BEATEN BACK BY THE CURRENT AND FICKLE WINDS

9 March 2025

My time in Kavieng has come to a close.  It’s been a very good stop.  I have fixed my teeth, refueled, reprovisioned, repaired what was broken, maintained essential gear, inspected the rig and relaxed.  Now both Truce and I are ready to go again.  My plan is to sail over the north side of New Ireland and visit some of the outer islands before dropping down to Taro to clear into the Solomon Islands. 

My big concern is the very strong and persistent current against me on the route together with the easterly wind that seems to be equally stubborn and persistent.  The adverse current has been a constant since departing from Biak in Indonesia. Hopefully, it will moderate in the next couple of days. 

I weighed anchor and Truce and I motored out of Kavieng harbour through the North Channel.  The plan being to go along the coast of New Ireland and stop off at some of the outlaying islands.  Tatau island, Tanga Island, Ambitle, and Nissan Islands looked like interesting stops along the way.  I didn’t intend to stop at Lihir Island, I had spent time there previously, it has the second biggest hole on the ground I have ever seen, a huge goldmine. 

Departing Kavieng was hard work, a light onshore wind threatened to put us onto a lee shore, thankfully the wind freshened a bit, allowing us to head away and clear the land. Then the wind died and the current pushed us westwards, losing ground and making interesting track patterns on the navigation plotter. There followed a series of squalls making for uncomfortable sailing, on a positive note I was able to fill the water tanks with nice fresh rainwater. This carried on for two days, yo-yoing back and forth with the squalls but slowly making progress eastwards. The slow sailing against the current in fickle winds was becoming tedious and tiring. Rest was almost impossible as Truce required constant attention in the light and variable conditions in order to make progress. Finally, the wind died completely, and the current once again started to push us back towards Kavieng at two knots.  There was nowhere to anchor, no way of arresting our westwards drift, we just kept losing hard won ground.  I was tired and had a few choice words for the weather gods.  

Towards sunset on the second day a squall approached.  I watched the approach with interest, perhaps it would give us some favourable winds.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case, the squall was ferocious with strong easterly winds and lashings of rain.  Truce was reefed down and I couldn’t fight it, if I hove to we would still be losing ground as the current pushed us west relentlessly. 

The situation was hopeless.  I decided to turn around and head back towards Kavieng, go through the Albatross Channel and then head east along the south coast of New Ireland where there would be little current and lighter winds.  As I turned off the wind Truce picked up speed and was soon sprinting over the waves, it was pitch dark, the wind howling and the rain hosing down. I was soaked to the skin but it felt so good to be sailing again, I didn’t care if we were gong the wrong way. The seventy miles back to Kavieng took us twelve hours, we were anchored in a lovely, sheltered spot in the Albatross Channel before sunset.

The last few days had been a struggle and I was feeling a bit battered and bruised.  However, once anchored in the peace and tranquility of Albatross Channel I knew the decision to turn around had been the right one.