Rapid Passage

NZ to Fiji June 2023

Departure: Opua, New Zealand

Arrival: Denarau, Fiji

Total Voyage Duration: 39 Hours 

Total Passage Distance: 1069 NM

Average Speed: 27 KTS

Crew: Bill, Dan, Dave, Mitch, Peppe, Paris

For her first offshore passage, Owner of XF60 ‘Rapide’, Bill, had his eyes set on the horizon for Fiji. Awaiting a much-anticipated weather window in what was a particularly rough year for weather in the South Pacific, a small patch of blue appeared on the forecast travelling northeast fast. Only a vessel capable of high speeds over long range could stay within the lull.

A short, exceptionally smooth trip up to Opua from her berth in Auckland, the boys fuelled the boat, and themselves with a final kiwi coffee and ice cream. Settling in a sunny, quiet bay for the evening, which provided the first of many spectacular sunsets, final forecasts were read and the plan to leave at 0300 hours the next morning to stay in the weather window was confirmed. The roster was drawn for watch, and Dan drew the short straw having to wake up Paris – which if you’ve read the previous delivery trip story of Phoebe to Australia, you’ll know is a difficult task.

Leaving on schedule, the crew were met with no wind as prescribed, and a decent sized but gentle swell. The two large bags of home-grown mandarins were promptly challenged by the group, and eyes were set on the line where the sea met the sky. Powering up to the cruising speed which would keep the team inside the small weather window, the throttle was set to a quiet and comfortable 1800 rpm, maintaining an average speed of 27 knots.

The next 33 hours of motoring saw low winds, beautiful sunsets and moonrises, spinning yarns of tall tales on the high seas, and a couple of whale sightings. It was a quiet sea apart from a couple of yachts spotted, but all is easily managed at night with the help of radar and the FLIR camera. The non-stop motoring brought us to a steep underwater mountain less than 100 nautical miles out from Fiji, climbing from below 3000 metres up to 30, providing an opportunity to slow to an 8-knot troll and drop some lines. With what we hoped to be dinner unsuccessfully caught, the crew licked their wounds and powered back up to complete the journey into Fiji in just 39 hours of travel.

Through the Navula pass and into the shelter of the reef, we anchored in the bay outside Port Denarau in the late hours of the evening. The crew shared a sweet tasting beer in the 30-degree warmth of the Fijian climate. Consuming as much of the kiwi pies left on board as we could, we went to sleep content and anticipating some leisure time the next day.

Overall fuel consumption over the passage was 8450 litres, giving Rapide an average fuel consumption rate of 7.9 litres per nautical mile, covering 1069 nautical miles. All at an average speed of 27 knots.

After a thorough boat wash and tidy up, and a fantastic display of failure to correctly apply sunscreen by Mitch and Paris, the red-backed boys and rest of the more sun-smart crew cruised out to a nearby tropical island eager to get in the rich blue 27-degree water. Upon anchoring next to a turquoise reef, a few excited plunges off the aft, side, and roof decks left us floating, watching the breeze ripple through the palm trees. Heading back in, watching the tropical sunset light filter gently over our wake with some tunes playing, the high-speed journey across the pacific was peacefully and contently complete.