Apia harbour, Samoa

Bye Samoa

Tue Sep 23 2025 09:13:00 GMT+0200

Partir c’est mourir un peu – leaving is dying a little bit.
Samoa, we hardly saw you, but we met only friendly and helpful people. Jonathan of Comptec with the computer problems, Sharon on the marina, even the taxi drivers were nice, without exception.
But we have a good weather window now, or at least not a really bad one. So we go for it.

We go to the Vava’u islands, the Northern island group of the Kingdom of Tonga (yes, the only Kingdom in the whole Pacific Ocean).

Bye Samoa

Bumpy

Wed Sep 24 2025 07:35:00 GMT+0200

The day before yesterday, when we saw the weather window to go to Vava’u, it had one disadvantage. That is the weather we are in now. We are beating upwind against 20+ knots of wind and 3 meter waves. No fun. Just sit and don’t move, except when necessary. So that is what we do, except when you are on watch.
Just making a pot of tea is a job. Keeping yourself up, keeping the water cooker up, getting a teabag from the cupboard, it needs a lot of attention to keep everything on its place on a shaking ship. We are small, the sea is big.
Misunderstanding between us: Peter thought that Brent would have prepared a dinner, just to heat up. No, Brent had said he would prepare some meat to put in the freezer. So tonight we ate some sandwiches.
The shaking and bumping will last till early next morning, so tomorrow a more positive story.

The weather forecast nowadays can make sail you fossil free

Thu Sep 25 2025 07:07:00 GMT+0200

20 years ago a weatherforecast could be something like: ”the next 24 hours: wind: West to Southwest, possible northwest later and with force 2 to 3 over land and 4 to 5 at sea, possibly 6 in showers.” Actually you knew nothing. Well it would not be stormy.
Weather forecasts underwent a great development the last 20 years. Now it makes sailing easy. You can even plan your trips. It has democratized sailing. The original seaman/officer always knew a lot about Highs and Lows and fronts and depressions, but now you just read a beautiful designed graphic map. Predictwind is an expert here.
Side effect is, that you don’t need a big motor with a lot of diesel to make good what you cannot do by sailing. Now, when your ship is sound and safe and the crew can sail, you can travel the world, even fossil free. A bit of energy in some batteries is enough to run an electric motor, just to get in and out of a harbor.

Oh, just as important: we ate stew of beef and veggies, well-garliced and well curried.

Nature

Fri Sep 26 2025 07:44:00 GMT+0200

A booby landed on the railing. It is a sea bird, the size in between a goose and a swan. The way it landed, was beautiful. It came flying to us, slowly turned head into the wind, slid to the railing, and hung in the air for a while, despite all the turbulence. Then lowered the last 5 centimeter and the claws were around the railing. What grace, what refined motions, actually there were hardly any motions. Like it was easy to land here. We can learn a lot from nature: we need a landing strip and a traffic tower to guide our planes in.

About nature. Brent just finished a book about regenerative agriculture by Johan Kempf. Whilst the contemporary agriculture tries to reduce the soil, to some stuff the crop must grow on, Kempf explains that you can also let the soil be rich and take profit from that. Let the fungi and micro organisms develop and grow, and it is a stimulus for the photo synthesis, and that brings extra carbon into the plants (so bigger crops) and into the soil. Now chemicals like Round up have the effect that our soils decarbonise and that is a pity. The book shows a complete new approach of regenerative agriculture, with numerous elaborations. Yes, it needs skills, knowledge. But then you can harvest more crop easily. It is just as simple as that booby landing and it is our nature.

We ate a mutton curry with paksoi and bakabanana, this last is a banana tasting like a rich potato. It absorbed all the flavor of the curry. You would love it. The wind blows well and thanks to the weather forecast we have the good angle to get to Vava’u.

Arrived Neiafu, Vava’u Tonga, with compliments

Sat Sep 27 2025 03:18:00 GMT+0200

We spoke other yachts and they had ‘a rolly voyage’, and the funny thing is, we did not experience this, except for the first day. And our boat is -as always- one of the smallest.
So compliments for the designer, Dick Koopmans. Or also complements to us? Because we give the Ya speed, and the others boats don’t, on the contrary. It gives the Ya the opportunity to handle the waves, while the others are more the objects of these waves, is our theory. Anyway, it was a nice ride these last days.

The clearing in often costs a day. Not in the Kingdom of Tonga. Customs, Health, Biosecurity, Immigration, they all came for a short visit and everything was done in one and a half hour. Our compliments to them, and to their boss, the King of Tonga. It felt like a royal welcome.