Through various reasons this is a somewhat late update so apologies for that.
The trip up to Fiji was eventful to say the least with a couple of challenges. The first was the fact that the Skipper who was not feeling 100% just before leaving contracted the deadly Man-Flu as we left and two days out of NZ was not much good for anything with an aching body, not eating and the inability to get warm. The wind was a strongish South westerly to start with so she was a broad reach out of the Bay of Islands. We were making good time and running with the Sea, but the rain was driving into the back of the Boat and there was nowhere in the Cockpit that was dry. We resorted to staying down below, no Main, a Reefed Genoa out and the engine running to settle the boat down while creating some heat down below. The main agenda here was to stay dry, check our course and keep an eye out for other Vessels.
The second challenge was presented to us 230 miles north of New Zealand.
I was going down off watch at 0100 and Shelly was coming up for her turn. I reported that there were some lights off our Starboard beam that wasn't showing up on AIS or Radar so must be fishing boats. They were well over the Horizon so must have been at least 8-9 miles off us, so were adjudged to be no problem on the heading we were on.
Around 0230, Shelly came down and said-'one of those boats are getting closer' so I got up to check.
At this stage, they were showing up on the AIS and it was a Japanese Boat called Hiroshama No7 and they were steaming at 14 knots on a converging course with us. I called them on the VHF several times but no answer. I then changed our course by 40 degrees to go under them. They immediately changed their course. Each time we changed course they changed theirs to bring us back onto Collision course.
At this stage we were approx 150 meters of them and I ran up and pulled our sails down, started the Engine and motored straight toward him with all our Lights( Tri-Colours, Navigational and steaming Light) on. I motored directly towards their beam to approx 50 meters, then turned sharply to Port to go directly behind him and away in the opposite direction. I could quite clearly see the boat was a Whaling Ship with all its lights on and the retrieving Shute on the Back of her.
I had the engine going full noise at 3200 rpm and doing 9.5 knots in the opposite direction. They could have turned 180 degrees and chased us if they wanted as they had a lot more speed than us but they didn't thank goodness and we slowly left them behind.
I have to say this was the scariest time Ive had on any boat before and along with the Flu and the time of the night, its something you don't need. What the hell possessed them to do such a thing I will never know, don't know whether they were bored, drunk or had had enough of NZ boats coming up and protesting against the killing of the Whales. Either way it was a scary scenario which I hope never to encounter again.
As a result, Shelly stated it would be her last Blue Water leg and I can fully understand.
The rest of the trip was pretty good with good winds and making good time, even though it didn't get warmer till we were probably 250 miles south of Fiji. We managed to get in in 6.5 days averaging 7.6 knots so a fast trip. We got into Momi bay just before dark so she was anchor down and a long awaited swim and beer for the night.
The next day was spent going into Vuda Marina, doing Customs and catching up with all the staff there and many a Cruiser that we had met there the previous year. It was like coming home.
