aegir-ran

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 23, 2025; 3:00 UTC

Current Position: 19 21.248’S 172 03.930’E; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 7.3 kt COG: 234; TWS: 32 kt; TWD: 114; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila, 265): 235; Total Miles Sailed: 6338 nm; Comments: The storm’s rain and wind arrived at 17:30. The wind is now coming from 95, making impossible to make a course for the waypoint. Unless the direction changes after the storm, I will loose…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 22, 2025; 3:00 UTC

Current Position: 18 59.068’S 174 39.550’E; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 6.8 kt COG: 254; TWS: 27 kt; TWD: 116; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila, 265): 370; Total Miles Sailed: 6338 nm; Comments: It is 16:20, right after I checked in yesterday. The storm that has hit me is not a squall. It is probably the storm front that is filling on the dead air that becalmed me yesterday.…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 22, 2025; 3:00 UTC

Current Position: 18 59.068’S 174 39.550’E; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 6.8 kt COG: 254; TWS: 27 kt; TWD: 116; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila, 265): 370; Total Miles Sailed: 6338 nm; Comments: It is 16:20, right after I checked in yesterday. The storm that has hit me is not a squall. It is probably the storm front that is filling on the dead air that becalmed me yesterday. There…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 21, 2025; 3:00 UTC

Current Position: 19 09.536’S 177 21.399’E; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 7.2 kt COG: 255; TWS: 21 kt; TWD: 160; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila, 264): 522; Total Miles Sailed: 6338 nm; Comments: At the end of the day, the boat continues to average 5.6 kt exactly towards the waypoint. The wind is eventually going to shift from a more northerly to a more southerly track,…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 20, 2025; 3:00 UTC

Current Position: 19 27.317’S 178 55.631’E; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 6.0 kt COG: 265; TWS: 18 kt; TWD: 60; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila, 265): 614; Total Miles Sailed: 6239 nm; Comments: According to PW, I was supposed to jibe about 17:30, when the TWA backed to 81. I jibed at 16:30 with a TWA of 82, putting me on a course of 295 (waypoint 266), better than predicted. There…

[aegir-ran]

The Anti-Meridian

I am just south of Fiji on my way to Vanuatu and I have crossed the Anti-Meridian, the less famous twin of the Prime Meridian. I am now in the Eastern Hemisphere. I am about one week from Vanuatu, which will be my last stop in the South Pacific. After about a week there, I will leave for Thursday Island (Australia), which guards the eastern side of the Torres Strait, which is officially in the…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 19, 2025; 3:00 UTC

Current Position: 20 16.235’S 179 13.221’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 6.9 kt COG: 226; TWS: 26 kt; TWD: 85; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila): 724; Total Miles Sailed: 6106 nm; Comments: A small squall hit me at 14:20 (as I was checking in yesterday) and caused an accidentally jibe. There was light rain and a few gusts, one of one when combined with an ill timed wave caused the…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 18, 2025; 3:00 UTC

Current Position: 19 03.240’S 177 03.255’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 6.4 kt COG: 245; TWS: 23 kt; TWD: 116; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila): 837; Total Miles Sailed: 5955 nm; Comments: At 16:20, right after I checked in yesterday, I spotted on the AIS the vessel “Sea Harmony” 13 nm behind me doing almost 9 kts. Its course kept changing, weaving back and forth, suggesting it…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 17, 2025; 3:00 UTC

Current Position: 18 41.227’S 174 39.487’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 5.8 kt COG: 238; TWS: 19 kt; TWD: 145; Distance to Waypoint (Vanuatu, Efata, Port Vila): 973; Total Miles Sailed: 5811 nm; Comments: Vanuatu is in the UTC+21 time zone, so I will loose two hours during the passage. However, I will wait to change my clocks until I arrive there. The current weather routing has me weaving…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 17, 2025; 1:22 UTC

Current Position: 18 39.567’S 173 58.913’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 11 kt; TWD: 190; Distance to Waypoint (Vaka’eitu): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 5771 nm; Comments: By 17:00, two more big catamarans as well as a monohull had arrived, making nine boats before mine. I no longer had the anchorage to myself. It took on an entirely different character. I fell asleep by…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 16, 2025; 2:02 UTC

Current Position: 18 43.423’S 174 06.034’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 4 kt; TWD: 172; Distance to Waypoint (Vaka’eitu): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 5761 nm; Comments: The wind slowed down a bit yesterday afternoon, so I could mount the outboard on the dinghy and take a Quick Look around. In the immediate vicinity of the anchorage, all the coral appears to be dead. I took…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 15, 2025; 0:31 UTC

Current Position: 18 43.423’S 174 06.034’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 15 kt; TWD: 57; Distance to Waypoint (Vaka’eitu): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 5761 nm; Comments: I got up at 6:00, had tea in the cockpit, then started getting the boat ready to move to Vaka’eitu (bringing the dinghy aboard, etc.). I unhooked from the mooring at 8:50. The process was made simpler…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 14, 2025; 2:12 UTC

Current Position: 18 39.529’S 173 59.003’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 11 kt; TWD: 160; Distance to Waypoint (Vava’u): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 5750 nm; Comments: I have been provisioning and preparing the boat most of the day. I plan to leave in the morning and explore some of the other islands, starting with Vaka’eitu. I expect to return to Vava’u on Thursday to…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 13, 2025; 2:00 UTC

Current Position: 18 39.529’S 173 59.003’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 11 kt; TWD: 160; Distance to Waypoint (Vava’u): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 5750 nm; Comments: I woke up this morning and there was zero wind. The water in the harbor was like glass. The lack of motion actually woke me up. My punch list of things I need to do in Tonga is growing short. The weather to…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 12, 2025; 1:12 UTC

Current Position: 18 39.529’S 173 59.003’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 11 kt; TWD: 160; Distance to Waypoint (Vava’u): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 5750 nm; Comments: I started repair of the toe rail beneath the port stanchion that supports the 6 hp outboard. A chunk of wood came out and the underlying wood did not support one of the screws. I replaced the screw with one…

[aegir-ran]

Check-in June 11, 2025; 1:44 UTC

Current Position: 18 39.529’S 173 59.003’W; Local Timezone: UTC+23; SOG: 0 kt COG: N/A; TWS: 11 kt; TWD: 160; Distance to Waypoint (Vava’u): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 5750 nm; Comments: I am going to try to fix the boom today. I started by swinging the boom to the starboard and lashing it so it was not over the solar panels. I then lashed the mainsail to itself (not the boom), released the…

[aegir-ran]

Boom Repaired

I was horrified during my passage from Tahiti to Tonga that the plate that holds the gooseneck onto the boom was missing a screw (it had stripped out) and two if the remaining three screws were very loose. Furthermore, the gooseneck itself was missing a screw, but there was nothing I could do about it while at sea because the screw had a nut on the inside of the boom that had fallen off. The…