Heading North! (Update 19)
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Update from Colin Philp
Onboard Uto Ni Yalo

Position: 33*35.6' South/152*55.3' West

Bula Vinaka Viti kei Rotuma

Yeeeehhhaaaaa!!!! It's official, we have now turned North towards Raivavae.
After 1786 nautical miles on the log since Auckland, we now have 632
nautical miles to go to reach a hot shower and a fresh cup of French coffee
in the Astrals.

Today was a pleasant day of sailing as we shook out all the reefs in the
Main and Mizzen sails at 6.10am this morning and headed in a East North East
direction in a 20 knot Southerly. The wind was swinging to the East all day
and is currently East North East at 15 knots.

The wind swinging to the East somewhat forced the skippers to make the
decision to alter course to the North. Also a high pressure South of us and
3 low pressures North of us made us think twice about continuing East as we
would be heading into some very strong winds. By heading North now we can be
more certain of finding lighter winds although still in the 10 - 20 knot
range which is ideal for these Drua.

The debate on "Vaka FM", which is what Andy the skipper of Foftein calls the
VHF Radio Position Checks held every 6 hours, began early this morning on
whether the course should be altered today towards the North.

The sailing was so gentle today that watch Captain on the Hine Moana, John
Misky (Samoa) prompted a game of "I spy with my little eye something
beginning with...." over the VHF. This continued on the VHF throughout the
day.

As I write this a 20 knot gust hits the canoe and we are coasting along at
15 knots on a broad reach. There are three sailors, Sonny, Kai'afa and
Kelekele on the Uli trying to control it. Salome has just left the Uli to
make tea for those at work on deck. The next watch of Steven, Vilisoni,
Carson and Unaisi are already on deck ready to take over.

We are under full sail with the #1 Genoa Headsail up. All four Drua's are in
a close bunch tonight with the support boats Foftein and Evohe close behind.

We have heard today that the support boat Ranui is now 300 nautical miles
behind us and will probably not be able to reach Raivavae before we depart
so they will likely sail directly to Papeete and meet us there. Papeete is
another 430 nautical miles North from Raivavae. We plan to only stop for one
to two days but this may change depending on any repairs that need to be
done on some of the Druas.

We passed a huge long line vessel an hour ago. The boat looked more like a
cruise liner and the only reason we knew it was a longliner is because Te
Matau a Maui radioed that they had seen the long line floats 30 minutes
earlier.

Position of the Long Line vessel: 33*29' South/152*53' West

The morale on board is very high since we turned North. Because we are
sailing with the wind behind us, it is already warmer on deck (canoe is
moving at nearly the same speed as the wind) as there is less wind chill. We
are all looking forward to wearing a T-shirt and board shorts on deck again.
It will probably be another 2 - 3 days before we can do this (we will be at
Latitude 25 degrees South in 3 days).

Best of all, the showers will become more bearable and probably more
frequent as we head to warmer waters. We will get a chance to use some of
the Pure Fiji products that were so kindly donated by Gaetane and her crew.

Some of the crew need a little prompting to have a shower each day (can you
blame them the water is freezing). Salome is the 'Shower Gestapo' on board
the Uto and seems to have a log book of everyones shower schedule. If it is
at least 24 hours since their last shower, Salome gives the crew member a
'gentle reminder' in her Bubu tone, "Ko iko lei sisili tamata duka".
Probably why she got the nickname "Bubu" on board.

Sonny is under a bit of pressure to catch some fish tomorrow as we have not
eaten fish for a few days. He will be up at daybreak to set the lines and we
will be changing lure colours tomorrow in the hope of catching some
Mahimahi. I think we have had our fill of Albacore so anything different
would be a nice change. Rupeni and I were discussing fish recipes today.

Also Rob from Naia Cruises e-mailed us with some ideas on how to dry fish on
board as we do not have any refrigeration. Rob did this same voyage on a
yacht several years ago. Vinaka Rob.

The messages of support still continue to pour in through our website
www.fijivoyaging.com which was kindly donated by Jonathan Segal and Oceanic
Communications. We hope that some of these e-mails will be published in the
Fiji Times soon.

The crew would like to send their heart felt gratitude to all those who have
sent messages of support. The messages have been very well received by the
crew and help keep morale high on board especially during the trying times
we have just experienced.

A big vinaka vaka levu as well to Nathan Hildebrand who has been our liason
with the media. Nathan don't you delete this!

Malo Viti

Colin/Uto ni Yalo

Report by Satellite Phone courtesy of DIGICEL


Experiences from the crew.
Today's featured crew member: Steven Ratabua Tawake
This is the first time for me to experience sailing beyond Fiji Waters. I'd
rather call this is a pilgrimage journey and journey of faith.
Io sa va ga ya to be an ambassador of the sea protecting our whales and
dolphins its not an easy task. Qo sega ni job, qo e dua nai kacikaci ka
bolebole levu talega. Moce tiko na bogi. Sa vaka ga e biu tiko ena loma ni
misini dau savasava,io kacikaci tiko o Jonacani kei na kaila sa vaka ga na
tereni ni mataivalu, lade ike vesu na sila, va dre na karikaritu. Io oti ga
qai muria tu yani dua na kena dredre.
Io sa mai tinia mada eke, big vinaka vakalevu to Bryce, Jackie, and Mario
for their hospitality and to the Fijian community in Auckland, Qalulu family
Tarisi and Lavo. To all the Tau vinaka vakalevu.

Moce mada.

About Steven Ratabua Tawake
Born: Suva, Fiji
Mother: Vorovoro, Dawasamu
Father: Vatani,Kaba,Bau
Education: TPAF,TAFE,FIT,SJC, Marist Convent
Work Experience: Colonial-New Business & Underwriting Clerical & Dispatch
Clerk, BOC- Gases, FSL