Sydney to Suva noon briefing (10 September 2026)
Position: S 30 24.886, E153 21.115

What a difference a day makes. Sunshine and calm. And that’s just the crew. The conditions are very similar too. No coincidence I would say. Nige is eating and hydrating, Hooman is relaxed and laid out on the deck like a Persian rug. Neil is busying himself with AIS antennas, bilge systems, toilet systems that are regularly in a state of airlock. Basically he’s in heaven, or whatever his version of heaven is. Steve is helping Neil. I’m not sure if Steve is in heaven or hell, but he seems quite happy.

Océane has proven her reputation as a cooking maestro with an amazing soup and a dahl. I haven’t pulled out my trump card yet, but the scones are coming soon. Tara, well Tara’s just Tara, engaging, happy, keen to learn, keen to participate in every way and taking lots of footage. A joy to sail with really. As is Tracey.

In fact thanks to those two I made a great discovery. Tara offered me some cheese on toast, meanwhile Trace was eating marmalade on toast. At this moment the lightbulb that sits up there with the knots in my mind had a rare moment of illumination. What if I had marmalade and cheese on toast. The same piece of toast. hmmm?? Needless to say, It was quite the discovery.

So it seems the crew are doing well and the days of seasickness are in the past. That’s not to say they won’t be in the future, as the future is the past and the past is the future, but we are doing our best to mitigate this issue. 

We have made the call to go into Coffs Harbour, which we are currently two hours from. Marine Traffic should show our last position there, as Neil has had it working intermittently. He thinks there is an antenna issue, but there’s a possibility the unit is, to colloquially put it, fucked! 

We will stay in Coffs and allow a strong southerly buster (as they call them in Tassie) to march on through. On departure we will leave Coffs and head straight for New Caledonia, then track east to Fiji. Timeline for departure is likely going to be Friday morning. We will leave tomorrow afternoon if things have settled but forecast winds in the 30 knot range are predicted to last all day. I’m also conscious that our 30 knot winds we had forecast the other day peaked at around 46 knots and consistently were between 38 and 40. 

Jobs to do while in Coffs. Empty waste, some oil and some bilge water. Top up water, transfer diesel from Jerry cans into the main tank and top the Jerry cans up with fresh diesel. Replace broken 2nd reef line for the mizzen. The port sheet for the Genoa is badly frayed about three metres from the clew so we will cut that and reattach. Sort out our AIS issues. 

Neil believes the reason why we get mysterious water in the bilges on transits is because we may have a leak somewhere in the toilet system. Hence the reason why they airlock regularly. Finding the leak if indeed it does exist will be the challenge. Neil loves a challenge. So does Steve.

That’s all for now, pizza and the pub beckon for the evening. After all, a happy crew is the best sail a ship can have.