The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson
Sailing Yacht Truce
The sail from Biak to the Ninigo Islands looked, on paper, to be a perfect sail. The seasonal winds were predicted to be favourable with a current behind us of 0.6 knots. I was really looking forward to an easy trip of about six or seven days. The distance was just less than 500 miles. The reality turned out to be much different, an exhausting mammoth effort to reach the Ninigo Islands after sixteen days and over a thousand miles of sailing.
The sky to the south was becoming darker and at ten in the evening we were hit with a violent squall, it was ferocious. Even as I watched it coming there was no real indication that it would be super strong. Unfortunately, I was unable to furl in the yankee fully before the wind hit, the sail clew flogged like a demented demon
A look outside this morning and a double take – thick fog. At 10:00 the anchor was aweigh and with radar on we slowly motored from Matauwhi Bay down to Opua. By 11:00 we were anchored off Opua Marina and the fog was lifting. With ships papers and passport in hand I headed off to custome to complete the outward clearance. An hour later I was back on board Truce and getting ready for sea, it was actually hot now that the fog had gone, a beautiful sunny day to going boating.
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 