Messages from Sea! - Tonga to New Zealand

Averaged over 9kts in 24hrs the day this was taken!

Ahoy there! Along the way from Tonga to New Zealand we sent satellite phone updates to friends and family of those on board that are copied below. Be warned! They are length but great. It was a bit of a wild passage for myself, Lauren, Roxy and Abby. The high might have been the 24 hours we spent at Minerva reef. The low was definitely the omnipresent threat of the venomous giant centipede named Ted that had escaped on board in early October.

All in all we managed to make it from Hap’pai Tonga to Bay of Islands NZ in a bit more than 5.5 days of sailing. Not too shabby at all!

Cheers and happy reading 🍻

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An update from SV Zephyr via Sat Phone!

November 5, 2019
Lat: 21°58.4S
Long: 177°13.5W
Wind: Light SE winds hovering between 9 and 15kts
Sea: Gentle with small 1m swells and few white caps

Howdy ya’ll, from your friendly crew (Eric, Roxy, Abby, Lauren) on board S/V Zephyr! (Lauren speaking)

We are all currently in that early passage stoke mode - we only just left the Ha’apai island group of Tonga for New Zealand yesterday around 1 p.m. In the last 24 hours we’ve managed to sail 194 miles averaging over 8kts day and night. Both Captain Eric and Roxy have been religiously checking the weather over the last few weeks, carefully watching the patterns and fronts that dance their way over the stretch of ocean we are about to cross. The next week holds fair SE or E winds in the Tonga-New Zealand basin with a new front pushing in later which will bring with it north and west winds. If we make enough westward progress before the new front rolls in, we should be able to keep the strong winds aft of the beam, for the entire sail (fingers crossed!). This was our reason for leaving Tonga a bit earlier than first anticipated. But, as should be expected, nature makes the decisions around here!

We had an absolutely baller time in Ha’apai over the last four days. We did some spearfishing and snorkeling over a few different pristine reefs, enjoyed endless expanses of remote white sandy beaches, and finished up prepping Zephyr for her big passage and making her all pretty for the strict customs requirements of New Zealand. That meant some pretty rigorous hull scrubbing and equipment checking, as well as thorough provisioning. Seriously, I don’t think you’ll ever have seen a boat this well-stocked on veggies. Our faces are basically turning orange from carrot overload and our hands are taking on a nice purple tinge from the plethora of sweet potatoes bouncing around in our bellies. We’ll be positively glowing by the time we arrive in New Zealand. Veggies for the win!

Zephyr and our awesome friends Moljnir two days before setting sail in gorgeous Hap’pai

Since leaving Ha’apai, we’ve probably been averaging about 8 knots en route to Minerva Reef, a cool sheltered spot that a lot of cruisers use as a rest stop while they wait for the next weather window on the way to New Zealand. It’s basically a big reef in the middle of nowhere (about 360 nm southwest from Tonga) that provides a nice lagoon of protection for those seeking a place to chill. We’re hoping to hang there for a day or two, do some snorkeling/swimming/yoga, and Eric apparently wants to catch a lobster.

Now, for those of you not familiar with all of these bubbly faces on board, it might be nice to give a few quick crew bios. Eric, the owner and captain, is heading down to NZ to stow Zephyr while he hops back over the Pacific for the holidays and then returns to NZ to do some summertime exploring in January. The lovely Roxy has been a crew member on board Zephyr for nearly two months now. She’s slowly sailboat-hitchhiking her way to Japan, having left Southern California earlier this year to mix things up a bit. Abby just finished a season working in Tonga and is en route to New Zealand, seeking more adventure before heading home for the holidays. Lauren also just finished a season working in Tonga as a whale swim guide, and is headed back to New Zealand, where she spent the last couple of years working. Both Abby and Lauren are on their first crossing, just fizzing with excitement and keen as beans to learn the tricks of the trade - brave souls for choosing this particular passage as their first, as its notoriously a little bit trickier. But, go big or go home, right?

Morale is high, the sun is glittering on the sea, a copious amount of delicious food is making its way on to the table every mealtime, guitars are being strummed, songs are being sung. What better time to perfect the craft of cooking than on a passage, when the hours of the day simply beg for you to fill them with whatever meaningful activity your heart desires? Every meal, someone seems to outdo themselves. We eat like queens.

We’ll keep you posted as we head along, but right now we’re about 150 nm from Minerva Reef and so hope to arrive their tomorrow morning.  
Keep on keepin’ on, and tally-ho from the South Pacific! 
Love,
Your Zephyr Tonga-NZ Crew

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PS - This an update on Ted

Allow us to introduce you to Ted (Eric speaking). Our fifth crew member. He joined us a few weeks ago in unceremonious fashion. Roxy, one morning in Vava’u Tonga was taking apart a large head of Bok Choy when suddenly she gasped and whispered “Kill it, Kill it!”. This was very alarming that Roxy, who is normally extremely stoic when it comes to creepy crawlies, was shocked by the beast. Lauren and I were peacefully lounging on the saloon settees and could not see what had emerged from the head of greens. Upon getting up, we realized what it was. A massive venomous centipede. Perhaps 4 inches long with giant face pincers made of nightmare. It was now crawling rapidly across the floor towards the port hull steps.

Realizing what it was, I (Eric) went to grab something to kill it with to avoid being stung. It was too late though. The beast had slipped over the lip of the stairs and crawled behind the access panel under the steps. In the 5 seconds it took me to take apart the access panel, it had crawled into a massive wire conduit which runs throughout the entire boat. It had unfettered access to everywhere on board now.

Ted had escaped.

Not only that, but Ted had taken the shortest possible route from the head of Bok Choy to one of the most inaccessible parts of the boat. He is clearly tactically savvy. He is sentient. He has a plan. He has venomous face pinchers. Wikipedia lists him as “extremely aggressive” and extremely hard to kill. This is like Alien…..but in real life. We are now co-habitating with the closest thing to a xenomorph that earth has to offer.

We had our work cut out for ourselves. Roxy wasn’t even able to sleep that night.

Why is he called Ted? Because talking about living in close proximity with a venomous giant centipede is a bit much. So we gave him an innocuous name to make him seem a little less scary. It sort of works. We also have a boat rule that we don’t talk about him at night. It’s a bit too real.

Now, fast forward three weeks to our first day of sailing from Tonga to New Zealand. The topic of Ted comes up once in a while but he hadn’t been spotted in weeks. Maybe he couldn’t find enough to eat? Maybe the vinegar Eric doused on the wire conduit was enough to kill him? Maybe we wouldn’t have to worry about Ted after all?

Optimism at its worst.

Lauren and I (Roxy speaking) were on night watch together so I could be available for Lauren to ask me questions. I have some experience sailing and was happy to nap on the settee and be a comforting lump of semi-useful information for a person on their first night watch ever. Lauren was a gem and didn’t poke me awake once. However, in our transition from her official watch to mine in the middle of the night, she called on me to help with a below deck matter.

Lauren, in a contained excited manner, waved me down to look at something in her bathroom. I walked down the three stairs that Ted had escaped into weeks ago, turned the corner and stared into a completely empty small wastebasket. Empty except for a Ted. “Is this Ted?” she asked calmly. “Yes, it is,” I too responded in a relaxed, satisfied manner. There was Ted, trapped in the bottom of a wastebasket. Ted wasn’t moving much, the slick sides of the modern oblong trashcan had defeated his ancient climbing powers.

“What do we do?” she asked. “We throw it overboard,” I replied, clear headed and sure that this would be the end of Ted. There was no way he could escape. I felt my wise years of dealing with critters and dangerous situations fortify me as I lifted the wastebasket in my hands. Ted was presented to us on a silver platter by the universe. We were saved. We could sleep in peace. I was going to be a hero, my ego panted. Lauren looked at me with eyes full of trust and respect.

I turned to walk up the first step, Ted moved slightly. Not even in an “extremely aggressive” manner. No worries, I thought, I’ll just shake him back down into his failsafe trap. Wiggle, wiggle and then I dropped the trashcan. It felt like forces beyond my control, from the underworld, sapped the strength from my experienced fingertips. Lauren’s eyes filled with dread as the can crashed to the floor, inches from where Ted had escaped into weeks ago.

She instantly laid flat on the ground, crying out for her quality of life, her sanity, and wailed on Ted, or where she thought Ted was, with the now truly empty wastebasket. Ted escaped, again, into the wiring conduit, with full access to Zephyr, and the shadowy recesses of our minds.

When I die, and a loved one asks me if I have any regrets, I will respond that I wish I had killed Ted on that night. The saga continues.

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An update from SV Zephyr via Sat Phone!

November 7, 2019
Lat: 23°42.4S
Long: 178°51.5W
Wind: Light E winds. 6-10 kts
Sea: Anchored.

THE TED SAGA CONTINUES:

We (Lauren speaking) are so glad that you’ve all been updated on the Ted situation on board, because last night there was yet another incident. I don’t want to give away the ending, so sorry, you’ll just have to keep reading to find out if the saga ends here…or if there was yet another narrow escape from Mr. Ted. After three long, long weeks of silence from our venomous hitchhiker’s first arrival on Zephyr, how is it that we’ve somehow managed to see him TWO DAYS IN A ROW? What has suddenly brought him out of hiding? Is it the motion of the boat, rocking his brains to near insanity? Or is it the fact that he’s a bit nocturnal, and three weeks in, he’s really started to develop a craving for the fresh human flesh on board? Who the heck knows. But I’ll give you the full rundown of what happened last night, as I was the unfortunate soul that was greeted by Ted yet again when I entered the head, hoping for a peaceful, innocent bladder release before bed.

Let’s set the scene: it was our second night on board since leaving Ha’apai. Eric suggested we watch his favorite movie Moana, so after popping up some perfectly salted popcorn, making sure the sails were set correctly for the forecasted wind, and snuggling up with some pillows, blankets, and tea in the saloon, we put on the epic Disney film and got ready to sing our happy little hearts out. It was the perfect way to spend the evening after a beautiful first full day out at sea, feeling all the inspiration from this powerful Disney heroine and admiring her way-finding skills.

Now, fast forward another hour, when I became mindfully aware that it was quickly approaching 9:00 p.m. I was scheduled for the 12 - 3 am night watch shift, and was still feeling pretty exhausted from not having slept that well the night before. As much as I hate leaving a movie early, especially Moana, I took the hint when one of my least favorite scenes of the movie rolled on and decided to hit the hay. If you’re familiar with the movie, Moana and Maui had just entered the underwater lair of Tamatoa to retrieve Maui’s fish hook. This scene is a bit freaky, as it occurs in the realm of sea monsters and eerie evil creatures. Perfect time to head to bed, right? Little did I know that this cinematic realm of monsters was simply a reflection of what I was about to experience IRL after I politely excused myself from the saloon and headed down the stairs for a wee break.

Of course, being 9 p.m., it was quite dark down below. A few different thoughts ran through my head as I started to reach for the light to illuminate my path to the toilet. This was precisely where I had encountered Ted the night before, when he had been trapped in the rubbish bin. So naturally, my mind wandered to the possibility that he might be waiting to greet me again. I didn’t dwell too much on this, as my bladder was chatting to me quite loudly thanks to the fine mug of turmeric tea I had just consumed, so on went the light, down went my pants, and….HELL NO. TED. EFFIN’ TED was aggressively slither-crawling right along the floor at the base of the toilet, and he was headed in my direction.

There was no time for questioning the unfairness of this whole situation. No time for begging the Universe to rethink this cruel twist of fate. There was simply no time for anything at all besides emitting a few blood-curdling screams, which came out at a pitch that I didn’t even know my vocal chords could procure. The fight-or-flight response was here in full force, so the screams continued while I rapidly scanned my surroundings for an appropriate weapon. I am proud to say I did manage to utter some productive words to my fellow movie-watchers above: “SOMEONE GET DOWN HERE NOW AND BRING A WEAPON!!!” While I waited for reinforcements, my determined brain settled on a half roll of toilet paper as the closest weapon, so I grabbed that, dropped to my knees, and started whapping what I thought would be the living daylights out of our evil nemesis.

But no amount of toilet paper-pounding would stop him. He simply accelerated and began twisting his way back toward his initial hiding spot under the stairs, towards the wire conduits. Why was everyone up above taking so long to come to my aid?? We had a plan, guys! Always be prepared to fight at a moment’s notice! Don’t fail me now!

Now, what happens next must shift over to Eric’s point-of-view. All I can say is that once the others arrived on scene, I retreated to the shower stall and crawled up on the sink, sheltering myself from the emotional trauma that was washing over me in waves. Would this be the end of Ted, or a repeat of the horrors of Ted’s narrow escape the night before?

Shocked (Eric speaking) by what sounded like Lauren had found rabid velociraptors downstairs, we began moving towards the port hull. Before I could even get down the stairs I saw Ted full on sprinting from the forward bathroom back into my room. When I say sprinting, I have no idea what I actually saw, but allow me to elaborate on his locomotion:

        A)      HE IS SO FAST. Like faster than a human sprinting fast!
        B)      He sways back and forth as he runs, slithering like a snake
        C)      All his little centipede legs look like they are doing creepy crawly circles
        D)      He is full of insane nervous energy, never taking straight lines and weaving back and forth
        E)      He was definitely bigger than when I first saw him. Given the speed with which he was running, stronger too! He was thriving on board, not dying like we’d hoped!

If he wasn’t terrifying already, watching him all out sprint/slither/crawl across the floor cannot be unseen. Failing to kill him tonight would mean that sleep aboard Zephyr would be a luxury. The port hull would need to abandoned.

Before going downstairs, I rapidly scanned around for a suitable weapons. At arms reach in the saloon was Laurens’ very cute pink coffee thermos with happy seals printed all over it.

Perfect.

He had now entered my room. My sanctuary was corrupted. Unsafe. No longer mine. I can honestly say that I’ve never wanted a creature dead so badly in my life.

Entering my room, I treaded carefully. In close proximity to the beast, the closing time between Ted emerging from some dark shadowy corner and my foot was likely faster than anyone could react. On the floor was a yoga mat and monster rave boom box.

I carefully moved the yoga mat and before I could even lift It THERE HE WAS F***** RACING AROUD IN CIRCLES LIKE A LUNATIC RIGHT AT MY FEET!

I yelled. Exactly like Lauren. No one could be chill in times like this.

I tossed the yoga mat out of the room in the direction of Abby (in the hallway) and Lauren (taking shelter in the shower).

Shrieking (Abby Speaking). All I heard was shrieking. Not the kind of semi-normal shrieking you can expect from Lauren on any given day, but far worse. It sounded as if pirates of the south seas had boarded the vessel and were force-feeding Lauren mounding spoonfuls of raw, ground lamb, a vegan’s worst nightmare. I had only removed myself from the movie for a mere two minutes; Lauren made a quick wee sound far too enticing to pass up. What horror could have possibly unfolded in such a short amount of time?

I pushed past the bathroom door to the stairs leading up to the saloon, only to find Roxy already pacing franticly towards me. Before I could begin to form a sentence to ask what the hell was happening, she blurted out, “Abby, we need you! It’s Ted…”

I immediately felt my hands tense, eyes tighten as if I were about to superwoman laser the shit out of that little creepy crawly excuse for a bug. This was my moment. I was the only one who hadn’t met Ted yet, and I couldn’t bare the thought of more Ted trauma aboard the boat if he managed to escape again. I ran up the stairs, pushed Roxy aside and grabbed something to defend myself… a dish sponge. Okay, okay, maybe not the best weapon in hindsight, but when faced with a killer centipede, all logic goes out the window. I ran towards Lauren’s screaming, ready for action, when, wait… it wasn’t Lauren screaming for dear life… it was Eric!

His high-pitched, blood-curdling screeches baffled me as a pink yoga mat flew past me in near slow motion, gently brushing my cheek on its journey by. WTF Eric? That yoga mat could’ve had Ted on it, and he could’ve bit my face off! Trust me when I say the look of my face after a Ted bite would be far scarier than the creature itself. After the yoga mat landed to the side, I turned my attention towards Eric once more, and then, finally, to Ted.

I swear, the creature and I locked eyes for a moment, and flashbacks started pouring into my mind of when I first boarded the boat…

Flashbacks of my first meal with the team, when I was told:

Roxy: “We found a molokau (poisonous centipede) aboard.”
Eric: “He escaped before we could kill him.”
Lauren: “Yeah, and we have a group rule not to talk about him after dark. Roxy, you’re breaking the rule!”
Roxy: “Abby has a right to know about Ted…”

Upon hearing the news, all I could do was shout, “What the f@*& guys? Are you f@*$ing kidding me? I didn’t sign up for this $#*%!”

Molokaus are bad, bad news. I’ve worked in Tonga for two seasons, long enough to know the perils that could befall someone unlucky enough to meet one of these creatures face-to-face.

Flash forward, back to Ted. On the ground. In front of me.

Superwoman went out the window, and I began adding to the screams that were coming from all different directions as Ted scurried across the floor, out in the open. My body was stiff, unable to move as fear washed over me and adrenaline filled my veins. “Get him, Eric! Kill him! Kill him!” We were all yelling as he wriggled his way around the floor like a little lightening bolt.

Eric’s screeches started up again as he took Lauren’s cute, pure, innocent mug and began smashing Ted into the floorboards. With every stroke, Eric’s eyes became more and more enraged, taking out all the trauma and stress that had built up within over the previous weeks. And with every smash, splatter, and hit, Ted was still not dead, but severely wounded and unable to move anything but his sporadic head.

Eric stopped. We all fell into a brief silence.

“Get him off the boat!” Lauren screamed.

Eric swiftly grabbed the roll of toilet paper that Lauren had thrown on the ground in fear and picked up Ted. Eric had assumed he was dead but despite his body being half smashed his front half came alive lolling back and forth snacking his pincer. Eric jumped up to cockpit and quickly dumped the weight of our fears in our wake.

Finally, after many long, agonizing weeks, it was over.

My mind still races at the thought of Ted, the possibility of a beast crawling into my bed, late at night. All I know is this: Eric has forever secured his place as captain of Zephyr. No mutiny will occur. He will not have to walk the plank.

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Now for some sailing stuff

We (Roxy speaking) had a glorious night passage to Minerva Reef with a steady 9 to 14 knots of wind on the beam under a luminous half moon. The full main sail and Code Zero headsail powered Zephyr along at an average boat speed of 8.6 knots for our last 18hrs. After the magnificent killing of Ted, we all debriefed outside under the moonlight. Peace fell like a cozy blanket around us, we hollered in unison to the stars “Ted is dead!”

In the morning, we awoke to a pastel sunrise and a few hours later we entered calm seas protected by Minerva Reef. I felt giddy as we entered the pass. Last year, my cruiser friends regaled me with stories about their wedding on this 3 mile diameter sanctuary enclosed by coral reef that disappears at high tide. They’d invited whichever sailboats happened to be anchored inside, waited til low tide and tied the knot. It existed as an imaginary fantastical place in my mind until now, we were here, watching crystal aqua surf rise up over coral reef.

Zing! Zing! Both fishing lines went off inside the pass. Eric and Abby each pulled one in, and Eric’s was nibbled on by an aggressive shark. We’d never seen this kind of fish before, but think they might be greater amberjack. One was easily 20lbs. Since we didn’t have ciguatera information for this area the fisherpeople threw back the catch to the sea. The shark nibbled one looked like it might have become a shark meal in quick order.

We anchored near one other boat a few miles opposite the pass. Right where the deep cobalt becalmed inner sea transitioned to dreamy postcard turquoise. Sun sparkles lit mellow wind ripples. The boat was still, with the exposed reef protecting us from thousands of miles of open ocean, my face muscles relaxed. We all appreciated the new quiet and stillness.

Anchored and wakeboarding in Minerva reef! Watch out for tiger sharks!

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An update from SV Zephyr via Sat Phone!

November 9, 2019
Lat: 24°18.9S
Long: 179°39.2E
Wind: 19-23 kts
Sea: 8ft

11/6 ——————— Minerva Reef - Wakeboarding - Coral Observation - Aggro Sharks - More Lobster than anyone can handle

So here I am (Abby speaking), on passage once again to New Zealand, thighs tense and wobbly, barely functioning on this rocking boat after many activity-rich days. It’s 2am and I’m halfway through my night watch shift, somewhat drowsy, mostly perplexed, wondering how living on Zephyr has become a part of my life. My mind wanders, attempting to solidify all of the memories made thus far, as I don’t want to forget them, or these beautiful souls I have had the privilege to sail with. And here, I’m left to drift, back to yesterday, back to the reef…

It was morning, around 9am. I had just finished my morning watch shift when we arrived to the entrance of Minerva Reef, an atoll somewhere neither here nor there, a place to seek calmer waters, an anchorage many boats stop at on passage to and from New Zealand. Sweet potato, carrot, egg breakfast cupcakes filled the air as we made our way through the entrance of the large, ring-shaped reef. Before I had a chance to look around, both rods sounded, fish were on.

Eric tended to one while I eagerly scrambled to the other, in full huntress-mode, mind you. I quickly pulled in my fish while Eric, working hand over fist, finally brought his onto the transom, but not before a shark narrowly missed a chomp on what we believe to be a Great Amberjack. Because we were unaware of the odds of contracting Ciguatera (an awful reef fish sickness) we tossed both back. We motored to a nice sandy spot, near the only monohull in the entire atoll. We dropped anchor, and praised Mama Ocean for blessing us with calm waters and a bright, blue sky.

What better way to celebrate a new anchorage than a dance party on the catamaran roof, some yoga, and a quick slumber? That’s when chatter of wake boarding circled the boat. Since when do we have wake boarding equipment? Jeez, it seems like Zephyr is just a much larger version of Mary Poppin’s purse, you can find just about anything on board! But wait, what are we going to pull the board with? Is the dinghy really going to cut it? Well, apparently it does, but very slowly…

Each of us girls aboard had limited experience wake boarding, and I had only started attempting in Tonga a few weeks prior, very unsuccessfully, I might add. First up, Foxy Roxy the Rockstar. Of course she gets up on her second attempt, and flies around the reef, near-perfectly, making it look all too easy. Okay, she did it, I can do it… But I’ll watch Lauren go first…

Lauren stands up after only a couple attempts making it look just as easy, woo-hooing all over the place, one-handed, half-dancing, and a finger snap on the way past the boat. Okay, I have more hope now, I can do this. Okay Abby, get pumped, put your game face on…

As Eric and I pull away from Zephyr in the dinghy, I strap into the board, and splash into the water. “Okay Abby, hold the line, and let me know when you’re ready.”

I can do this. I can do this.

First attempt. Let go.

Second attempt, barely up.

Third attempt… Wait, I kind of have this, twist the board, stand up… A glow came over my face, I looked up at Eric, as if in slow motion, hair blowing in the breeze when all of a sudden, back to reality, caught front edge, over the board, face plant into the water.

So much water. Up my nose.

Okay, come on, I can’t be the only one not to stand up! Can you tell I get a little competitive? Okay, okay, just remember, I can do this. Very wobbly, up I went on the fourth attempt, and I was doing it! I was tense, but still doing it! Gosh, it’s so much easier once you stand up! I flew around the reef, mesmerized at the beauty of where I was, wake boarding on a reef in the middle of the ocean. Who does that? I went as long as I could, and finally let go near the boat, thighs screaming.

In the afternoon, we all piled in to the dinghy for what would no doubt be an epic snorkeling trip in the pass of minerva reef. After landing two huge fish in the pass and having a shark clip one it promised to be an exciting time.

It did not disappoint! We anchored the dinghy just south of the pass in a shallow (7ft deep) pool among the coral canyons on the outer edge of the atoll. Jumping in the first thing that we saw is that the fish were HUGE. Parrot fish over 2ft in size. Emperor Angel fish the size of dinner plates. A red snapper that was at least 3ft long cruised by too. Peering under rocks, we found an infinite supply of HUGE lobsters (we would return later for them!)

After that, we headed out to the deep water pass to jump in and see some sharks. Before jumping in, we discussed what kind of sharks we’d probably see and agreed that it would probably just reef sharks. No big deal.

After stopping the dinghy, I jumped in. One grey reef shark heading towards us. No big deal even though they are known as the most aggressive reef shark.

Then another one.

Then another one.

Roxy jumped in the water, saw the horde coming towards us and rapidly clamored back into the dinghy. I think the sharks sensed the energy because they started moving very rapidly with fins down after that. Signs of agitation.

Lauren and I quickly dog piled back into the dinghy adding to the fearful vibes. NOPE. No doubt the sharks were feeling prey vibes from us!

Were the sharks actually dangerous? Probably not. They were probably just curious. But, by being anxious and nervous around them, they were responding to us and becoming more aggressive. Had we been chill no doubt all would have been well.

After (Eric speaking) seeing HUGE lobsters literally EVERYWHERE by the pass we were snorkeling at, Abby and I came back in the afternoon to see if we could grab a few. And grab a few we did! Literally after tying up the spearfishing bouy, Abby came back with a massive 2ft long one! It wasn’t long before we were getting picky about which lobsters we harvested. We came back to Zephyr with 5 massive lobsters. We did our best to eat as much of them as possible but they were so big we had more than 2lbs of leftover meat. Definitely a dream come true for me after no luck on lobsters in the Marquesas after a challenging night dive (Emily you would have died!).

One of the greatest joys of living this life is finding ways to live like queens and kings all on your own. Feasting on lobster and asian noodle bowls that evening, sore from wakeboarding and swimming in a reef in the middle of the ocean that only boaters ever get to visit certainly made us feel regal.

11/7 ——— Leaving Minerva Reef - Busted gear

Looking (Eric speaking) at the weather while we were at Minerva reef, it was pretty clear that our day anchoring in the sun, in fair winds, wake boarding and eating more lobster than anyone could handle would be short and sweet. We had a couple day window of medium strength NE wind which we could use to sail at NZ before a front rolled in with SW winds.

SW winds are the exact opposite of what we want. So there was a big impedious to get going to see if we could beat the front or position ourselves favorably for it.

So, 24hrs after we arrived in Minerva we left.

Before I left, I shared my weather data with a few other boats in the anchorage. I was thankful to have a fast boat because we had options available to us for a short passage keeping the wind aft of the beam. Slower boats on a schedule would get caught up in the new front well before NZ and maybe a wind-less high pressure system right after.

Leaving Minerva we sailed away with low 20kts of wind as deep as we could. With the 1st reef in the main and code zero eased out a bit like a spinnaker we were making over 9kts easy.

A few hours after we left Minerva we managed to catch a nice big Mahi Mahi on a pink and black squid we have named Ursela. It was caught on our long line so 200ft back so quite an effort to get her back to the boat but we managed. While we were cleaning up the blood though I looked up and the code zero didn’t look right. Way toooooo much sag. It had fallen way off to leeward. Not right at all. Why?

Broken bow sprit.

The bow sprit’s dyneema bobstays had chaffed though in the center where the code zero’s furling drum attaches. The 6ft carbon A-Frame bow sprit was now rotated up pointing to the sky and detached on one side with a flailing 1050sqft sail attached on the top of it.

Roxy, Lauren and Abby were great about decking the sail. Super chill without issue. Lauren helped me cut the old bobstay off by duct taping a knife on to the end of our boat hook and using that to saw through the lashings right at the waterline while we were sailing. Luckily everything looked 100% repairable with about 27ft of 1/2 dyneema.

Originally I was scheduled to make dinner but Roxy and Lauren took over on making butternut squash/lentil soup with some Thai flair. We still had a Mahi to deal with so Abby expertly filleted it. I spent the afternoon splicing up a new dyneema bobstay rig. Very busy boat.

In the afternoon with the Mahi filleted, soup made and bobstays rig constructed we stopped the boat and dropped the sails to repair the bow sprit. We put the dinghy in the water to attach the new rig. I preemptively replaced the bobstays months before in the Marquesas and had done it all from the dinghy then. Not in 24kts of ocean wind waves and swell though.

I managed to get it done but it was pretty crazy trying to tie lashings at the waterline under the nets from the dinghy. My wrist ended up getting pretty beat up during one surge where it got trapped between the dinghy and now wire tight bobstays. In hindsight it would have been better do it while swimming. Oceanic sharks and giant squids be damned!

The bowsprits been repaired now although we have yet to need it. The 12-16kt forecast has been more like 20kts of wind which we can easily use the working sails for.

11/8 ————— Minerva to NZ - Super chill ocean passage day

Originally (Eric speaking) we’d planned to sail a dogleg course to NZ by making westward progress then south progress to make as much west progress as possible before the new front rolled in. I budgeted 150 miles a day in the light forecasted NE winds.

Actual winds are different though and with the additional strength, we’re making about 220nm a day averaging more than 9kts and sailing a more direct course to NZ

We’re essentially racing the weather.

Not that it feel like we’re racing. Yesterday was a truly chill ocean crossing cozy day. We spent the day inside making muffins, watching Blue Planet II and playing cards against humanity. The moons in the perfect part of the cycling making every night watch progressively more luminous. Life aboard is a lot of laughing and being silly.

We’ve been working on using up all of the provisions we have aboard which NZ will not let in which has meant eating like queens and kings. Theres been an embargo on using rice or pasta and so pretty much every meal has been heaping pile of amazing. For breakfast we dined on lobster crepes with about $300 worth of lobster tail we had leftover from the Minerva. For dinner we had the best mahi tacos of our lives.

We may get gout. Roxy vehemently disagrees.

Lauren finding time to do yoga even while flying downwind at 9+ knots

Stoke level high on random Xmas day on board a few days out from NZ!

Safely anchored in one of the many beautiful anchorages in the bay of islands!