Team Sandpiper Update 5 Nov 2006

• Noon Position, 24'20.5S/152'46.8E
• 31.1nm to Bubdaberg
• 955nm from Port Vila
• 109nm last 24hrs
• 10-15NW winds
• seas calm

Ron here. It is actually now 8pm 05-Nov and we are here! We arrived at 5pm today and are anchored in the quarantine area to clear customs in the morning. We are about 1/2 a mile up a river and a few yards off a beach. We broke out the cold beers and are enjoying a night at anchor with no rocking.

This trip has been awesome. Tom and Amy think this was the best passage ever. I can't claim credit for this. Most of the credit goes to the new autopilot that Tom installed in Vanuatu. It work beautifully! Very impressive. The other factor was the awesome weather. The winds were good and we and only had to motor 5 hours or so. Lastly, having 3 people to take watch allowed all of us to get plenty of rest.

When we arrived at the channel this afternoon, we also found a small "rush hour" traffic jam of other Port-to-Port Rally sailboats that arrived at the same time. We came in with 4 others. What perfect timing.

Our friends on the Blue Sky are stuck offshore today with a broken motor and no wind. They may not make it in until Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the winds. They must be frustrated! They are floating in the shipping lanes tonight with no way to move. This is going to be a nerve racking night.

This may be the last post for a few days. We have a lot to do in the next couple of days.

Glad to be here!

Team Sandpiper Update 4 Nov 2006

• Noon Position, 22'54.1S/153'59.8E
• 140nm to Bundaberg/Aus
• 863nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 109nm last 24hrs
• winds N-5 knots, seas calm

Comms officer Ron here...

Our last night at sea on this leg. We should arrive in Bundaberg tomorrow evening if all goes as planned. We can't arrive before 4:30pm, when customs closes. Otherwise we have to pay an extra $160 dollars for their weekend fee. The Australian customs service makes it difficult for sailing yachts to comply with their rules. You have to tell them 72 hours in advance when you will arriving, date and time. Then if you miss that time, they get to fine you $3000. And they charge extra if you arrive on a weekend or holiday. Since sailing is dependant on the winds, it makes it hard to hit the target.

Last night the wind died. The seas were flat as can be. We ended up having to motor for a few hours today. Otherwise, there would be no way we could meet our estimated arrival for customs. But the winds picked up later today, swinging around from the south-east to the north. Strange... but it works well for us. We have switched to a starboard tact after spending 9 days on a port tact. Now my bunk is on the low side. Yea! No more rolling out in waves.

We finally sighted one on the other boats in the Rally today. The first sailing vessel we have seen since leaving Port Vila. We are also crossing the main shipping lanes for the eastern Australian coastline. There has not been very much traffic. We only sighted two cargo ships today.

We crossed the edge of the Australian continental shelf today too. The depth of the water below us shrank from over 3000 meters to about 300 meters. Not that you can tell from up here on the surface.

A co-worker of mine had managed to get me all of season one of the tv sitcom "My Name Is Earl" ripped to a DVD. I brought that DVD, plus a heap of other shows on DVDs, with me for Tom and Amy. So for the last two days we have been watching episodes on my laptop. When I leave, they will have others DVD's to watch, such as "House", "CSI", "Bones", "Boston Legal", and a bunch of others that I can't remember. Ya gotta love bit-torrent!

That's all for now. More in 24!

Team Sandpiper Update 3 Nov 2006

• Noon Position 21'28.1S/155'09.6E
• 250nm to Bundaberg/Aus
• 750nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 115nm last 24hrs
• winds 5-10E
• seas calm

Ahoy,
Our great wind has finally blown away and we have had very light winds all day averaging 3 knots. This is ok though as we really needed to slow down as we want to make Bundaberg after 5pm on Sunday night as customs charges $160.00 for clearing in boats on the weekend and if we get there after they go home in Sunday night we can anchor and clear in on Monday morning, so for now light winds are good. Really nice sunny day today with flat seas barely putting along with a full moon tonight, really nice sailing!
More in 24
Tom, Amy and Ron

Team Sandpiper Update 2 Nov 2006

• Noon Position, 20'13.5S/156'43.2E
• 360 to Bundaberg/Aus
• 675nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 139nm last 24hrs
• winds 15-20E
• seas 5ft E

Thursday evening here on the old Sandpiper. Just finished watching the movie 'Butterfly Effect' and eating pizza for dinner. The boys are in the cockpit taking watch while I sum up today's events. However, the daily events haven't changed much. We currently have 320 miles to Australia. About an hour ago I check us in to our 7:15 net and was actually jumping up and down because I'm so excited we have made it this far and soon we will be in Australia, who would have thought. We were suppose to be going through the Panama Canal now look at us. The ride has been great, the new auto pilot is steering so straight we are making great time. Tomorrow we turn a little more left and onto the home stretch. Talk to ya later
Love
Amy, Tom and Ron

Team Sandpiper Update 1 Nov 2006

• Noon Position, 18'48.4S/158'39.4W
• 497 miles to Bundaberg/Aus
• 554nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 144nm last 24hrs
• winds 10-15S
• seas 4ft S

Ahoy!
Best 24hr run for Sandpiper yet!!! We made 144nm last 24hrs and the only time we ever got this close is when we had a time change and gained an hour. Apologies for the blog readers as we found out today that our postings have not been making it to the site since we left Port Vila trying to escape the cyclone, so Chris in Woods Hole Ma. is going to attempt to be our new editor till Ron gets back to his computer..(thanks Chris!)
Woke up this morning and we saw a shark that was at least 8ft long swim by the port side, hope all the thru hulls are holding tight..We are sill making great time and are way ahead of our projected schedule and anticipate making Bundaberg on Sunday. We have been averaging 6-7 knots the last 24 hours and still have the wind right off the port beam. We passed Chesterfield Reef this afternoon and turned left from 270' to 225' so we are starting to get a little more southerly. We are also starting to get near shipping lanes the closer we get to Australia and have finally seen other traffic out here as its been since Mexico that we have seen a ship around us. Tried fishing today with no luck, maybe tomorrow is our lucky tuna day.
More in 24
Tom, Amy and Ron

Team Sandpiper Update 31 Oct 2006

• Noon Position, 18'10.9S/161'01.4E
• 620nm to Bundaberg/Aus
• 417nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 138nm last 24hrs
• winds 15-20E
• seas 5ft E

Happy Halloween!!

Another day of great sailing with wind right off the Port beam and made another 138 miles! We were hoping to make it to Bundaberg on Monday morning, but as we are making such good time we are expecting to show up on Sunday where customs will charge us another $150.00 in overtime for checking in on a weekend, so we are still deciding on what we want to do. Since this rally in not a race boats all left at different times and Sandpiper is right in the middle, and there are 3 Sandpipers as well just to confuse everyone. Sandpiper U.K. has already arrived, Sandpiper catamaran is a day behind us, our friends on Blue Sky are 108nm behind us and friends on Sheriaz are 48nm ahead of us.

More in 24,

Tom, Amy and Ron

Team Sandpiper Update 30 Oct 2006

• Noon Position, 17'48.4S/163.23.8E
• 741nm to Bundaberg/Aus
• 281nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 139nm last 24hrs
• winds 15-20E
• seas 5ft E

Ron here... Captain Tom has let me write the update today.

Another day at sea. We rounded the top of New Calidonia late this afternoon and are now headed for Chesterfield Reef. It was a beautiful day sailing... perfect conditions. We have not seen another boat or anything since Saturday night. Nothing but flying fish.

I have a massive headache from constantly banging my head on low things all day long. I still have not learned the subtle roof lines in the cabin and am constantly standing up in places where I should duck. I should wear a helmet the first days at sea. I think I am about an inch taller than Tom, so I have a lot less leeway than he does.

I made breakfast this morning. I tried making oatmeal. I came out terrible and I think I used a whole tank of propane since it took me over an hour. Tom and Amy were real nice and said it was good. But they couldn't finish it. Hmmmmm.... I don't think Tom is too happy about cooking over an hour for instant oatmeal.

Living on board is sure a lot easier than on the Halcyon as a kid. The autopilot is awesome. We don't have to steer at all. And we watched a DVD at dinner. Pretty sweet living.

Today was extreme shower day... we were all getting a little ripe. Extreme shower is showering out on the foredeck in pitching sea. You have hang on so you don't fall overboard.

Yo Caspurr... shout out from Ron. Can you email me the results from the World Series to the boat? Thanks!

Team Sandpiper Update 29 Oct 2006

• Noon Position, 17'49.1S/165'49.0E
• 856nm to Bundaberg/Aus
• 142nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 123nm last 24hrs
• winds 15-20E
• seas 5ft E

Greetings all!
Another great 24hrs of sailing, the winds picked up this afternoon to 20 knots and are no longer right off our stern. We have been averaging 5-7 knots for the last 12 hours and the winds are predicted to hold for the next few days so keep your fingers crossed for us. The new auto-pilot is working like a champ and it is taking some getting used to as it is so quite, it even steers much better than the old one and we have it doing all the steering vice using the wind vane. Having Ron aboard is our 1st crew since Geroge (Dr. Hook) helped us sail from San Diego to Cabo, its the 1st time Amy and I have been able to sleep for more than 3 hours at night so maybe when we arrive we will not be dead tired! Saw 3 fishing boats last night and this is the 1st traffic we have seen for a long time, I am sure when we close with Australia we will be seeing alot more.
Tom, Amy and Ron

Team Sandpiper Update 28 Oct 2006

• Noon Position, 17'44.5S/167'56.9E
• 964nm to Bundaberg/Aus
• 20nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 20nm since 8am
• winds 10-15E
• seas 5ft E

Ahoy,
We are back at sea finally after dodging a cyclone (Hurricane, called cyclone South of the equator) and have sailed since we left Port Vila at 8am. Team Sandpiper has grown and we now have the BLOG's editor and chief on board till Bundaberg so hope these postings make it as we are sending them directly to the site from the boat. We made it out this morning with a number of other boats that are in the Port2Port rally and our friends on SV Blue Sky and Sheriaz are along as well. We are hoping to make this leg in less than 10 days if the winds work for us.
Being in Port Vila with a cyclone aimed right at us was pretty exciting in the anchorage as many of the boats were busy removing all their sails and awnings, and tripling their moorings. Ships in the harbor ran themselves right up along the beach and anchored out their sterns, lots of good drama.
More in 24
Tom,Amy and Ron