22 May - Another Challenging Day

0600 position 15-51S 173-13W. Day's run 124 miles. 31 miles west of
Niuatoputapu.

We are three for three now on having a tough time of it the day before we
make landfall. Christmas Island found us becalmed, Suwarrow found us
beset by squalls, and we've just dealt with some kind of a front here on
our approach to Niuatoputapu.

The wind had been slowly backing to the north as predicted by the gribs,
but then at about 2PM it came right out of the west as the front hit us.
Of course, we are trying to head west, so the best we could do was forty
degrees or so south of our desired course. The seas built. We were
slamming to windward. Reef in, reef out, slow going, and lots of rain.
Finally at about 8PM the wind shifted to the south west, we tacked, and
could finally head west again. Of course, we were slamming worse than
ever in the left over chop from the six hours of west wind, and it was
still raining. After the sun set it was pitch black outside in the 100%
overcast and rain. It was hard to get perspective to stand up let alone
get a feel for direction in the shifting winds. Rocky had the worst of it
on his watch. After I came up at midnight, the left over chop from the
west finally died off and the moon rose under the cloud cover behind us.
The wind continued to back to the south, and we could ease sheets and
reach for the barn.

When I came on deck at midnight, Rocky commented on how it was getting
cooler, and I put on my sweatshirt tonight for the first time since
leaving the area of the Hawaiian Islands. We are close to the beginning
of the Southern Hemisphere winter, and we are starting to feel it.

The gribs indicated that we'd have to deal with some kind of system
passage, but the pretty arrows on the chart plotter made it look so easy.
Matt and I are hoping to hitch on to a few of these frontal systems when
we head east for Tahiti in a few months. These systems move to the east
and if we position ourselves correctly we should be able to ride the
westerly winds we were just fighting. We'll see.

We should arrive in Niuatoputapu about 11AM today. I had never heard of
this island until I started my research for this trip. It is part of the
northernost of the four Tongan Island groups, and is often used as the
port of entry for yachts arriving in Tonga from the North. The anchorage
is supposed to be calm and safe and the island beautiful. I can't wait to
see it.

Lori has received questions about how we deal with man overboard. I've
already discussed what we would do if a crew member discovers that his
shipmate has become separated from the boat. That is the worst case
scenario, so we take reasonable precautions to ensure that nobody gets
separated from the boat.
It is mandatory that anybody whose feet leave the cockpit floor when on
deck alone is clipped to the boat with a safety harness. The harnesses
can be clipped to jacklines that run bow to stern on each side of the
boat, or to backstays, toe rails, or hand rails in the cockpit. Harness
requirement may become more restrictive in bad weather at the discretion
of the skipper. Moku pe'a has a low swim step with a ladder at the stern
that can be easily reached from the water if directly behind the boat.
The boat also has an emergency web ladder, a gift from Mike Morelli, that
is tied to the leeward corner of the transom. The web ladder has a loop
that hangs down and if pulled, the ladder deploys. If the lone watch
stander falls over while clipped in, he should be able to grab either the
rope ladder or built in ladder in the transom or make enough noise to get
the attention of his shipmate who can then help with his recovery.