Brisbane-Vanuatu.

[44'cruisingcat]

Looks like we'll be off on Saturday. Customs are clearing us out on Friday, the forecast looks good....

Probably first stop Huon reef, 800 miles away. Looking forward to this!

[rusky]

Have a great trip. Cant wait to hear about it when you arrive.

[Teeto]

Fantastic, fair winds and lots of lovely French pastries!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Teeto

Fantastic, fair winds and lots of lovely French pastries!

I'll add my bon voyages, but Teeto, if they are going via Huon, it is likely they will clear in in Santo, and french pastries are scarce there... unless you consider lap-lap a french pastry!!

Vila, on the other hand does offer some more sophisticated gustatory delights, but really, if you crave good eats, New Caledonia is a better destination!

Cheers,

Jim

[surfingminniwinni]

Yes, fair winds and please keep us posted!

[DtM]

Sail safe and looking forward to a comprehensive report

[NoTies]

Say hi when you get to Vila. Just ask for Pete the boat fixer at the Waterfront Bar & Grill (dinghy dock)

[DtM]

Hey Pete,

Is there a good cruising guide to Vanuatu?

daniel

[NoTies]

Hi Daniel,
Sorry so long to reply, I haven't been able to log back on to this site until this morning.
There's a hard copy guide in the South Pacific Cruising Series, available through Boat Books Westhaven Drive Auckland and there's an electronic guide called the Tusker Guide. Not sure if it's still available but you could try emailing Frederique@cruising-vanuatu.com There is also a guide called the rocket Guide but I'm not familiar with it.

[DtM]

Thanks Pete,

We are thinking Vanuatu and Noumea for next year.
It will be interesting to see/hear how the trip was for 44foot cruising.

Take care.

daniel

[DtM]

44 where are you?

How was the trip.

Plnning the same for next year. Would love to get information from you.

daniel

[DtM]

Good to meet you Pete. Staying in Vanuatu for a few years seems like a pretty nice decision.

Have you seen 44 foot Cat?

Would be interested to talk more when we get closer to sailing next year.

daniel

[NoTies]

Good to meet you too Daniel. I don't know the name of 44 foot's boat but there sure are a lot of cats about this year so they may be in town. See you next year.

[DtM]

.... and 44 foot cat sailed off into the sunset ............

A report on your trip woudl be great so those of us who want to follow your footsteps can ask (silly) questions.

Hope the trip is going well.

daniel

[44'cruisingcat]

Hi, we're in Vila now, I'll ask at the waterfront for Pete and say g'day.

We sailed into Luganville, as part of the Brisbane-Vanuatu rally, which does humanitarian work in the northern Banks islands. The people up there really do live at near subsistence levels, very little government money gets there.

The crossing was OK, not the nicest weather - wind was 25 knots by the second afternoon, and didn't drop below 30 kts for the rest of the trip to Huon reef, the wind gauge recorded a 47 knot peak.

Always felt safe, but a bit noisy. we did a 210 mile day, but then were slowing down for comfort's sake. The main was put away on the second evening, and didn't come out again. From then on we had about 6m2 of headsail out.

From a cruising point of view, Luganville isn't the best port of entry, as much of Vanuatu lies to windward from there. If I was doing it again, I'd probably either clear in at Anytium or Vila. Or stop at New Caledonia on the way. Lucky our boat sails to windward pretty well!

Internet access is patchy to say the least, and often very slow, so please understand if I take a while to reply to posts.