John B 106 Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 The front page article is a paste off latitude 38. It says Although no shots have been fired yet, nor blood spilled, the conflict has recently evolved beyond mere political posturing - so much so that cruising sailors are being advised to avoid the area I'm aware of the tension and the beacon etc but the question is , are cruisers being warned off? I haven't actually seen that written or said anywhere. Any references? Link to post Share on other sites
Grinna 2 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Last year when a group of cruising yachts were sailing south from Tonga, a Fijian naval vessel turned up and turfed them out of Minerva. The cruisers all had sought permissinon from Tonga, but were told that was invalid as it was Fijian territory and they were officially told to bugger off by Fijian naval personnel. So .... yeah, cruisers have since been warned to avoid Minerva until Tonga and Fiji sought this stoush out. Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 When such a thing happens , who does the warning? Is it anectdotal....a club based thing or ICA perhaps,or is it more a formal govt agency type warning?MSA? Notice to mariners? Link to post Share on other sites
Murky 1 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 It got quite a bit of media coverage a couple of months back, including an interview with the editor of some obscure website http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/yachties-w ... ef-4021500 It is not hard to find official (politicians) statements to that effect by googling...but you are looking for something else, yes? Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 Yeah I am really, Murky. I've been watching the news on it over the last 6 months? or so too and I agree , its great to be aware of a situation. But I wonder who actually is doing the "advising" cruisers don't go there mentioned in the article. Its a bit hard saying to someone asking my opinion that I read it on the interweb without some other data to back it up. I'm not trying to diminish whats said here at all, but is it a " don't go there' or ' be careful if you're going to go there' and has there been any official ( whatever form that takes) statements made about it. Thanks for the Tongan statement in that TVNZ article.Maybe thats it . Link to post Share on other sites
Murky 1 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 More than these, you mean? "whatever force necessary" would have covered it for me: However the Tongan government is now warning yachts to avoid the area after Fiji ordered away a number of vessels away from the reef and announced it would use whatever force necessary to protect the territory. "The best thing to do is not to go there for the time being until we get our differences solved with Fiji," Samiu Vaipulu, Tonga Deputy Prime Minister told ONE News. Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 Yeah that. I guess I'm also asking if it really is being avoided or if in fact there's been most of the Tongan destination fleet just dropping on in there anyway. Link to post Share on other sites
Murky 1 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Gotcha. It would probably still be a judgement call, in the sense that a few months' peace wouldn't necessarily guarantee that a flare-up (including over some unrelated issue) wouldn't lead to hostile military guys hurtling around in patrol boats. Link to post Share on other sites
Battleship 100 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Some friends did the ICA rally to Tonga last month and most of the fleet stopped off at Minerva on the way. Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 Thanks Willow. Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Pope 243 Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I have friends heading North that stopped at Minerva recently, no mention this time about Fijian patrol boats hanging around, they were amongst the cruisers turfed out by the Fijian Navy back in 2010. Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 No problems at Minervas. It would have been nice to have the marker there for South Minerva but we timed it afternoon and had good light in and a nice track out the next day. North had 3 boats in there.. one had been there three weeks or a month.( he couldn't remember.) Calypso, Serendipity and Lop to. Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Pope 243 Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Calypso has just arrived in Fiji after almost 6 weeks at Minerva, had a great time, no military problems reported, unlike on their way down to NZ when the Fijians chased them out. Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 We spoke to Paul on Calypso while we were there, he didn't mention he was one of the boats tossed out by the Fijians. How do you monitor how they're going Steve? Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Pope 243 Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 John B. you can follow them on Calypso's Blog or email Paul and Maureen They are currently in Savusavu. Link to post Share on other sites
Theseus 1 Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 North had 3 boats in there.. one had been there three weeks or a month.( he couldn't remember.) Calypso, Serendipity and Lop to. I often look here on crew but coming from down south I don't know the people who post here. I was the crew on Serendipity in North Minerva. Which Boat were you on? I found the 2 weeks we spent in Minerva hard to take. If it not been for the good company of the crews on Calypso and Lop to and the books I borrowed I would have gone completely nuts. Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 Riada II , we gave you guys the mahi mahi. Great spot, but it sounded like you wanted out after being parked there so long. You went on to Fiji eventually I suppose? Link to post Share on other sites
Theseus 1 Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Thanks for the fish, it was nice. It became uncomfortable there. As the moon got bigger the higher tides let more slop over the reef. We eventually got to Savu Savu, I liked it there. We had a good sail there but had to pick up the pace at the end to get there before dark. We got in at 1540 but still got stung with over time from the health and customs officials. We did get asked why we took so long to get there and the skipper did a good job of avoiding the truth without actually lying. I still don't know if they are concerned about boats stopping at Minerva or whether they were concerned that we might have stopped at one of the Lau group. The skipper and I did not get on well so I decided to leave the boat at Savu Savu. We got on better after I left the boat. I am back in NZ now but missing the tropics. Link to post Share on other sites
John B 106 Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 It didn't occur to me you'd need to justify the time taken to get there but point taken about the Lau group. How did he explain the 3 weeks or so to get there without mentioning Minerva? Link to post Share on other sites
Theseus 1 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Just said that we delayed by poor weather and unfavourable sailing conditions which was true just that we were holded up in Minerva. She didn't question us too deeply about that. We had 50 knots of wind the first night in there and 2 boats broke their snubbers. I don't know what it would be like holed up there in really bad weather. Link to post Share on other sites
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