Noonsite November Sailing News and Updates |
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The journey has begun for many yachts heading to the Caribbean. ARC+ and the ARC both departed Las Palmas in the Canaries this month with the first ARC+ yachts now making landfall in Grenada, and the Salty Dawg Rally have departed the US and arrived in Bahamas and Antigua after two weeks of weather delays, namely Tropical Storm Nicole.
Numerous other rallies are preparing to set off in other corners of the globe and as we run towards the 2023 cruising season, it’s a joy to be able to release the dock lines with open borders on the horizon and none of the restrictions of the past 3 years.
Many of you are likely watching the mooring fields and marinas gradually empty, and perhaps contemplating a winter afloat. Others are arriving in destinations that have long been closed to them, namely New Zealand and Australia, and looking forward to a southern hemisphere summer of cruising exploration.
We have cruising updates from all over the world for you this month and we hope you are easily finding the information you need on Noonsite for your next sailing adventure. We are aware that this month there have been issues with the site due to the sheer volume of traffic, but please stick with us as we are working hard to correct them and make Noonsite more efficient. A quick fix in the meantime if experiencing issues with Noonsite is to do a hard refresh, Ctrl F5. Remember we are always here to help at support@noonsite.com.
If you missed last month's news, previous newsletters can be viewed here. Enjoy this month's newsletter and happy voyaging.
Sue and the Noonsite Team.
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Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, located on top of the world, roughly midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Glaciers on Svalbard have retreated more than a kilometre in 12 years, at a rate of more than 100m a year. Norwegian sailor, Jon Amtrup, has witnessed the changes first hand, having sailed to Svalbard regularly for over a decade, and has written The Icy Sound of Climate Change to document the changes taking place in this remote corner of the planet.
His article won first place in Yachting Monthly’s Brian Black Memorial Award 2022, which seeks to promote and encourage adventurous sailors to explore environmental issues and to document them in writing and photos. Jon’s evocative account of the desolate beauty and incredible wildlife of the island of Svalbard demonstrates a deep love for this landscape, but puts it in stark contrast with the global effects of climate change, as well as the local effects of mass tourism, oil exploration and other threats to the environment.
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Niue Yacht Club
"The Biggest Little Yacht Club in the World"
An incredible group of volunteers – all non-sailors – have been helping out cruisers for over 40 years on the delightful, small Pacific atoll of Niue - lying on the direct route from French Polynesia to Vava’u in Tonga. The “Biggest Little Yacht Club in the World” (or Niue Yacht Club) has provided safe moorings, shoreside assistance, a club house and the warmest welcome anywhere to visiting yachts since 1975.
Fighting to find some solution to rising Government fees, lack of volunteers due to a very small adult population on Niue and no headquarters for the Club, long-time member Keith Vial has launched a search for a Commodore at Large for the 2023 cruising season.
For Niue to remain a destination for yachts crossing the Pacific, the legendary NYC must survive and get back on its feet, so now it’s the cruising communities’ turn to support the Club that has helped them so much over the years.
If you have been to Niue and enjoyed the NYCs hospitality, please e-mail keithvial@gmail.com with your support and let’s try and keep this cruisers’ paradise on the Pacific crossing map.
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Cockpit Lockers:
When working on your boat, sometimes the simplest of jobs can turn into a nightmare. Two examples this month involve cockpit lockers and emphasise the importance of carefully planning in advance every job you tackle on board.
A liferaft is an essential piece of safety equipment for yachts venturing offshore and careful consideration is needed when deciding where to store it on board. Retired policeman and now full-time cruiser David Geraghty, provides for Noonsite a light-hearted, but cautionary tale, about what happened when he was replacing one liferaft for another on board his yacht.
An experienced sailor and a marine engineer, Martin Blount aged 71, shares with Yachting Monthly the terrifying ordeal of getting stuck upside down while working alone on his boat and how having a mobile phone in his pocket made the difference between life and death.
Shakedown Sails:
As a new boat owner, your first shake-down sail can often be not as straightforward as you would like. Preparations may be rushed, gear missing and jobs still not ticked off the checklist. The following two articles demonstrate the type of preparation all cruisers heading out on an offshore passage should consider.
Greg and Lori Bernard of SY Palomita had dreamed of sailing southwards from Vancouver for almost 2 decades: an open-ended voyage with no particular destination other than south. After changing everything about their lives to make the voyage happen, they safely arrived in Santa Cruz island, California. Here they share with BlueWater Cruising a list of things they learnt on the passage south, many unexpected.
So what should you check before your first sail on board your pride and joy? With only three weekends to prepare his new boat, Chris Humphries tells Yachting Monthly what lessons he learnt after undertaking a coastal delivery trip from North Wales, around the SW coast of the UK to Devon, in February.
If you have anything to share with those new to the cruising life, send us an e-mail, we’d love to hear your stories.
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Having lived aboard his boat above the Arctic Circle for two years, Finnish sailor Juho Karhu shares his informative video with INSIGHTS, demonstrating the heating systems he has found to be most effective.
SY Esper have cruised through 14 countries from Turkey to Indonesia. Based on their experiences, they have put together a useful guide to checking in and out across borders with your sailboat.
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The Burgess Family
After crewing on a variety of boats and then chartering for five years, Lyall and Katie Burgess and their two daughters Iwalani and Anela, became a full-time live-aboard family in 2021. They crossed the Atlantic with the ARC the same year and then cruised the Caribbean in 2022 while juggling running their business and homeschooling their daughters. They are currently cruising in Mexico and took part in Noonsite's Portrait of a Cruiser series.
If you think you have a blog/vlog that Noonsite users will find interesting and useful, let us know.
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Pacific:
For those planning a 2023 Pacific crossing, take a look at the Oyster World Rally 2022-23 website, which has interesting live rally updates plus video overviews of all major passages, including the passage from Panama to French Polynesia and on to Fiji, with routing and weather advice.
Remember if visiting Vanuatu, Port Vila, customs do not open at weekends, so if you arrive on Friday after 5pm expect to stay on your boat all weekend until they open the office again on Monday morning.
Following the armed attack on a yacht in Kandrian, New Britain, Papua New Guinea back in August, there has been some good security advice from fellow cruisers in PNG posted at the bottom of the report.
We overlooked mentioning Japan’s full opening to foreign visitors on October 11th in our last newsletter, which is excellent timing for cruisers planning to visit Japan from April to June of next year, plus, with the weak Yen, boats in Japan are now reported to be very cheap.
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Indian:
Many cruising boats are currently navigating the complex passage from Reunion to South Africa, crossing the difficult Agulhas Current which runs around the coast of SA. Interpreting the weather and deciding when to leave La Reunion can be tricky as yachts must have wind and current behind them to cope with this 60NM-wide ocean tidal flow. Our South Africa reports have lots of useful passage info.
Mayotte (see photo), lying in the Indian Ocean channel between Madagascar and Mozambique, is a wonderful stopover en-route to South Africa. Maryanne Webb has posted some useful feedback having spent some time there this year.
Heading to Richards Bay, South Africa? Bear in mind that as a result of a large storm some years back which destroyed or damaged many of the pontoons, Tuzi Gazi Marina has been slowly but surely closing down. Recently all pontoons have been removed and there is now a big open space where all incoming foreign boats have to tie up to the existing two jetty walls in order to be cleared into the country, before moving across to the Zululand Yacht Club.
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Caribbean Sea:
Having crossed the Atlantic Ocean on their fossil-fuel-free vessel "Ya", Inge van Berkel and Peter Hoefnagel explored several Caribbean islands and countries on their way to Panama, including the Dominican Republic after a short stop in Martinique. They were surprised at how much Sargassum weed they encountered in the Caribbean Sea; “When there was a lot of weed, it was really unpleasant and dangerous because the weed clogs near the rudders and the keel, slowing the boat down and even altering its course in some cases. It is an immense problem for the Caribbean, because where the beaches are covered in Sargassum, tourists will leave and locals too as it's so unhealthy (we really saw that on Grenada!) It is an awful sight and when it lies there, rotting, it stinks - beyond description.” Read Ya’s own study and research into Sargassum weed. Maps and News of Sargassum blooms in the Atlantic and Caribbean and beaches that are impacted can be found here. Also view the Sargassum Information Hub.
Black Point, Bahamas, renowed for its a friendly locals and safe anchorage, saw a recent SSCA Gathering of cruisers supported by Lorraines café, with a BBQ, music and games on the beach. Lorraine also organises donations for local school children who are lacking in supplies, such as backpacks, pencils, notebooks, sports balls and musical instruments, and visiting cruisers are encouraged to bring whatever they can.
Panama agent Erick Galvez of Centenario & Co., reports that many small craft customers have been booking Panama Canal inspections during November and December to take advantage of the current transit tolls, which will increase as of January. He also reports that canal operations are working as usual and a high volume of sailors are expected between January through May 2023, with the heaviest arrivals (including rallies) being in the month of February, when usually there is a backlog of between 5-10 days.
The Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN) have published their Annual Report for 2021 providing details and analysis of reported yacht crimes in the Caribbean, which saw a significant increase in total reported incidents during the year, up from the lows of 2020. One hot spot right now is Bequia in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where 4 (armed) burglaries have been reported to CSSN this last month. It is recommended to avoid this port unless absolutely necessary. If you do have to anchor here - be sure to anchor near other boats, keep someone on board at all times, move valuables out of sight, secure all entry points and keep the boat lit to deter boarders. It is believed the SVG Coast Guard has agreed to perform patrols starting Friday, December 2nd.
The Cuban government have made a positive move to extend tourist visas from 30 days to 90 days starting this month. This will come as a relief to cruisers as it means no more juggling time to the next visa offfice with weather windows.
The Ocean Prediction Center and the Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch/National Hurricane Center are offering free webinars on winter weather for bluewater mariners. There are still places available:
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Atlantic:
November is the final month of the official hurricane season and it started with Tropical Storm Martin becoming the seventh hurricane of the season in the North Atlantic and Hurricane Lisa making landfall in Belize. The simultaneous development of these systems was only the third time since 1900 that there have been two November hurricanes at the same time. Hurricane Nicole promptly followed crossing the same region in Florida devastated six weeks earlier by Hurricane Ian. Nicole's large size produced widespread heavy rainfall and strong winds across the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, and Florida.
ARC+ yachts have now started arriving in Grenada while over 100 yachts taking part in the ARC to St. Lucia are still mid-Atlantic. Both rallies set sail from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria earlier this month. Trade wind conditions have been solid, but rally participants have reported finding the sea state and big swells rather uncomfortable. A crew member on board British yacht Alika was badly injured following a sudden loss of steering and had to be evacuated.
Down in the South Atlantic, St. Helena are appealing to visiting yachts to take a little more care of the mooring field in Jamestown when they visit. All moorings have a pick-up line, however these can often be missing as sadly some departing yachts would rather cut away the pick-up line, than untie their ropes! The Harbor Master has to regularly replace these lines, which is costly and also poses a real health and safety issue for arriving yachts (especially if there are limited crew on board).
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Mediterranean:
If you have left your boat in Croatia for the winter and are concerned about the expiration of the Navigation Fee (vignette) at the end of the year in your absence, don’t worry. We have done some digging after being asked this question by a yacht owner who has done just that and had it confirmed that while the navigation fee may expire on the 31st December 2022, as long as the boat does not go sailing the 2023 payment does not have to be made until you return to the boat (whether it be in April or September). The fee always expires year end, so it makes no difference what month you pay as long as it's paid prior to going sailing. Bear in mind however that as the season gets going, harbor master offices (where you pay the fee) do get busier, so paying in the off-season months will always be easier and quicker.
Croatia expects to become a member of the Schengen zone at the start of 2023, and will adopt the Euro, therefore it will no longer be a possible bolt-hole to get out of Schengen for those yachts doing the Schengen Shuffle.
Do you want to see more updates from your part of the world? Send us news and new information that’s of interest to visiting yachts and we’ll include it in our newsletters – e-mail editor@noonsite.com
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Indonesia is one of the most diverse cruising grounds in the world, from the surf-rich islands off the West Coast of Sumatra to the pristine waters of the Raja Ampat Archipelago in the east, over 2000NM away. With such a widespread country there also comes challenges for the cruising sailor, in particular with formalities and regulations, the application of which varies from port to port. Cruising Indonesia right now seems to be an ever-changing set of rules and involves a great deal of paperwork, bureaucracy, patience and money. In this report we outline the current situation, what you can expect and offer suggestions as to how to avoid some of the pitfalls.
At the end of the North West Passage season, Victor Wejer (the OCC Port Officer for the area) gives a summary report of how the season faired ice and weather-wise and the boats that tackled a transit this year.
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MERIDIAN ADVENTURE MARINA CLUB & RESORT WAISAI, RAJA AMPAT
We are dedicated to creating a meeting point for vessel owners and crew.
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Berths
5 x Med moor berth positions on the floating dock for up to 35 meter LOA, with 4 meter depth.
1 x <30 meter LOA alongside berth, with 4 meter depth.
Shore Power
All berths have access to 65 Amp shore power.
Filtered Fuel
We have a Racor fuel filtering system installed on our dock to ensure our marina guests are getting good, clean petrol and diesel.
Filtered Dock Water
Club Membership
Offers access to and usage of Ketapang Restaurant & MAD Bar, swimming pool and lounge areas, high speed WIFI, 24 security, reception facility for logistical support, transport arrangement and an adventure dive club.
The marina coordinates are: 00°.25.984 S, 130°.48.386 E
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LINKS WE LIKE FROM AROUND THE WEB |
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1 Lady, 3 Blokes, Afloat A Boat
Two Australians, an American and a Dane set out on the adventure of a lifetime: a sailing journey around the world. This adventure is as much about self-discovery as it is discovery of new people and places. Three of the four have very little sailing experience, yet one of their first legs involves sailing across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean (during which they put together this very enjoyable and amusing music video).
It’s that time of year again when everyone is publishing gift ideas for sailors this Christmas. Take a look at SV Totem's offering which includes quirky and alternative suggestions for all types of cruisers.
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By Jimmy Cornell
For a great many people Jimmy Cornell is the reason they are out there cruising. His numerous publications over the years condensing his knowledge to help others planning a world voyage, mark him as one of the major influencers on the cruising scene.
Sail the World with Me is Jimmy’s first memoir, but it’s also intended to be an informative summary of all aspects of offshore voyaging. This is a very rich, enjoyable and educational book packed with tons of practical advice drawing on Jimmy’s own experiences (many of them quite hilarious) and those of the countless rally skippers he has supported over the years. Peppered throughout is Jimmy’s life story which at times is tricky to keep up with, after all Jimmy is now onto his 5th Aventura and has circumnavigated three times.
There is too much information packed into this mega book to list in this review, but I particularly enjoyed reading about Jimmy’s latest adventures with his fifth boat, Aventura Zero and the challenges of zero-carbon sailing. His description of high-altitude sailing makes my normally warm water body want to venture into colder climes and the clever contrasting of how cruising destinations have evolved over the years using log entries from his first circumnavigation in the 70’s and comparing them to his latest, is a real insight into our ever-changing planet.
Jimmy still has so much to say and so much knowledge to impart, something tells me this isn’t his last book. A great Christmas gift for any cruiser, but particularly for anyone thinking about going long-term cruising – this book will tip you into making the right decision.
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Add your boat and opportunity and it will be emailed to over 11,000 sailors worldwide. If you want to find a boat, then hop aboard as we have over 150 active sailing opportunities open all the time.
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