the route between Australia and Vanuatu, we thought we'd stop overnight and a week later found it difficult to leave this uninhabited reef teeming with birdlife, sea turtles, whales and dolphins.

Suwarrow Atoll, Cook Islands

The protected anchorage inside this atoll allowed us to enjoy the Cook Island's only national park and it was absolute magic. We visited several islands and islets within the atoll, amazed at the bird life, the beauty and the number of other cruisers in the middle of nowhere with whom we had to share it.

Tierra del Fuego, Chile

The Land of Fire at the bottom of the world was cold and remote and beautiful beyond belief. Sailing alongside the magnificent glaciers that swirled down the mountainsides and kissed the water below; wending our way through a labyrinth of channels in the Straits of Magellan and along the Beagle Channel; anchoring in tiny coves in the century-old wake of Joshua Slocum. This was beyond exotic … it was surreal.

Tasmania, Australia

Taswegians refer to Tasmania as “Down Under, Down Under”. The endemic flora and fauna was a delight, but mostly we reveled in the natural beauty and ruggedness of the place. In particular, Port Davey, accessed only by boat, was sheer eye candy.

Tahiti, French Polynesia

Waking up at the marina located in the middle of downtown Pape'ete, Tahiti, smelling the coffee and fresh croissants in the morning and hearing the market buzz was nothing short of fantastic. This is the stuff dreams are made of and it rates right up there with the most exotic ports of call there are, especially with such a warm Polynesian welcome.

If you'd like to taste more of these exotic destinations, check out the Nine of Cups website pages with the highlighted links above.