Fine Tolerance Cruising New Caledonia Sept/Nov. 2023

10th November 2023

Hi All,

Time for another update.

We have now circumnavigated New Caledonia. By missing out the Loyalty Islands (which are a part of New Caledonia) and the topmost island it worked out at 500nm ( 950km). I’d like to say it was easy but that would not be the whole truth. I can say we enjoyed it and regretted that it had ended so soon, we could easily have taken a much slower pace if our commitments in New Zealand were not so pressing.

New Caledonia is a long thin island that lies in line with the south easterly trade winds. Hence it is easy going on one side when sailing with the wind and hard going the other side when one has to sail against the wind. It matters not which way one goes, clockwise or anti-clockwise, the principle remains the same. Maybe this is why so few yachts do this trip. On the whole trip around we met only one other yacht, a delightful French couple whom it was a pleasure to meet. And this was pretty much the height of the sailing season in New Caledonia which generally starts in May and finishes in November. The north east coast is sparsely occupied, there are only a few villages and although evidence of nickel mining can be seen pretty continuously on the mountain ranges we could see no activity at them. They were just large scars on the landscape and to us did not look as bad as the pine forest harvesting on the hills of New Zealand. There was one small marina on the east coast where the walkway to the one finger holding 8 boats had broken off but there was a wall which we could tie up to and so had the luxury of just stepping off the boat onto dry land without having to launch the dinghy. It was not until we rounded the top of the island and started down (and into the wind) the south west side that we started to see more activity, even to the stage where there was a marina which housed around 20 yachts. We took a berth and in the end were there for 2 weeks before the trade winds eased and we could make our way further south towards Noumea. Up until now we had been sailing inside a lagoon (the second largest lagoon in the world I believe) and thus protected from outside swell. Now however the reef came in and joined onto the land which necessitated us having to exit through a gap in the reef and sailing 80nm southwards before we could once again come within the sheltered waters of the lagoon. From there it was only 50 more miles to Noumea which we did in two hops.

We have both enjoyed our visit here. It is far more relaxed and laid back than Australia, a feature we both like. The people are friendly and helpful. Not being able to speak French was a big handicap for us but always the friendliness and helpfulness of the locals got us through. Items are more expensive here than in Australia but not so outrageous that we could not purchase what we needed or wanted. (an exception to outrageous was gas for the stove which was AU$130 to fill a 9kg size bottle) Our everyday purchases of fresh fruit, vegetables and a baguette were very little different than Australian prices.

Today, Friday, we set sail for New Zealand. Expected time for the trip of 900nm (1700km) is around eight days as the first few days we will be heading west of our track before the wind backs and we can hold a course direct to our destination.

Cheers Phil and Liz

15th September 2023

Hi all,

It’s a rainy day here in New Caledonia so have sat down and finally got around to writing about our sail across from Bundaberg to Noumea. Or I should really say motored, not sail, as we did more motoring than sailing over the 8 days it took to make the passage.

It didn’t really start off very auspiciously. We organized with border force to come down and clear us on Monday morning. We had taken on fuel and water and waited patiently at the customs dock. The clearing officer arrived, wrote out our clearance papers and cast us off. Unfortunately, the tide had gone down and we were stuck. Four hours later we were still stuck so rather than leave late in the afternoon we arranged with the border force to leave the next day, then went to the marina office and told them what had happened, and that border force was coming down again the following morning to clear us. We were moved to a deeper berth, with no charge, and were cleared by border force without any problems and we were on our way. When clearing Australia now it is an immediate thing. Clear and you must go immediately and not stop on Australia soil, or seabed, again. (I’m not sure why this is strictly enforced. As an example, here in New Caledonia one has up to 48 hours after clearing to leave the country.

Sails were hoisted and off we took down the river. Three hours later and barely twelve miles out the wind died. Rather than rock around and, keen to get out of Hervey Bay, we switched on the engine and resumed our course to round Breaksea Spit, the reef that extends around 15 miles northwards from the tip of Fraser Island. The wind remained light and, on the nose, so we kept on motoring, and motoring, and motoring, and motoring. The next morning the wind was still under five knots on the nose and wishing to get past the shipping channel that runs up the east coast of Australia, we kept on motoring. That night we crossed paths with seven large ships but by morning we seemed to be out of the main lane and on an empty ocean. The wind changed direction and now came from the southwest, a lovely wind for heading eastward. The problem was it was still less than five knots and now in open ocean we had swell to contend with. While this was no trouble there were three distinct swells. A 2meter swell from the south and 1 meter sell from the southeast and a 1-meter swell from the northeast. Every so often the bow would go under when all swells coordinated and rather than rock wildly, we kept on motoring. We had a second reef in the main with it flattened as much as was possible to stop the roll and kept on motoring.

Two days later the wind went around to the east but still at less than five knots with an occasional gust to seven. The swell was still with us but all three had lessened considerably. There was no sea to speak of at all. We had now been motoring for four days.

Finally, the wind came in. Fortunately, it was from the south and we could finally put up all sail and head straight on our course for Noumea. The wind increased to around 15 knots but unfortunately swung further towards the east until we could no longer hold our course and had to head further north than we would have liked. There are four passages through the reef off Noumea. We tried to aim for the next further north one than the main entrance and then we found we couldn’t make that one we headed for the next further north. This one is approximately 25 nm north off the main entrance. Not wishing to take on a reef passage we were unfamiliar with in darkness we motor sailed the last bit to pass safely into the lagoon about an hour before sunset. There was a small island only five miles in from the entrance so we anchored in its lee for the night fully expecting the wind to die down a bit over night and then we would be able to cross across the lagoon in the morning. Once again, the gods were against us with a 20 to 25kt wind exactly on the nose which trough up a steep short sea of around one meter. It would have been possible to tack and sail but in the conditions, we decided to just motor head on and thus we reached Noumea just before midday. Customs, immigration and quarantine were delt with courtesy and ease and so ended the passage. Not a great sailing trip but one where there were no breakages, no close calls, fine weather and other than the fuel used could be called for a successful crossing. This was our 20th crossing of the Coral Sea and the fuel consumed would have been five times all the rest put together. That’s how it goes sometimes.

Our plan now is to do a circumnavigation of the island and then head down to New Zealand.

Cheers Phil and Liz

Fine Tolerance Cruising New Caledonia Sept/Nov. 2023

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