Circumnavigating NZ.

[lateral 107]

Wow, bit of a slog before the W/ NW'er.

Big effort.

 

[rossd 6]

Hes Heading into some solid weather soon.

[vic008 10]

Gosh, he's halfway down the SI already.

[Fish 547]

tracker link

https://www.waihekeworkingsail.org/mikes-journey/follow-mike/

Looks like he will have a typically bouncy rounding of Puysegur...

Three Day Outlook

Northwest easing everywhere Tuesday morning 35 knots. Changing Tuesday afternoon southwest 40 knots. Becoming early Wednesday northwest 50 knots, easing for a time Wednesday afternoon 40 knots. Changing Thursday southwest 30 knots. Sea high at times. Heavy southwest swell. Moderate northwest swell at times, easing Thursday.

[Jon 137]

I think his plan was to stop at Doubtful sound

tomorrow afternoon it’s going SW 30-35

if it was me I’d be thinking Milford Sound, he’s only a day off there 

[darkside 18]

Quite concerned for this guy.

By Monday evening, some large waves were already hitting the southwest of the South Island, with the biggest waves expected by Wednesday evening. By then, the significant wave height at the southwest corner of the South Island is predicted to be above 8 metres high

[Fish 547]

Predictwind and Windy are showing swell height of between 5 to 7 m, and a period of 10 - 12 secs for tomorrow and Wed. And 30 gusting 40 through until Thurs am, then again again from Friday, oh, SW, so onto a lee shore and all of that. 

I'm not familiar with that particular area, but how do you get into a Fiord when it's like that? Don't they have some shallow bar thing at the mouth? Like a pile of moraine debris?

Will be character building doing it solo.

[Fish 547]

He is still posting on the tracker

both dated today.

The wind dropped to below 20 knots for a brief time so I got up on the cabin top and dropped the main. Still a big sea running so it was like riding a bucking bronco.It’s a relief to have it down now as the wind is forecast to get up to 30+ knots tonight and it’s just too much canvas (alright dacron) up there as last night proved and I had run out of reefs. What I really need is a trysail on a separate track. That’s a great heavy weather sail. Well I don’t have one so the genoa will do the job and it’s a lot easier to make smaller. I am heading back up a bit on my course so again I can run off if things get a bit hairy.

So after getting slammed all morning by the big seas and pressed too hard by the 30knts plus wind I decided to use up some of my sea room and bear away twenty degrees. This takes the sting out of the wind and waves and is much more comfortable. The wind is forecast to ease a bit this afternoon so I may be able to make Doubtful Sound but if not it will be Milford Sound.

[Island Time 727]

The Southern Ocean is not to be underestimated. 

The Fiords themselves are mostly (Very) deep at the entrances, but a couple do have shallow(er) parts. There is no bar like a river mouth. I understand it is not common to have breakers across the entrances. Yes it will be less than pleasant there tomorrow...

Sails for 50+ knots would have been a basic requirement for me before departing on such a trip.

Tough time of year for this, you have to expect to get a beating at some stage.

 

[CarpeDiem 5]

18 minutes ago, Fish said:

'm not familiar with that particular area, but how do you get into a Fiord when it's like that? Don't they have some shallow bar thing at the mouth? Like a pile of moraine debris?

They are over 100m deep at the entrances.