Rabi to Rotuma

After our Rabi departure, the wind helped us out a bit by shifting to the SE making it easier for us to get up and around the NE corner of Vanua Levu. After that, the wind settled into a more ESE direction and it was dead downwind sailing the rest of the way. Exodus and crew love this point of sail. It’s not our fastest, but it’s by far our most comfortable.

It was sort of strange because this was our first offshore passage on which we were alone since our very first passage down from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. We had grown so accustomed to having buddy boats around that we were feeling a little alone and isolated. The mahi mahi livened everyone’s spirits, though. Well, except for mine, because we caught it on the reel rather than the handline, and I really hate having to slow the boat down under sail. So, Tim and I got into our usual “playful banter” that goes something like, “Slow Down, you’re killing me!” “I’m doing my best, I don’t know why you use the reels anyway!” “Well, I’m so sorry that catching fish annoys you so much!” Yeah, yeah, playful banter. Good times. After the mahi there was a fishing ban in effect for all fish except yellow fin tuna. And we didn’t use the reel.

The morning of our second day on passage, I realized that we didn’t stand a chance of making it to Rotuma before dark, and this sort of realization can be quite dejecting. Even if a passage is mostly comfortable, it’s always better to be snug in an anchorage as the sun goes down. However, after Tim got up the wind really picked up and we were flying along. But it was still quite frustrating, because even at this windspeed we wouldn’t make before dark. Unless… we fly the spinnaker! Our spinnaker is not a light wind sail as some are. In fact, it won’t even stay full in less than 10 kts of wind. However, the last time we flew it in 20 kts of wind, as were the current conditions, Tim ended up with a broken toe during the dousing process. But desperate times call for desperate measures, so out came the chute! The worst part of the whole operation was turning into the wind (and 2-3 m swells) in order to drop the main. We even eventually got the spinnaker down without any drama. And thanks to the spinnaker, we were having safe arrival drinks in the cockpit as darkness arrived.

However, we barely made it in time. We were pulling into the anchorage with only the lighting of dusk to see by. There isn’t a fringing reef or pass to worry about, but there is a little bit of reef that sticks out here or there as well as some scattered bombies, so there is no way we would have been able to approach the island at that late hour without satellite imagery to navigate by.