Voyage Log Auckland to Easter Island

Return to
Main Deck

Voyage Log: Auckland to Easter Island.
The ship sailed from Auckland on March 8th at the commencement of her 18 month Global Odyssey voyage to the States and Europe, Britain. Below are the first installments of their reports.

For Log reports from Easter Island to the Galapagos and Panma (2000)
click here.

Thurs 20th April
The ship is making good progress north toward the Galapagos Islands. Jim will advise an eta there after the weekend.

Some diary extracts and observations Auckland to Easter Island - by Kate Ryan, Ship's Purser
MARCH 8^th	Depart Auckland accompanied by dusky dolphins. Anchor Colville Bay
9^th	Overnight sail to Tauranga. Watches allocated emergency motor drills.
10^th	The Avon inflatable is dispatched to pick up the new sails that have been couriered down here. Voyage Crew Adrian Wilkinson sees his 1^st hammerhead shark on his 1^st time aloft. Purple sunset, flying fish, blue penguins. Heading south we hit a gale off East Cape. Take refuge at Whangaporoa Bay. Sea shanties and drinks all round.
11^th	Everyone learns to helps to whip mainsail reefing lines on the new main. Bend new sails on. Prepare for great ocean passage take 2: Passing White Island we sight many dolphins. Captain Jim Cottier’s navigational talks/lesson is well attended.
12^th	Winds of 6/7 knots. All are involved in learning sail handling. Voyage Crew Ben Willoughby sees sunfish off bow. Goodbye New Zealand. 3609 to Easter Island.
13^th	Weather and wind good. Average 6-8 knots. Surrounded by ocean. V.Crew Richard Pomeroy, Iain Grant and our cook Todd Cooper, declare their abstinence from alcohol and a daily fitness regime on foredeck. Ha! Ha! Wandering albatross and shearwaters follow our wake. We cross the International Dateline, 3227 nautical miles to Easter Island.
Again 13^th	Again! Drizzly weather, lads fitness regime moves inside.
14^th	V.Crew Tania Dolinschek supplies us with daily riddles and Richard P. and Paul Huisking provide guitar and harmonica sessions. We have a Fire drill exercise before afternoon tea.
15^th	Pacific gale. Fitness regime on hold. Barometer at 990, torrential rain. Cold, high, 8m seas, wind 40-50 knots. Captain Jim decides to heave-to and with helm lashed hard to port with the mainsail set we sit out the storm.
16^th	Hove-to, and a heavy wave jars the rudders and causes steering gear failure. Engineer Mike Saunders fixes the crown wheel . Winds continue. Very roly poly.
17^th	St Patrick's Day. Wake up to calm seas and blue skies. Deckhouse and saloon are decorated in green balloons and streamers. Green water balloon war ensues. Search for leprechaun and pots of gold via riddles. Irish joke telling competition – bottle of port won by Richard. Crew Terri Cottier is painted in Irish clovers. Yummy Irish stew. Green bread is less popular and Albatross numbers double as meal scraps go overboard. 2863 nautical miles to Easter Island.
18^th	We practice the man overboard drill.
19^th	"Thar she blows!" Jim sees a whale spout at a few metres from the ship
20^th	8-12 watch spot pod of pilot whales alongside ship. 4-5 metre swells sweep under the hull from the south west. Voy Crew Vince Kaye’s (68) birthday. Vince has been with the ship on several long passages before, including the Cape Horn voyage in '91. Tells us many stories – of when he had his 1^st raspberry jam sandwich at age 2 years! Good memory. Watches change. 2544 nautical miles to Easter Island.
21^st	Voyage Crew Peter Velekoop is a keen fisherman, caught 2 skipjak tuna for us off the lure line trailed from the ship's stern.
22^nd	Voyage Crew have been on learning to take sextant sites, when the sun rarely comes out. Søren covered 191 nautical miles noon-to-noon today.
27th	Had a fancy dress with theme ‘THE SNAPPLEDOOZER’ - bird, mammal or fish, it could be anything you wish. V. Crew Paul H. made the night with a fantastic historic lead-up to the origins of ‘The Snappledoozer’. The evening finished with singing at the helm under star lit sky with Terri and her squeezebox.
28^th	High tension chess competitions between Nick Anderson and Ben W. (Nick is getting whipped). Chess addiction starts spreading throughout the ship
	Adrian W. has everyone groaning with his witty comments and innuendoes. Good value to have on board.
29^th	Paul H. has all crew mesmerised with his leather carrycase with silver drinking mugs, rums, whisky and gin!
1^st April	April Fools day – honey on the wheel, gladwrap on seats, tallow on the bilge pump handle. 12-4 baked hollowed out bread loaves.. Captain Jim had us all on deck waiting for an airforce / TVNZ documentary flyover. He had the last laugh. Had a successful limerick night with everyone describing their shipmates in verse. Nick A. seemed to be a recurrent theme for many...
APRIL 5^th	Force 8. Big swells, strong winds. Voyage Crew Iain Grant constantly cops every wave that comes inboard. All the men have been growing shady beards and now 2 days before Easter Island shaved them off.

7^th April	Arrived at Easter Island on the night of the 7^th. First lights sighted by Tania at 11.40pm. Strange to hear the anchor dropped and to wake up to no ship movement.
8^th April	On waking go up on deck and there is Easter Island. Calm conditions for landing. Clear Customs
9^th April	Beautiful place, the stone 'moai' heads very mysterious and majestic. Massive effort to walk up to the quarry in scorching sun. Markets bustling and busy with Spanish bargains. Ian G, Kieran R, Ben W and Adrian W. spend Saturday night on the town (being followed by packs of dogs on heat!)
10/11th April	Purser type stuff at the Agents office, the laundry, the tour operator and now the phone company to get this sent back to you! Tonight we have a Pacific island fancy dress party for me, Ben Poff and Adrian as a joint birthday celebration. Tomorrow we plan to leave here and sail on the next part of the adventure - the Galapagos!

moai6.jpg (2895 bytes) Wed 13th April 2000
Soren Larsen has weighed anchor and set sail from Easter Island towards the Galapagos last night.
Stand by here for Purser Kate Ryan's notes and observations of the voyage so far! These will be posted shortly.

Sunday 8th April : The ship has arrived at Easter Island!
This will have been the first landfall since departing Auckland on the 8th March having covered 4680 nautical miles which equates to an average of 156 miles per day or 6.5 knots. This is an excellent average speed over such an ocean passage.

The ship came in to the anchorage at Hangaroa, by the main township on the the east side of the island at around noon. Conditions there are settled and we were able to use the ship's inflatable boats to get ashore and organise customs clearance.
Easter Island is GMT -7 hours.

Tuesday 11 April - Voyage Crew and Crew have been enjoying tours of the islands to the the many, many stone 'Moai' statues and to learn something of the lost civilisation that made them. They have been able to make collect calls (via Chile) but with only 4 telephone lines in to the place email is not an easy proposition and hotmail messages will likely remain unchecked.

A party is planned back on board Soren tonight for Kate, the ship's Purser whose birthday it is today.
Captain Jim Cottier's intention is to stay at Easter Island until the evening of Tuesday 11th April. This will allow the ship's crew to explore ashore, organise some local tours and experience this fascinating island.

Estimated time of arrival at Easter Island has gone back to the 8/ 9th April as they
close with the island under cloudy skies with intermittent showers.

LOG ENTRY	Fri 7th April 2000		1800 NZ time
	Latitude	32º 35' south	Longitude		111º 07' west
	Speed	6.5 knots	Course		020T
	Wind	SW 15 k	Swell	-	Baro	1024

+ +

Soren_near_E_isld.jpg (4233 bytes) The latest report came in via Russell Radio in the Bay of Islands
Wednesday night 5th April.

The ship now was calmer weather and is under sail heading north under cloudy skies. Their e.t.a. at Easter Island is still the 7th April but getting ashore from the anchorage can be quite weather dependant.

It is not unusual to have to wait a day or so for conditions to be suitable to use the ship's inflatable boats - so family members expecting exotically expensive reverse charge phone calls may need to be patient.

LOG ENTRY	Wed 5th April 2000		2100 NZ time
	Latitude	34º 34' south	Longitude		111º 54' west
	Speed	3.5	Course		360T
	Wind	W 10k	Swell	-	Baro	1016

On_Helm_Heavy_Weather.jpg (8813 bytes) p.m. Monday 4th April 2000 - The ship reports that they are getting heavy weather from a big trough that is right over them.

Latest eta Easter Island has been put back to the 7th April.

LOG ENTRY	Mon 3rd April 2000		1705 NZ time
	Latitude	36º 37' south	Longitude		115º 43' west
	Speed	-	Course		-
	Wind	NNW 30	Swell	-	Baro	-

+++

sails 5.jpg (2841 bytes) The ship has now turned north towards Easter Island
(Lat. 26º 30'S Long 109º 30'W) where her e.t.a. still 6th April.

The ship is motor sailing is very light winds in a slight sea.

LOG ENTRY	Sun 2nd April 2000		1909NZ time
	Latitude	36º 57' south	Longitude		117º 32' west
	Speed	5 k motoring	Course		035
	Wind	NE 5	Swell	1 m	Baro	1023

LOG ENTRY	Sat 1st April 2000		1900 NZ time
	Latitude	38º 23' south	Longitude		118º 26' west
	Speed	6 k	Course		050 T
	Wind	SE 12k	Swell	-	Baro	1013

+++

LOG ENTRY	Thurs 30th March 2000		1902NZ time
	Latitude	40º 13' south	Longitude		125º 29' west
	Speed	7.5k	Course		085T
	Wind	NNW 20	Swell	3 m	Baro	1013

Wed 29th: "All's well" is the simple report from the ship today. We take this to mean that a fine sailing wind has arrived and that all are enjoying the freedom of perfect blue water sailing.

LOG ENTRY	Wed 29th March 2000		2000 NZ time
	Latitude	40º 14' south	Longitude		129º 24' west
	Speed	7.5k	Course		085T
	Wind	NNW 15	Swell	2 m	Baro	1023

satellite_wsi_world_Satellite_gif_satellite.jpg (8164 bytes) watch officer n helm.jpg (2190 bytes) Tues 28th : The ship continues to be in a high pressure area with light west by north winds. This satellite picture taken at 1800 GMT on 28 March shows a weather front to the west of Soren Larsen moving at 20 kts which should reach the ship in a day or two, providing good sailing winds. The radar imagery shows rain in the red and yellow areas. For world weather try http://www.intellicast.com/LocalWeather/World/Satellite/World/ although the Southern Pacific is not very well covered.

LOG ENTRY	Tues 28th March 2000		1900 NZ time
	Latitude	40º 16' south	Longitude		132º 47' west
	Speed	3 kt	Course		075T
	Wind	WNW 10kt	Swell	3m	Baro	1032

The Captain reports that all is well on board. The ship is now making quieter progress and an area of high pressure is over them. Captain Jim confirms that 6 April is the present eta for arrival at Easter Island.

LOG ENTRY	Mon 27th March 2000		19.15 NZ time
	Latitude	39º 53' south	Longitude		134º 53' west
	Speed	4 kt	Course		110T
	Wind	S 10 kt	Swell	2-3m	Baro	1032

Fri. 24th March: At the end of this week the ship is still making very good progress due east and nearly 200 nautical miles per day. Consistently fresh winds from the South West are producing an increased swell of 5m but this would not unusual for a mid ocean passage and everyone will no doubt be enjoying this classic blue water sailing. By our reckoning the ship could reach Easter Island by the 5/6th April but it remains to be seen whether the same average speeds are sustained after she starts her more northerly course towards 'Rapa Nui'.

LOG ENTRY	Fri 24th March 2000
	Latitude	41º 00' south	Longitude		146º 10' west
	Speed	8 kt	Course		090 T
	Wind	SW 20-25 kt	Swell	5 m	Baro	n/a


Mainsail with a single reef .	Foremast with Course, Lower & Upper Tops'l set.

LOG ENTRY	Tues 21st March 2000
	Latitude	41º 00' south	Longitude		157º 04' west
	Speed	7 kt	Course		100 T
	Wind	S 20 kt	Swell	4 m	Baro	1019

LOG ENTRY	20th March 2000
	Latitude	40º 29' south	Longitude		161º 03' west
	Speed	8 kt	Course		095 T
	Wind	SW 30 kt	Swell	5 m	Baro	1014

Twelve days after sailing out into the Southern Ocean from the Bay of Plenty and East Cape the ship has covered 1140 nautical miles and is making great progress. The new main sail and upper topsail and middle stays'l were picked up from the sail maker in Tauranga and bent on before she left the east coast.

On the 14th March Captain Jim Cottier reported in:

"Progress! 350 miles in 2 days. New sails pulling well. 38.7 S and 174W now and still going down. Good food, fair winds, dry bilges and only 1 lee railer!
Good eaters, slow drinkers, eager climbers and no wake signaturers! Everyone in good spirits.
Cheers. Jim & All"

Soren Larsen chrisportwine sl2.gif (18412 bytes)

	<The first days out from New Zealand the winds were fresh and the skies blue. The ship is now in the Roaring 40's latitudes and continues to make good time east. All the voyage crew have settled down into the 3 watch system.
First Mate Martin Smith at the wheel, on the morning watch

LOG ENTRY	19th March 2000
	Latitude	40º 42' south	Longitude	164º 49' west
	Speed	6-7 kt	Course	085 T
	Wind	NW 12kt	Swell	2-3 m