Sailing without engine - Suva-->Nadi (Fiji)

[keylime]

Hi,
I've been asked to crew on a ketch sailing from Suva to Nadi for repairs. The engine is out. It would be a 18 hour or so voyage apparently.



Is this inadvisable? A general no no?



What would you check before agreeing?



I have done a bit of coastal day sailing before and this would be my biggest voyage. I have a skippers cert, so can sail on paper, have not done a tonne of sailing though.


Thanks.

[Cherp]

An eighteen-hour trip without an engine should be doable. However, it depends entirely on the weather. You would not want to do it on a set date but rather wait for a weather forecast which sets out the weather window for the next twenty-four hours. You should be looking for a 10-20 knot forecast - not lighter or heavier. Lighter and it could take you days. Heavier and it's too hard. And it depends a bit on the boat too. It should be capable of making reasonable way under sail and should be seaworthy. Those are my thoughts. Mind you, it would be better to fix the engine before departing.

[Shenandoah52]

I used to go sailing regularly on a friends' 39' Angelman ketch that didn't have a working motor. We'd sail it out of the slip (push, push, push) and sail it back into the slip at the end of the day. We only had problems a few times, mostly leaving the slip. Technically, we could have done an 18 hour stint. YMMV.

[TrentePieds]

Distance is about 150NM so 18 Hours seems a bit short. The track will have to be such that you may not be able to avoid beating weather, depending on what the weather is doing during the 18 hours. That would prolong the voyage beyond the 18 hours. But as I write it would appear that the wind pattern around Fiji is such that you'd be broad-reaching all the way if you were doing it now. Wind strength varies between 5 and 25 knots.

The way you ask the question indicates that you would not be confident in undertaking the voyage as skipper of this particular boat. So it comes down to this: Have you enuff faith in your skipper for the proposed voyage that you are willing to trust your life to him and this particular boat?

Generalities have nothing to do with it. Only the specifics have: 1) Do you trust him and his voyage plan. 2) If he messes up (or has a medical emergency), are you good enuff to save his butt for him? 3) Do you trust the boat to handle any conditions of wind and wave you may meet with on the passage?

If any one of those questions generates a "no" answer, don't go. We can't know how to answer those questions for you!

Best of luck

TrentePieds

[MicHughV]

sailing engineless in the open ocean is the easy part...coming into harbor under sail....not so easy...docking under sail...needs the right combo of winds and tides, etc..
One would hope the boat has a dinghy and outboard which can be used as a yawlboat to nurse the mother ship in tight quarters...or have somebody tow you in.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Distance is about 150NM so 18 Hours seems a bit short.

It's only about 100 NM if you go through Bega Passage

[TrentePieds]

Hi Stu - you're local. I ain't ;-0)!

TP

[atoll]

Originally Posted by StuM

It's only about 100 NM if you go through Bega Passage

and 2 reef passes at spring tides....what could possibly go wrong

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by keylime

Hi,
I've been asked to crew on a ketch sailing from Suva to Nadi for repairs. The engine is out. It would be a 18 hour or so voyage apparently.



Is this inadvisable? A general no no?



What would you check before agreeing?



I have done a bit of coastal day sailing before and this would be my biggest voyage. I have a skippers cert, so can sail on paper, have not done a tonne of sailing though.


Thanks.

It will really depend on how well the boat sails. Prevailing SE "trade winds".
It should be doable on a good forecast. One concern I have is actually tacking out of Suva. It will partly depend on the ketch's close windedness. You will exit Suva and her reef, and will head approx. south to get around the island and its reef that lie to the SW of Suva. Once outside the reef, easy peasy, till you go back in through the reef to head up to Lautoka.

However, the problem is getting safely to where the boat will be serviced. If that is covered as well as getting out of Suva (even if it's just with the dinghy hip tied, for a "tug") okay. If no plan for docking, then don't go.

Not knowing the boat, nor its capabilities (let alone those of the skipper), it's hard to say from a distance. I've no doubt Jim and I could have done it in our sloop we had before this one, or this one, but for a boat that is not close winded, maybe a very different task.

I really cannot say whether or not you should go.

Ann

[GILow]

As others have noted, the only real concern are the dry edges of the trip. The wet bit in the middle is easy.

Just ask the skipper what the plan is for getting out of the harbour and what the plan is for tying up at the other end.

I've brought a few boats up to jetties, moorings etc without an engine. It's usually not too dangerous if the weather is ok AND people know that they should NOT try to fend off or otherwise sacrafice their bodies to the save the paintwork of the boat. If you have to hit a jetty hard at the end to stop, that's fine. Scratches buff out, bent stainless can be straightened.

Chopped off arms and legs are a damn side harder to reattach.

[boatman61]

The only time you need an engine is departure and arrival.. if you have a dinghy with ob thats covered.
Dont sweat it.

[billgewater]

Maybe the locals could help. There are probably some who have done the trip a few times and have deep local knowledge. The islanders have been moving around there for generations mainly with no engines at all.

If the engine is not working, that's one thing. However, if the depth sounder and GPS and radio aren't working, then that's another matter altogether.

[BugzyCan]

I was on a 38' sailboat that lost its engine partway through the trip in Mediterranean.

We ended up in a shipping lane with no wind at all at night. The ocean was flat as glass.

Had to post a night watch with a flare gun ready in case a freighter came and didn't see us, but it all worked out OK.

That was one of the most incredible nights of my life, with glowing phosphorescent sharks swimming under the boat, and the milky way dazzling above.

The original sailors never had a motor, they used oars if they needed to help move things, but then they also went up on reefs and rocks a lot too.

Roll the dice I guess. Probably fine.

[JPA Cate]

The problem getting out of Suva under sail is that it will involve short tacking if the SE's are blowing, and it's sort of V shaped with reefs on both sides of the V, with the V opening as you accomplish southing. The trades can blow 20-25 there, and if the boat is not close-winded, (and many ketches aren't) getting south out of the harbor may be a bit tricky. The other question would be the skipper and his or her level of competence.

Dinghies are good at moving boats in flat water, not so much into strongish winds.

Ann

[grantmc]

The trip will be fine, and presume you'll be going in to either Denarau or Vudu Point for repairs. They're both pretty easy marinas to enter. So long as you arrive in daylight, always many people wandering around to throw a line to.

And don't forget there are many boats out there that don't even have engines, especially the locals. Still plenty of purists at heart, and learning patience is good for us all.

Fiji is third world and very poor. All charts (whether electronic or not) of Fiji are wrong. The country doesn't have the money to do thorough surveys and also navigation lights are often not working. So never rely on GPS and use your eyes at all times.

Met a yank in Denerau that had sailed from California without an engine. He'd sailed all over Fiji and then sailed down to New Zealand and then across to Oz.