I’ve had the good fortune to have sailed across the South Pacific from Panama to New Zealand and Australia twice and know that this huge ocean, with a wide trade wind belt, is as complex a route as you will find during a circumnavigation. There are just so many variables in the equation.
Walt and Jane aboard the Passport 54 Wanderlust, have been cruising for almost two decades and know the South Pacific well. They are currently in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia and are planning the remaining route west through the islands.
On their blog they took the time last week to sketch out all of the things that will affect the voyage and the considerations they are keeping in mind, which will be of particular interest to first-time Pacific voyagers. This year is a transition season from La Nina to El Nino, which will create its own weather puzzles.
The trade winds, which one might think are steady and reliable, are, in fact, fickle and variable, in no small part because of the low pressure systems moving north out of the Roaring Forties and south out of the unstable Intertropical Convergence Zone.
With modern communications and excellent forecasts through vendors like PredictWind and others, plus the availability of professional weather routers, the issues are not lack of knowledge but decision making and seamanship.
Most cruisers cross the South Pacific in one season –from March to November—which means you have to keep moving from island group to island group and be ready to wait, sometimes weeks, for a good weather window for the passage to New Zealand.
This year’s World ACR fleet is just arriving in the Marqueas and will then head to the Tuamotus and Tahiti. They are like locusts as they visit the outer islands, decimating the meagre supplies of store-bought goods and fuel. But that is good for the locals if not for the fellow cruising fleet.
The South Pacific is my favorite cruising ground and one I would love to sail across one more time.
