Cyclone alert – will we lose everything?
As sailors, we find ourselves often at the mercy of the elements and a lot more intune with the weather, often checking forecasts several times a day. The middle name of our son Nemo is Yasa, after the cyclone that hit Fiji whilst I was pregnant with him.
For those of you that are knew here, we bought an old ex Vendée Globe open 60 and converted her into our family cruiser.
We launched in September with the hope of being out of Fiji before cyclone season started… but we weren’t ready in time and instead have found ourselves still here in the peak of the season. On top of this a few weeks ago our gearbox broke and left us engineless with the next low pressure system developing close by…
Due to our nearly 5 metre draft, the safest cyclone hole for us is about 100nm to the east in the capital suva – but due to our gearbox failure, our only option is to use our 25hp outboard engine to help manoeuvre the boat off the anchor and through the reef passes on route.
At that moment we were about 48 hours away from the closest point of approach of the first system, and about 5 days before the second one would be close. So we’d still have time to move if we wanted to – but without an engine, we weren’t sure if that would be the safest solution.
At the moment the systems weren’t headed for a direct hit for Fiji, but we remembered what happened to our friends on Pantagruel a few years ago during cyclone Yasa – whose track had also been to miss Fiji a few days before it hit, but in the end Fiji was a directly in it’s path
But we were running out of time as the first system had now become a named cyclone Judy, which was getting closer, and there wouldn’t be a gap between that one and the one following close behind for us to escape to Suva.
But it’s not over for us – as the next day – the next cyclone – Kevin – now Category 5 – changed track and headed closer to us…
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Thanks so much to Olivia at https://www.youtube.com/c/WildernessofWaves for the clip of us coming onto the mooring and on the mooring in the bad weather 🙂
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Caio! We are Timo and Jo, an Italian and English couple with countless ocean miles under our belts. We’re refitting an ex Vendée Globe Open 60 race boat originally designed & built & raced by famous Hungarian sailor Nándor Fa. He competed in her in the 1992 Vendée Globe (round the world single handed race known as “the Everest of the seas”), finishing 5th, becoming the first non-frenchman to finish.
We are currently in Fiji giving this old gladiator a new lease on life, transforming her from an ex race boat to a performance family cruiser, which we’ll need to make both dog and baby proof! We’re planning to set sail again in Oct 2022, so with limited time&money we have plenty of challenges ahead to turn our dreams into reality&get back on the water!
Subscribe to our channel&track our progress as we release videos about our journey as well as “how to” videos about anything boat related.
Never stop to dream, never stop to sail!
You can find out more about the boat, us and our refit plans on our website www.sailingnv.com or follow us on
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Better luck ahead. Safe journeys 🙂 Cheers!
My heart goes out to you guys. Fare winds
Hold Fast.
There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.
the look of relief on Papas face at the end is priceless..
Great video showing dedication of you both. Timo is very skilled and lucky to have a Kiwi wife.
Enjoyed the music. A nail biter of an episode, and it's not over yet. Good luck, I'm sure you made the right no/no go decision.
In terms of the part you ordered, did you pay with a credit card? Most card companies (at least in the U.S.) will refund your money if you dispute a charge because the seller never delivered the goods. That is one reason why I refuse to have a debit card — you don't get the same protections. Of course, it might be different in Fiji.
Do you have any sails that could help power the boat in storm conditions? Do they not work without the mail sail?
Have you calculated the number of ads viewers would need to watch before having enough money to buy a new main sail?
I think I might put an emergency outboard mounting area on the back of my boat.
Thx!
What a nail biting episode 😬 … yall are in our prayers. Timo, you have a beautiful family bro and a gorgeous boat… we love yall❤️. 🤙🏼yeuw
Sitting on the edge of my stool 😮
Fiji. Lived in musket for 12 years myself back in 90s. Surfing my life away Mangroves in lautoka were my hide out in 3 cyclones. Cyclone oli was a baby but it was not named till next day.
You must draw to much for lautoka but what about nadi
😀
call your credit card and tell them it was a fraud.
Are you sure we can’t build you the equivalent of a vibration damper if you can’t find one world wide..I have design and Cnc facilities here in Aus. And the will to help you…this dosn’t look that impossible ….I’m a friend of PK in Melb. Regards..p
Poor dog had to go to the loo can’t be blamed 😊
I can help training Solo…
You would have thought that he would have put sealant between the bracket and the boat? Simple.
Did you guys try to sail to Suva?
I cani in barca non fanno una bella vita……
Getting a refund will depend on how you paid, if you used Visa, Mastercard or even PayPal it should be very straight forward and easy because any of those will issue the refund and then go after the seller to get their money. They don't worry about giving you the money first because they have lawyers that will insure they get their's back. Since we see this video I'm pretty sure you've already made it thru the storms and I pray everything is alright and went as smoothly as possible. Timo I'm sure has a very good understanding of anchor scope and how much weight/chain it would require to keep you well planted and I'm sure you do as well. As long as you have both onboard and ready to deploy as needed things should be okay as long as the storms don't get to strong. I really wish I had the funds to help you kids but being forcibly retired due to health issues I live on a very limited income that makes it hard just keeping the lights on. Thank you for keeping us posted on things and for the work and dedication it takes to make these videos even when under a lot of stress…
Fair winds, following seas, safe travels and God Bless…
Looks like solo's doing training
❤❤❤
Are prayer's are with you all.
When I lived and worked on Laucala Island in 2010, we were hit with a cyclone so strong that is destroyed lots of infrastructure on the resort that we had to shut down for 3 months to rebuild. The palm trees on the island looked burned, the wind was that strong. Little bit of advise for you guys….Just be aware Fiji Customs will hold your parts for a couple days….very frustrating after waiting weeks for delivery, and demand huge duty fees, like 40%. Had this happen many times during the one year I lived there. As you know, Fiji has its own time schedule! Btw….Nemo has the most charming smile! Love his curiosity and energy!
Another great Video with the Family of the Mac Gyver of the seas.
I live in Germany and am German.
Let me know if I can help you talking to the guys in German.
There used to be pretty big and decent engine repair shop in Suva. They might have drive plates or they can make alternation from some other engine.
Best regards. Joze
Good luck guys, good luck!
I'm a pretty positive person but this was a complete shit show.
I’m telling everyone about your channel. Thanks for sharing with us 🙏
Great video and fingers and toes crossed that all your preparations are not needed. Fantastic all the new patrons and Ko-fe support
My gosh I really feel for you all and hope you get through the winds etc. I note that the Volvo part has not arrived, and clearly it would be best to get an original replacement part. That said if you take the broken part, and then scrape off the rubber you could then source from somewhere some heavy duty rubber (reinforced type) and cut it very roughly to shape and glue it to the original part. Then using liquid air as a coolant you can clean the thing up on a lathe or on a drilll stand if you have accesss to the bits….just an idea I found myself having to do (and it worked) as cutting rubber without cooling it is just about impossible. I wish you luck with all that you are facing.
What is de name of the company you bought the parts from?
Please tell us how you are right know.
A stressful situation. It's difficult to get an outboard to move a big heavy boat. The engine is designed for a small fast turning propellor with a steep pitch, the boat needs a bigger slower turning prop with a less severe ptich Also when the boat starts pitching in slight waves the prop will frequently be partially out of the water. I think you've made the best of a difficult situation so far, but changing circumstances will require new decisions. One thing, I would move family onto land.
That was a lousy set of circumstances to be dealing with, not at all fun to have to make a call between the two less than ideal courses of action.
Those who’ve never been caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, right up close with no good options, will never appreciate just how complex and difficult it is to make that final decision.
Well done, both of you.
Best of luck with getting the damper plate soon, hopefully customs won’t sit on it for weeks or stuff you with too much for “import/handling charges” before releasing it.
Fair winds guys, R.
😎👍🍻
PS, loved the piano riffs!
Ciao Timoteo azzzz….in barca cè sempre un problema quando non sono 2, e avere tanta inventiva e fantasia x risolverli. Un abbraccio dall'italia. Giovanni
Great to see the help from all around you you deserve it.
When you drilled the transom it looked like it is sandwich construction. You must take care to make sure water cannot enter the core. You should take the bracket off ASAP, clear out the now wet core around the holes and fill with epoxy based filler before redialling. HTH
Timo,
come estrema ratio non potresti forare e filettare in tre punti il giunto per farlo fisso senza il parastrappi? Anzi mi sorprende non sia già previsto come su certe frizioni delle ventole di raffreddamento dei motori dei camion. Capisco che il parastrappi è li per una ragione, ma il rischio è veramente troppo.
Holly Hell guys! So bloody stressful! Is there someone we know in Germany who can go the company address for the part, or demand a refund? Scratching my head. This is terribly disappointing.
This was just luck! Ciclone patern not direkt hit!
Regarding the vibration damper company in Germany. Timo, you did not inform company name, address. And also do not want to communicate by the app SIGNAL or Whats-app. After solving the problem(s), you can remove from your phone the app. The course of the eng mounting wass known before your try! CATZO Timo, there's a Kind on board!
A quicka fixa for the outboard
when the mountas too high
is to makea wooden bracket
and mount it on some ply(wood).
Then a bolt it to your bracket
so it's down an inch or two,
She'll be as pretty asa Mona Lisa
and a worka bellissimo for you. 😉
And to fixa engine troubles
without bleeding all your cash;
use a diesel-electric system
that can go plenty fast.
A $350 diesel engine,
get 2 for reliability;
and 2 Cadillac 160 amp alternators
for total amps of 320.
Add 4) lithium 12V batteries
48 volts with power to spare;
this will drive an inboard electric
that can take you anywhere.
Use batteries alone
when you don't need too much power,
or kick on the gens when winds pipe up
or weather fronts blow showers.
$700 for two engines,
$200 for two alternator rotors,
$1,200 for lithium bats,
and $450 for the electric motor.
Sell the engine that you have
for $2 to $5,000 bucks,
and you'll have a nearly-free super reliable system
that never leaves you stuck.
Add some solar panels
and a $200 WindGenZen
and you'll have 10KW of reliable high torque power,
to take you straight into the wind.
If there is anything I can do, let me know. Based in Germany I am happy to help and dig into this.
I am so pleased that you are all ok . I was a bit worried about you and I prayed that you would all be safe. I live in Hasting NZ and to see the devastation in the islands it reminds us of what has been happening here God bless and stay safe.