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NZ to Fiji


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New Zealand to Fiji passage

Hi, I will be available to help crew once borders reopen. I've heaps of experience on monohulls, easy to get along with, can cook, bleed an engine etc.
I own a yacht in Fiji that I am keen to get to.
NZ citizen and meet all Cat 1 crew requirements of experience, sea survival and first aid, plus Skippers Restricted Limits.
Email me at grant@jobspec.co.nz and I can send through a bit of a CV and we can talk more.
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Grant Mc
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Thought I'd close the topic by confirming I cleared into Fiji last Friday at the end of a 7 day quarantine off Denerau. Trip up from BoI was awesome. Fantastic crew (including a couple of highly capable cooks), and a nice comfy quick boat. We had some great laughs, brilliant music, wit only a single day/night of rain. Wind on the nose the entire trip, but you can't have everything.
Very happy to have finally boarded my own boat here in Savusavu.

 

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Hi Grant, "nice comfy quick boat" ? what type of boat was it? I'm looking at doing something similar and I'm just getting feedback on what people are using and opinions on what is a suitable or ideal boat. I have a long way to go to get my tickets so I'm planning ahead.

Cheers

Rick

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Not a boat many would wish to own, and certainly not a keel boat I would suggest you aspire to Rick.
I sailed on an old race boat, very expensive to maintain and lacks creature comforts. Her name now is Nv.

Nv is an Open 60 (modified for a little more length) with a 4.something mtr keel. Designed by Nándor Fa, she was built to compete in the  Vendée Globe round the world race. 

She was an Ozzie boat for a long time, renamed The Broomstick, doing charters and races. Here's her entry in the 2001 Sydney to Hobart. The Ozzie owner added a decent galley and toilet, but other than that, she's still pretty basic. 

My positive comments were in respect to sailing the voyage. Subsequently renamed yet again, currently called Nv, she is very long and provides a very nice ride indeed. We were in no hurray, as any time less than 14 days we had to serve in quarantine, so we sailed conservatively. But it was a good learning for me personally, as I was able to play with some pretty technical gear I'd neve before been exposed to.

But what made the trip especially pleasant was we had a crew of 7, so only two rotating watches each day. Also we had a couple of very keen and accomplished cooks on board and at every meal we were treated to the most amazing fodder.

And rhetorically, what makes a long passage a good one? I think a big part to the answer is a crew that gets on together and has lots of laughs. We certainly had that and since the trip we've all been keeping in touch.

Open 66 NV design by Nandor Fa .jpg

Joanna and .jpg

Image10.jpg

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A few more photos of NV from last winter in Tonga and Fiji, where we buddy boated with them. The 4.2m draft and small motor (40hp??) limited her a bit and they needed to follow us into most anchorages, with me relay the depth on the VHF to them.

Going into Vulaga, the last part of the reef pass is only about 4-5m deep in Coral and I ended up swimming in front of them to guide them between bombies! 

Its not my choice of boat for the islands but they got there and did it! Its since been sold to new owners who are keeping it in Fiji. 

 

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