Page 1 of 9

Log of S/V High Drama

No.11- Nuie -Tonga - New Zealand

November 2001

This Log of High Drama stretches from the tiny island nation of Nuie through the Vava’u Island Group in Northern Tonga and ends in New Zealand. This log will be heavier on pictures and lighter on commentary and history.  We currently are in New Zealand. We extend to you all our heartiest Holiday Greetings and Best Wishes. Welcome aboard again!

As always, we are delighted to receive your emails. Please write to us at:                       

or

Review

To really appreciate the size of the Pacific Ocean, you have to look at a globe. Oceans occupy 70 percent of the earth’s surface. The Pacific’s share of that total is 50 per cent. In the last two years we have sailed 13,500 sea miles. Fortunately, we have never experienced sustained heavy weather, by which we mean winds above 40 knots with commensurate seas. Similarly, we have not even sailed through a gale, which by definition produces winds in excess of 34 knots. We have experienced a few squalls lasting for a few hours with gusts up to 40 knots, but never anything serious. Some cruisers sail for years without hitting sustained heavy weather. Others manage to find gales with regularity. While we try to wait for a so-called “weather window” before weighing anchor, gale and storm avoidance involves a considerable amount of luck. We have certainly been lucky so far.

The map below shows the approximate route of High Drama since April 2001. We traveled along a trade wind route, so named because the winds were regular and predictable enough in the days of sailing ships that they could make scheduled long passages for trade. Many sailors take the route we have sailed. It is colloquially know as “The Coconut Milk Run” because the route passes through some of the most beautiful coconut strewn islands in the tropical South Seas. We recently turned south from Tonga to avoid the onset of tropical cyclones as hurricanes are referred to in this hemisphere. The route of our last leg, the 1200 miles from Tonga to New Zealand usually produces at least one gale in the spring weather of the Southern Hemisphere. We missed our gale, but that may well mean we will hit two next time.

Next Page>