Tao goes Aussie, Part 1

We had set a date (definitely a cruising faux pas), 2 March 2013, that we agreed to be back on the other side of the Pacific (obviously not via sailboat). Our excuse to setting a date seemed reasonable to us: to get married, in Mexico, nearly a year and a half after getting engaged. So, after landing 15 November 2012, time was tight and we knew we were not going to be able to even scratch the surface of exploring Australia as we would like to. After a quick two weeks up the Brisbane River recovering, we set to work. To test the waters, we invited a highly recommended boat broker to visit Tao before leaving the pile moorings and decided on the spot to have her do a “Valuation.” Throughout December and early January we struggled through the Australian Import process, getting Tao more beautiful than ever, and figuring out what to do with all of the gear we have accumulated over the years. The downside of our big plan to cruise across the Pacific this past year was that we knew at the other end we might have to look for new owners for Tao. We have (at least Shawn) mostly avoided even thinking about the possibility since it was (and still is) too painful to bear. Chris, though, has been instrumental at pragmatically moving us forward. To this day we have not fully processed the emotional side of this whirlwind. Instead, together, we determined what needed to happen to keep our options open, making Tao both legal and as attractive as possible to find a new owner in Australia if necessary, and proceeded to move forward on the massive amount of tasks.

Australian Importation. Chris spearheaded getting Tao imported into Australia. It took perseverance, but with patience, was manageable. First we lodged an import declaration with Australian Customs and AQIS (Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service) which included: filling out a ton of paperwork including a five year history of every country Tao has visited- with dates, providing proof that Tao was built in the USA (a letter from Chuck Burns, her naval architect) to satisfy requirements for the Free Trade between Oz and US, and determining Tao’s GST goods and services tax (10% on the valuation minus several elements of costs regarding “shipping” the boat to Australia). For Biosecurity clearance, a timber inspection of our “highly suspect” (i.e. very wood based) interior was required. We thought we would have to hire the one, very expensive dog in Australia that is trained to sniff out such bugs, but after research, we found that we were able instead to have a licensed pest controller with a Termatrac device (http://www.termatrac.com/ using radar, thermal, and moisture sensors for motion detection), supervised by DAFF (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) staff for the inspection. It was quite a process to organize around the New Year holiday the licensed pest controller with two DAFF staff in bright yellow shirts required to carefully observe him and to get all the gear out of the interior so the pest controller could test all wood. Of course Tao passed with flying colors, and was cleared from any quarantine hold. Finally, not to be forgotten, we had to pay for all inspections and the GST to obtain “Authority to Deal.”

Tao upgrades. Over the years, there have been projects that have continually been shuffled to the bottom of the list as being form versus function. Since Tao was basically in the best functional shape of our tenure when we got to Australia, we chose to finally put time into some form projects that would make her look even hotter. Of course we still did all routine maintenance including one more Yannie oil change and bottom clean. But mainly, our work included triaging the well-worn varnish-work, sanding and painting the aluminum portholes (shout of thanks to Britannia for helping), polishing stainless parts around the deck (with acid), getting our gear out of every nook and cranny inside Tao, and making maintenance lists of Tao’s history for others to follow. We even *finally* made a mast boot cover in terracotta, so the shift from blue to red, started with our big bottom job in 2010 was finally complete. When these projects were done we took pictures of Tao looking spectacular inside and out and wrote up detailed information for our brokers website: http://farine.net.au/sail/sb351/Nor-West-33.html.

  

Our stuff. As anyone that ever visited us aboard Tao knows, we have a ton of stuff. Our excuse is that we never want to get caught in the middle of nowhere without the right toy or tool or food. Rarely did we want for anything. However, a deep cleanse was necessary for Tao to look her best. So, we started the painful process of determining what needed to be sold with Tao, what we could sell separately, what could be given away, and what we wanted to keep for the future. We (okay Chris) bought a bicycle and pet trailer and rented a storage unit a few miles from our slip to move gear off the boat. Days were spent pulling gear out of Tao, taking pictures, putting valuable items for sale on GumTree (the Australian equivalent of Craig’s List) and Ebay-Australia, and trip after trip were made between Tao and storage unit with chosen items that brought together made our cubic meter of gear that we decided to have shipped (via cargo ship) back to the States (tons of tools and boat paraphernalia that will indeed be used in the future as well as memorabilia).

Our Australian phones turned out to be invaluable to take calls from Aussie parties interested in viewing/buying our GumTree items (unlike in the States, if someone was interested enough to call on an item in Oz, they were likely to buy it). We put together a flyer of all of our amazing gear, set a “Marine Yard Sale” date, and many of the bigger ticket items (sextant, dive gear, desalinating hand pump, Fortress anchor, Gale Rider, 2 sweet surf boards, Elna 5000 sewing machine) found new homes long before the date. Saturday 5 January and our yard sale came too quickly. A brief spit of rain just after we’d mostly set up discouraged us but did not slow the selling of items. Before we were able to completely set up most valuable gear had been claimed; flopper stopper, anchor rhode, hyside pump, 9X9-ft Kelty tarp, dry bag back packs x3, and just like the last painful garage sale we had in Berkeley, someone offered Shawn a pittance for her entire art supply box. Luckily fellow cruisers Brittania, Convivia, Celiydah and their kids came by, bought up all sorts of left over canned goods and tequila, and made the yard sale a pizza party. It was a sad day as we transferred Fatty to Convivia. We hope to sail her next in Maine after she makes it the rest of the way around the world. On a happier note, after this boat cleanse, Tao’s water line was a good 7-inches (yes seven!) higher in the water!

So much less traumatic with friends...
Love that you can see the yard sale reflected in Amanda's sunnies.

Although we've now opened the option of selling Tao, on several levels we hope that she will await our return to continue our journey together...

Mamanuca Islands Fiji and Kauai's North Shore

We have been fond of saying things like, “You are welcome to visit us, but you only get to choose the place OR the date, not both.” Our cruising style firmly requires not to have any set dates, because they tend to create a lot of stress when trying to keep to them amid constantly changing weather. Of course cyclone (hurricane for you northern hemi dwellers) season is one of those dates that is not too flexible, at least it is a month long target. However, there is always an exception to the rule and we found ourselves committed to be in Nadi, Fiji to catch a flight to a close friends wedding on 4 October 2012 (Chris as groomsman for a close undergraduate friend, Matt Gehrke). Since we bought the tickets while in Samoa, our cruise track and timing decisions have been shadowed by a set date putting a bit of a squeeze on our time. So yet again, we continue to struggle with not having enough time to explore as in depth as we would like. Realistically though, if we want to keep our goal of reaching Australia this season, it has been important to keep pushing, and we realize that we have been amazingly lucky to fit in as much as we have. Several times thus far in Fiji, we have both felt the Universe aligning for us allowing safe weather passage, more time than we thought in several areas, catching up with some super fun fellow cruisers, and yes, even making our pre-chosen flight date. We are so grateful for everything we were able to do and see and recently have felt like some guardian angel was helping to align moon, stars, and planets to allow us to see and do so much.

Our trip to Hawaii, though difficult to arrange and expensive, was marvelous and totally worth it! Admittedly it was a whirlwind and we didn’t fit as much in as we had hoped (such as daily yoga, visiting yoga friends in Kapaa or visiting our frequently utilized HAM station that is based there), but it was truly special to be able to part of Matt and Carmen’s beautiful Kauai wedding, and Shawn even caught the bouquet. Of course Chris caught some great Hawaii surf with Matt and all the fun surf friends that showed up from far corners of the world for the wedding. In addition, besides Shawn finally succumbing to a cold, as we laid over in Honolulu we were able to visit Chris’ grandmother and his father Dave, mail 2 boxes of our collected souvenirs back to the mainland, as well as drop a package full of gifts for folks on Fanning Island off at the Kwai (it showed up when we were down there and is headed back again in the next few months). Shawn even managed to fit in a Bikram Yoga class the day before we flew back to Nadi, Fiji.

 

It sure takes a lot less time to fly from Fiji to Hawaii than to sail from Hawaii to Fiji- 12-hrs and you get a day back versus 6 months and so many unique irreplaceable experiences! Of course, we also lost the day again flying back across the date line. And we were actually lucky to be let back into Fiji, because apparently we were supposed to visit immigration before we left to get permission to come back in with what they consider a one-way ticket. It is so hard to follow all the rules and we really do try. Regardless, they allowed us back in and Tao was fine after her 10-day rest. We flew in just a few days after a beautiful weather window for heading west (which both Convivia and Britannia took to Vanuatu), so we gladly resigned ourselves to enjoy a little bit more of Fiji while awaiting the next window. We spent the next 4-days at Vuda Marina recovering from our vacation from our cruising lifestyle as well as preparing the boat by implementing some sewing projects (including Drifter and weather cloth repair and making a tiller cover), filling propane, and adding diesel for the first time since we left Hawaii in May (only 15-gallons!).

Saturday 20 October we motored out of Vuda, Chris wrestling with our “drunken” autopilot Captain Tilly, and then had a nice upwind sail approximately 10-nm SW to Musket Cove in Malolo Island, during which Chris played with his new GoPro camera and Shawn somehow managed to get quite sunburned in an overcast but summer Fiji day. A week quickly passed by in the safe anchorage, packed with at least 30 boats each night. We met several fun people, talked to other cruisers that also await weather windows (many toward NZ), went to BBQ’s on shore, and generally enjoyed the safety of the deep anchorage as a low pressure system passed south of Fiji. One day, we even adventured in Tao out of the reefy protection to Namotu Island at the outer edge of Viti Levu’s reefs, where Chris surfed a small swell and we both enjoyed some clear water snorkeling. Unfortunately, winds picked up to make the anchorage a lee shore and we had to make haste out of there in the early afternoon back to Musket Cove, but a few days later Chris was invited to dinghy over again for some more stellar surf. 

After spending a few nights anchored in a bit shallower (37-ft versus 58-ft) “secret spot” that Chris found after rowing around in Fatty, we grabbed a mooring for a few days in hopes of being able to check out with a group bound for NZ. We took the opportunity to deep clean Tao and remove Rocky in preparation for offshore passage. Unfortunately the outer island checkout fell through for our time-frame, so we reattached the anchor and sailed 20-nm downwind to Lautoka to formally check out of Fiji on our own schedule, during Fiji business hours of course. Although we would love to visit all of our friends in Vanuatu, we feel the need to make westward tracks to stay ahead of cyclone season. So far the weather window looks great for the approximately week long passage from Fiji to New Caledonia. If the weather window closes, we’ll have the option to duck into Noumea for some protection. If the window stays open, however, though we would love to explore there as well, we may bypass New Caledonia and continue on to our goal for this season: Brisbane, Australia!

Last Minute Projects

Tao's nearly ready to push off

This whole month has been filled with tasks as we have slowly worked toward setting sail south. It started with ear appointments, sewing machine repairs, standing rigging replacement, bending sails, Kona visit with Dave, Toni and Ty and even a quick Honolulu visit with Grandma. It continued with Morning Star solar charge controller installation, sewing and installing a new galley strap and above fridge pocket, restringing our food hammock, searching for seeds to sprout underway (you can’t have them mailed from the mainland), and a large amount of time has gone into wedding planning up to launching our wedding website and sending out invitations. We found new favorite mediums and spent days shaping foam and attaching industrial strength Velcro: to cover Sunny’s corners atop the dodger, to hang Chris’ soda charger along the cabin wall for easy access and storage, and to create plugs for inconveniently placed spaces where our dodger attaches to our cabin top. Then came the last minute shipping frenzy when first our back up camera died (it might have had something to do with a drink getting spilled on it) and soon after the local propane store would not fill our two severely rusted 2.5-gal propane tanks (and of course no one on the island carries that size tank). Ebay with 2-day shipping came to the rescue. Shawn’s continual provisioning at every store in town led to requirement of creative storage, including finding a secret bilge space area just the right size for an entire case of bottled Kona brewery beer, adding two new hanging bins in the V-berth, and three new plastic bins (created by cutting the top off of collapsible 5-gal water jugs for bomber flexible storage containers) filled with cans. We thought we had filled every space as we left Berkeley and then again as we left Mexico. Still, with reorganization, we found more space under the navigation station, below the galley sink, below the new refrigerator, in the V-berth after moving water jugs aft to the quarter berth, in Grizzly's food area, and even Grizzly's shelf became available space for storage.

Chris and his first engine mount (the original?!)

While Shawn toured CostCo and each grocery in town, Chris had some solid Yannie time. Favorite project medium switched to using Lanocote and WD-40 while hanging upside-down in the lazarette. Chris replaced the engine zincs, then attacked a lingering project by replacing the aft engine motor mounts, which went well enough that he chose to replace the forward two as well (holding the engine up with our 5:1 pulley). This success was followed by engine alignment, and finally engine governor idle control lubrication as Yannie recently does not want to turn off. While in the lazarette he decided to repack the shaft packing nut in preparation for motor time. While awaiting our new propane tanks, one of the fishermen that we see nearly daily, Randy, offered a propane tank for the interim and practically forced us to take some beautiful ahi tuna fish as he had too many. So much aloha, mahalo! Nearly ready to go, we celebrated Chris’ birthday with a “Matrix Marathon” at BY Kona director, Mark’s pad (we only made it through the first 2 of the three but also had wonderful food and even some hot tub time in there as well). Tying up loose ends, we threw together two boxes full of gear that didn’t have to be aboard, but we weren’t ready to give/throw away, and mailed them back to mainland along with a cleaned organized and filled backup hard drive and even squeezed in attending the BY Kona annual potluck between final runs to the post office and stores.

And now we are playing the weather game. Safe in harbor, we check the weather forecasts and try to decide on the right moment to untie from the dock and get underway. One more “channel” to cross, we carefully watch the forecasts for the South Point of the Big Island, looking (in vain?) for a weather window. South Point is infamous for being rough, with winds and seas running into land in the middle of the ocean, creating swirling washing machine along with a constant promontory effect. The later days of each forecast tends to look a little milder and then intensify as they get closer. It is like pushing off from the raft put in and running the biggest rapid right off the bat. We are trying to set ourselves up for success to time our crossing of the intense 50 or so miles off of South Point. Another sail boat, Scotch Power, has pushed off for the same destination a day before us and hopefully we'll get fills regarding their conditions along the way. Until then, we continue to run final checks retying everything down, testing the HF radio connection, downloading gribs, adding e-mail addresses to our white list, updating the blog, and checking the weather yet again. So we wait, and sleep, and cook, and prepare, and maybe we’ll push off later today.

Boat Projects and Birthdays

Things have been crazy, and ever so slowly over the past 3 weeks since splashing, we have been chipping away at our to-do-before-leaving list as the huge Hawaiian green sea turtles swim around our boat and cheer us on. First, we reinstalled the deck hardware and running rigging, installed the refurbished engine temperature gauge, and closed off the old water tank access hatches (the ones that we found leaking just before our passage to Hawaii). Then we moved on to the following larger boat projects:

HAM exam: After way more hours of study than necessary, we are proud to report that Shawn passed both her Technician and General HAM exams and is now anxiously awaiting a call sign so we can get a new batch of boat cards printed (can you believe we are out of our original ones?!). After 2-weeks waiting, her call sign is just up on the FCC website, welcome WH6DYA (in other words Whiskey-Hotel-six-Delta-Yankee-Alpha)!

Solar Farm: Step one to getting Tao reorganized for sailing was to get the solar panels back in action to support daily power usage. This would have been quick except we decided to enlarge our solar farm. We now have 80-watt Big Daddy and 85-watt Hit Girl (if you’ve ever seen the hilarious movie KickAss you’ll understand those names) attached to the stern arch and our original Sunny (50-watts) has a new space on top of the dodger. Post wiring, we are power rich! Now we have plenty of energy for our newly wired Waeco refrigerator and integrated VHS/AIS systems to run as much as we would like. That is if we hadn’t crossed a wire and blown a 5 amp fuse (which needed to be upgraded to 20 amps anyway) or if our solar regulator hadn’t decided to quit. Right now we have our 10 amp max back up installed and a sweet replacement is headed our way via Priority Mail.

Sewing projects: Several sewing projects are lingering around the boat including, courtesy flags, a hanging bin in the reorganized refrigerator compartment (complete with the original teak door that had been removed for Grizzly’s litter box to fit), and additional flaps for the dodger in two areas that water can get through. However, our sewing machine, Elna 5000, had different plans. After the beginning of the work, she suddenly refused to pick up stitches anymore without a visit to the doctor’s office. After calling all available sewing machine repair numbers around the Big Island we now know that every technician on the island lives in Hilo (the other side) and the only two shops that offer repairs Kona side send the sewing machines to Hilo weekly or have a technician visit once a month. Luckily, the technician was scheduled to visit a week later and his diagnosis was a huge relief. Elna just needed cleaning and retiming, though he did chastise us (which we deserved since we hadn’t had her serviced since we purchased her in 2004) that she needed to be serviced more than twice a year if living in the salty environment of a sailboat (sorry, not gonna happen). We are grateful to have her back in service and Shawn is slowly moving forward with these projects.

Q: What is missing?
A: Starboard upper!!

Standing Rigging: Tao’s standing rigging was replaced by her previous owner in 2000, and in 2004 we replaced her backstay in order to insulate it for use with our HF radio. It is generally recommended to change rigging every 10 years or so, but some people claim that properly cared for rigging can last more like 20 years. Our 12-yr old rig was solid for our sail across to Hawaii, and upon examination it looked to be in great condition. However, problem areas don’t tend to be easily visible. To allay our worries, we decided to re-rig before heading out again. For the past week, Chris has been methodically climbing the mast and removing then replacing one stay at a time with only one minor puncture wound inflicted in his left knuckle and only one stainless piece requiring rescuing after being dropped into the water. We are happy to report that the old rigging, once removed, has no visible problems, and the new rigging, solid and shiny, just awaits tuning.

As if that wasn’t enough to keep us busy… Shawn has been teaching two yoga classes a week at Bikram Yoga Kona and we have been trying to practice 4 times a week- not such an easy feat without a vehicle. Chris finally went to see a doctor about his right ear (which has been bothering him since his last dive just before we hauled out). It turns out that, likely due to Chris’ growing up surfing and kayaking in cold waters, his ear canals are very constricted- no problem for hearing, but increasing his risk of ear infections. So, 2 weeks of strong antibiotics and steroid drips and two more appointments later, we await a special ear plug delivery before pushing off. In addition (yes, there is more), we have been spending numerous hours working via Skype with a wedding planner in Mexico in an attempt to make that event happen before another 10-years pass us by (more details to come on that once decisions have been made). Oh, and we took a day off from “working” to celebrate Shawn’s birthday by taking a yoga class, then hiking to a beautiful white sand beach called Makalawena (from Kua Bay side), stuffing ourselves with delicious Kenichi sushi rolls- rolled by Kenichi himself, and ending the celebration by turning a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream into a decadent milk shake. Over the next week we will chip away at the remaining items to move our way toward our ultimate improved sailing machine for the next leg of our journey. And then comes provisioning…