Summing up and my thoughts in restrospect

Well, we did it. Subantarctic islands, Southern Ocean, 5700 nautical miles, Tasman Sea.

The first years of planning were written off when Covid hit us all. But that didn’t stop me, it was just a delay. Looking back on it, this whole adventure really did take a lot of planning and dogged persistence. The planning and persistence didn’t stop once we got underway. Every stage, every leg sailed, required planning, victualling, safety and survival considerations, documents of some sort, approvals, crewing and the ever present “watching the weather”. Of course, this is usually the stuff of every passage, no matter where. But I must say that, for me, going to these subantarctic islands required a higher level of effort.

A lot of my time and effort was focused on the planning, preparedness, persistence as well as doing the sailing and passaging. Especially with safety, I felt the weight of responsibility to make sure the vessel and crew on every leg of the trip made it safely, and that it seemed as if there was never an issue, that it just happened.

Throughout this trip the blog kept many people up to date, especially letting friends and family know that, day by day, all was well. Jackie has done a wonderful job of keeping the blog going. When only brief snippets were sent to her, she was able to craft an article that engaged readers into what was happening out there. Jackie’s effort made everyone following, feel informed and assured. Thank you Jackie.

I’m not going to go over all the things already covered in the blogs. Jackie has shown what it was like. This is just a summing up, my retrospective thoughts, as much for me as for anyone else.

Here are some numbers.

The trip was postponed after the first wait for a weather window in Jan/Feb 2024. Rusalka was sailed to Waikawa (Picton) to wait until December 2024 for a second attempt. During this period I returned to Hobart. So the number of days of the expedition is explained better by the number of days Rusalka was away from home (Kettering) and also the number of days I spent onboard (the actual number days on the expedition).

The aim of the expedition was to get to the Auckland Islands. Port Ross would be where we arrive. But Carnley Harbour, at the southern end of the islands, was a place I particularly wanted to get to. I planned for 2 weeks on the islands, so for the Auckland Islands leg of the trip, we carried enough food for 4 weeks for 4 people, plus extra rice and flour to make bread, etc.

The crew

Apart from myself there were 9 crew who were onboard for various legs of the trip.

Thank you to all the crew!

Notable events

Furthest south, sailing out of the channel between Auckland Island and Adams Island at the south of the Auckland Group, was at 50° 52' South.

Heave to

We heaved to during the Southern Ocean leg from Hobart to Bluff and on the trans Tasman leg Nelson to Newcastle. This is a short video from the Tasman Sea heave to.

Rusalka’s health

There was some extreme battering and pounding that Rusalka experienced. She handled it well.

A couple of breakages directly attributable to the trip were: 1) broken Windex (small wind vane at top of mast); 2) galley tea towel hook broke when I was thrown onto it; 3) a couple of tears in the storm jib.

There were some breakages/failures that had nothing to do with this trip, they were going to happen anyway: 1) Webasto heater failure; 2) the in-mast furler's electrical switch on the pedestal failed, 3) water pump failure.

That water pump failure began before the trip. When approaching Bluff from Hobart I turned the engine on and no water come out of the exhaust. The impeller looked good, but I changed it anyway and it worked. Approaching Enderby Island the same thing happened. Again, the impeller looked fine but I changed it anyway and this time it still didn’t work. More fiddling and it worked. Later, when crossing the Tasman the same thing happened a few times, getting more frequent as we pressed on. I was now priming the pump by injecting domestic water into it under domestic pressure. When I arrived in Newcastle a marine engineer diagnosed a pump failure. It was clear to me how it had been wearing out with a clearly visible gouging inside the bronze housing. This had been going on for some time. I was lucky it didn’t completely fail while we were down south.

Best sailing

The best sail was in the Southern Ocean, closely followed by the east coast of the Aucklands group.

There is something about the waves of the Southern Ocean, especially compared to the Tasman Sea. They appear to be longer, slower with a more regular motion. I love them! Only once were they a bit irregular, after a front passed with a change in wind direction. But even so they were a joy to be in. The Tasman Sea by contrast was typically not as steady or regular or with as long a period.

Sailing south from Enderby Island to Carnley Harbour we had a steady breeze in the 20’s, beam on, in the relative calm of the east side of the islands. On return, the same again but we were heading north. Both times, with sails beautifully trimmed, we were making 7 and 8 knots through the water, very relaxed, no bouncing, not much heel.

The Nastiest Sailing

Two periods stand out.

Just north of Enderby Island there are strong currents from the west as they accelerate around the islands. The waters are shallow there. When we set off to head home the wind was NNE. Over a period of 8 hours the wind backed to N, to NW, to W to S. It was blowing between 20 and 30 kts. The currents, the shallows and the backing strong winds created extremely confused and uncomfortable seas. We had to constantly adjust the sails to keep heading in the right direction. Lucy had taken a sea sick pill, the rest of us got quite queasy despite having already been at sea for weeks.

On the way to Newcastle from Nelson we had already diverted much further north than I thought we would. We were avoiding the giant low pressure system that had developed and was occupying almost the whole of the Tasman Sea. After this we were more than ready to arrive in Newcastle. The sea had one more hurdle for us. On the last day we were heading south with a strong East Australian Current assisting, but the wind was against us, from the south – a classic wind against current. We endured the slamming and bashing for well over 12 hours. With wind against us at about 20 kts we were barely making good at 2 kts towards Newcastle – extremely uncomfortable and frustrating at the end of our Tasman crossing.

The Vibe, the feel

We weren’t entirely isolated and remote.

Evohe, a 25m, 79 tonne, motor sailor chartered by the Dept of Conservation in summer had, 2 days prior to our arrival, dropped off a few DOC staff on Enderby Island to carry out various studies. We had been fortunate to be given a tour of Evohe in Bluff by the skipper who also gave us valuable advice on anchorages around the islands. Those DOC people on Enderby knew all about us and greeted us warmly.

A day after we arrived at Enderby Island, the expedition cruise ship Heritage Expedition arrived with about 140 passengers. They were being ferried to and from Enderby Is by inflatable dinghies. The ship's officer of the watch called us on VHF. He happened to be Polish and understood the name of our boat “Rusalka” and its origins in Eastern European mythology. The next day they were gone.

Later on, during a 50+ knot blow in Carnley Harbour, the National Geographic Orion arrived and anchored about 5 cables behind us. Again, they were a small expedition cruise ship, with just 100 passengers. They called us on the radio, to tell us they were there to ride out the storm. When the winds eased, 20 hours later, they left.

Despite these encounters, we did indeed feel remote and isolated. Nevertheless, there was no anxiety, nothing about “what will we do if something happens”, we just enjoyed where we were. I felt our preparation and all we had on board for many eventualities helped us to just get on with being in the place.

Cutest

Mawson, the rodent inspection dog, took the prize for the cutest character, beating the penguins and sea lions and level pegging it with the albatrosses.