Welcome to the Maunie of Ardwall blog

This is the blog of Maunie of Ardwall. After a six-year adventure sailing from Dartmouth to Australia, we are now back in Britain.

Saturday 11 October 2014

A cautionary tale

We've previously mentioned the risks of uncharted reefs and shallows in this part of the world. Fiji remains a beautiful but risky place to cruise and we've chatted to several boat crews who have 'kissed the coral' with their keels.

There's a very honest but sobering account of what happens in a moment if you get it wrong. The American yacht Bella Vita mistakenly went the wrong side of a marker post and ended up high and dry on a coral reef as the tide ebbed - it's worth reading and is a timely reminder for us to remain super-vigilant in our last couple of weeks here. Here's their story

On a more positive note, we're busy preparing Maunie for the 1260 mile / 8-9 day passage to New Zealand at the end of the month. Graham will be up the mast today to do a full check of the rigging and we've been restocking the boat with food. Tomorrow we get lifted out for two days for below-the-waterline maintenance so a busy couple of days lie ahead.

3 comments:

  1. Looks like a Low Pressure System forming around New Cal. Will probably drift SE. Could be worth keeping an eye on.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Simon
      We're watching the weather patterns very closely at the moment, as you'll probably expect! Possible window to head south next week but we'll see as that low will generate a big swell we think.
      Cheers, Graham & Dianne

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  2. It looks like it probably wont amount to much more than heavy rain to the WSW of you on Tuesday/Wednesday.
    A large High moving into the Tasman early next week will probably keep winds fairly light and variable South of Fiji.
    Good Luck and safe travels.

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