Non NZ cyclone season options

[double u]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Total deaths in Australia during 2021 from covid = 0, that's zero, nada, none, mate.

Total cases in Australia from the latest version is in the tens, that's 10s mate, not hundreds or thousands.
...

isn't this what is called "prevention paradox"?

[Budawang]

Originally Posted by double u

isn't this what is called "prevention paradox"?

Yes, exactly. Just one case is all it takes to change Australia from the laid back, business as usual COVID-free nation it has been most of the time, into one paralyzed by lockdowns and fear. When we get close to fully vaccinated, we will hopefully learn to live with COVID like the rest of the world. Same applies to New Zealand.

[El Pinguino]

Au and NZ are victims of their own success and are now struggling with the transition from zero covid to living with covid.
Not helped by rubbish vaccine rollout... 7% fully vaccinated in Australia, not much better in NZ.

NZ is sticking with 'zero covid' for now so don't expect their borders to open anytime soon.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...ive-with-covid

[NevilleCat]

Just got back from some time in NZ...yeah it's a struggle

[owly]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Sadly Chile is closed up as tight as a crab's bum at forty fathoms just now. I wouldn't count on it being open this Austral summer.


Apart from that it would be an ideal destination.
In a normal world a not unreasonable plan would be head to NZ at the start of the cyclone season and then move on to Chile in January. It will take about the same time Tahiti - Chile as it takes from NZ.

'It also sounds like rules and restrictions are not very compatible with leisurely cruising.....'
I don't know who you have been talking to but it is really quite relaxed.... the Zarpe rules and daily email check-in in the south are there for your own good.

Mas Aqui
https://www.cruisers inexpensivewiki.org/wiki/Chile

https://www.docdroid.net/bO63FbL/202...anchorages-pdf

And also I have a voyage report somewhere on CF dating from early 2016.. should be easy to find.

Email is not an available technology in remote areas for a lot of cruisers... satellite internet and SSB would seem to be the only options. I wonder if texting via In-reach is an option... one of the most useful cost effective communication systems for a cruiser. I'll check your links out.... thanks.

[owly]

Originally Posted by Budawang

Yes, exactly. Just one case is all it takes to change Australia from the laid back, business as usual COVID-free nation it has been most of the time, into one paralyzed by lockdowns and fear. When we get close to fully vaccinated, we will hopefully learn to live with COVID like the rest of the world. Same applies to New Zealand.

The latest cluster of cases in Oz all stemmed from one asymptomatic person with the new much more virulent version. Every single person attending a party except those who had been vaccinated got sick.. that's a rather stunning rate of transmission, another person picked it up simply by walking past the infected person in a store.



Covid Zero is a great thing to strive for, but it's a very short term "fix". Vaccination is critical if this is ever to stop..... you can't keep it out forever. The long delay before getting sick, and significant percentage of asymptomatic carriers virtually guarantee it will pop up again and again until the percentage of people with immunity becomes large. There are just too many reservoirs of vulnerable people where more aggressive mutants are developing.



This is far from over....... I suspect that new variants will pop up every year like flu and the common cold and we will end up having periodic boosters.

[owly]

Originally Posted by kryg

Before you call people morons who will not take the vaccine, you should first learn to source and read published scientific papers on the subject, before you make an urban myth general comment as you have. Otherwise, you come across foolishly.

You've taken personal offense from my comments......... I was not targeting an individual, but apparently you fell within the inner ring. I make no apologies.... I know what nonsense looks and smells like. I was a biology major.... not specifically microbiology but encompassing it. Evolution is the problem here.......mutation of the virus to be ever more easily transmitted.... natural selection. You can be part of the solution, or part of the problem.... as long as there are large pools of unvaccinated people, the problem will continue. The virus cannot mutate if antibodies kill it. Vaccines trigger your own immune system....They are not perfect, but fearing the vaccine more than the disease is purely idiotic! I had NONE of the great killer diseases....... because of vaccination. I can still see the scar from the smallpox vaccine so many years ago.... I haven't had smallpox, measles, polio, diptheria, tetanus, covid, and many other diseases thanks to vaccines. It is YOU, not I who come across foolishly... In the far corners... the trash bins.... of science you can find all sorts of far fetched garbage.



Disclaimer: I had dose2 of the Moderna vaccine April 9.......... I had fever and chills for about 24 hours.......... a small price to pay..... not a lot worse than a hangover ;-)

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by owly

Email is not an available technology in remote areas for a lot of cruisers... satellite internet and SSB would seem to be the only options. I wonder if texting via In-reach is an option... one of the most useful cost effective communication systems for a cruiser. I'll check your links out.... thanks.

Sailmail is used by many, also Iridium. HF Vox is a struggle as you will be at the end of a very long traffic list full of Chilean fishermen and it is all done in Spanish at warp speed.

[Budawang]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

In a normal world a not unreasonable plan would be head to NZ at the start of the cyclone season and then move on to Chile in January. It will take about the same time Tahiti - Chile as it takes from NZ.

Good to see a fellow Westerly owner on the forum casually talking about sailing non-stop between NZ and Chile. You can tell that the Westerlies must be stout sea-worthy sailboats!

[owly]

Originally Posted by Budawang

Good to see a fellow Westerly owner on the forum casually talking about sailing non-stop between NZ and Chile. You can tell that the Westerlies must be stout sea-worthy sailboats!

I'm a great fan of Westerlies too..... except for the idiotic forward galley in some of them! I'm curious where one would stop between NZ and Chile??? Other than one or two remote reefs, there is nothing out there unless you divert well north to Pitciarn, except perhaps Ester Island, and Selkirk..... It's one of the largest pieces of sheer emptiness on earth. A great place to vanish into nothingness. It's only a matter of time before China starts building artificial islands (floating?) out there and making territorial claims ;-)

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by owly

I'm a great fan of Westerlies too..... except for the idiotic forward galley in some of them! I'm curious where one would stop between NZ and Chile??? Other than one or two remote reefs, there is nothing out there unless you divert well north to Pitciarn, except perhaps Ester Island, and Selkirk..... It's one of the largest pieces of sheer emptiness on earth. A great place to vanish into nothingness. It's only a matter of time before China starts building artificial islands (floating?) out there and making territorial claims ;-)

There is Rapa Iti, most southeastern of the Australs (French Polynesia administrated) where you can stop. We stopped there on the way back to the US from NZ. It is very isolated and has about 400 people. There are virtually no supplies other than water - a supply ship visits them monthly. There is a French Met site there so weather information is good. The anchorage is good and it makes a nice rest stop. The people are friendly and welcoming. Very few English speakers on the island.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by owly

....... I'm curious where one would stop between NZ and Chile??? Other than one or two remote reefs, there is nothing out there unless you divert well north to Pitciarn, except perhaps Ester Island, and Selkirk..... It's one of the largest pieces of sheer emptiness on earth. A great place to vanish into nothingness. .........

Its not that far - only about 44 days at 5 knots.
Stop? You could pull into Point Nemo I guess.

I dug out that voyage report for you. Photo is close west of Nemo
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...le-161990.html

[owly]

Originally Posted by stormalong

There is Rapa Iti, most southeastern of the Australs (French Polynesia administrated) where you can stop. We stopped there on the way back to the US from NZ. It is very isolated and has about 400 people. There are virtually no supplies other than water - a supply ship visits them monthly. There is a French Met site there so weather information is good. The anchorage is good and it makes a nice rest stop. The people are friendly and welcoming. Very few English speakers on the island.

I think most remote islanders are friendly.... probably less so the more they are exposed to rich arrogant westerners... strangers haven't been regarded as items of culinary variety since the days of Captain Cook ;-)


I looked up Rapi Iti and it's absolutely stunning!!

[owly]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Its not that far - only about 44 days at 5 knots.
Stop? You could pull into Point Nemo I guess.

I dug out that voyage report for you. Photo is close west of Nemo
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...le-161990.html

I don't know what the depth is at Pt Nemo.. how many miles of anchor rode you'd need to have sufficient scope to anchor safely at that location.... a dragging anchor could be a disaster with the rocks so close...not much over 1000 miles in any direction... You wouldn't want to oversleep, and definitely have an alarm set in case of a dragging anchor. With the international space station possibly as little as 300 miles away, another looming hazard not too far away ;-)

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by owly

I think most remote islanders are friendly.... probably less so the more they are exposed to rich arrogant westerners... strangers haven't been regarded as items of culinary variety since the days of Captain Cook ;-)


I looked up Rapi Iti and it's absolutely stunning!!

This was the most remote spot we had ever been.

It was a cool place to visit. While there we were invited to a birthday celebration for several of the islanders. Everyone on the island was there.

We were hoping to see an unspoiled native village but the French can't leave anything alone. The people live in cinder block homes and wear western clothing. There are half a dozen pickup trucks on the island but a very short road. It didn't make sense to me to have vehicles at all. The children go to a local school to a certain age and then go to Tahiti to complete their education. There were only two English speakers on island - the school teacher and a visiting technician servicing the satellite dish. There are no banks or any way to exchange money, Their supply ship was due in a few days and there was nothing to buy anyway.

We weathered a storm in the anchorage. We were a few hundred yards from the French Meteorology station and they logged 74 MPH winds. The anchorage get williwaws from the hills but the water was flat.

We did this in 2010. After a day out of NZ until we approached Hawaii, our next stop we saw no other vessels.