November 25, 2012
By Sunday, it was apparent that a weather window was opening, and everyone had made their decisions on when to go. Two of the boats left today to anchor out near the entrance to this island group (the Tongatapu group). Meanwhile, the last boat, Gato Go, arrived at Big Mama’s. All the boats planned to make the jump to New Zealand tomorrow (Monday) except one: Legacy.
We weren’t trying to be different; it just made sense for us to leave a day later, on Tuesday. One reason was, worried about leaving Legacy unattended in strong winds, we hadn’t checked out on Friday; so now we’d have to check out Monday. But there was a bigger reason: 15-knot (plus) winds would be coming from the southwest all day Monday and Monday night, and we’d be heading right into them. We preferred to wait one more day for the wind and seas to calm and be more in our favor. Why go out and be miserable when you can wait a day and have it be so much better?
The group naturally gravitated to Big Mama’s that evening to have a few beers and (for some of us) dinner. We all sat together, and while weather was discussed, the gathering felt as casual and relaxed as usual, like this was no big deal. Everyone felt good about the forecasts and conditions and ready to leave. Still, there was definitely an undercurrent; the feeling of a tribe gathering in the face of . . . something.
We did talk about the Pacific Drifter’s Net. As the rest of the fleet had pretty much arrived in New Zealand, there were no net controllers on the radio. We’d need to pick a person from each boat willing and able to run the SSB (single side band radio) net: once in the morning, and once in the evening. It is the net controller’s job to get on the radio at the appointed time, call first for any emergency traffic and then take position and condition reports from each boat participating. Rich would be one of the net controllers and would kick it off tomorrow morning. Our little fleet had come down to eight boats. Beau Soliel, Gato Go, La Luz, Morning Glory, Sam, Sockdolager, and Picara would head out on Monday. Legacy (Tiger Bait once again) would head out on Tuesday.
The evening ended with some dart games and milling around by the bar before everyone broke off to head back to their boats for a good night’s sleep. It would be the last one for awhile as passages mean long night watches. -Cyndi
