When the weather gives you lemons, make Kava.

I’m writing this from S19°48 E160°12, about 175 miles West of Northern New Caledonia. I’m currently helping my mate Darren deliver his Beneteau Oceanis 45 to start the Island Cruising NZ Pacific Rally.

The intention wasn’t to go to New Caledonia—and it still isn’t. We’re on our way to Fiji. By now, we were supposed to be nearly in Opua, at the northern tip of New Zealand. But the weather had other plans...

After months of planning and prep by Darren, the day finally arrived to leave his yacht’s home in Manly, QLD, and head down to the Gold Coast to wait for a good weather window to cross the Tasman.

After a pleasant, uneventful trip to Southport Yacht Club, we tied up in our berth to make final preparations. The forecast wasn’t looking great, but weather changes daily—we weren’t too worried.

Fast-forward 24 hours and it was looking worse. The models were shaping up for a thoroughly unpleasant crossing, topped off with a good battering from a low-pressure system as we reached NZ. Bugger...

No amount of praying to the wind gods, or endless "maybe it’ll improve if we just wait a bit longer" chats seemed to help. Then came the final blow from Darren’s weather router, MetBob:

“I can’t see a weather window for at least another two weeks.”

Hmm...

Serious calendar discussions kicked off. I needed to be back in Sydney to prep Salt Lines for our Lord Howe Island trip on August 28. Helwi was flexible, and John had a family birthday to get to by the 23rd. Two weeks parked on the Gold Coast (pleasant as it is) wasn’t going to cut it.

Talk turned to alternatives.

“The only reason we’re going to NZ is to stage for Fiji, right?”

“Well, yes...”

“So why don’t we just sail straight there?”

Silent consideration

“How far is it?”

“About 1,400 miles I think.”

“And the weather?”

“Better than sailing to NZ!”

Cue some frantic weather routing, passage planning, and crew discussions.

“So what do we think?”

“Looks pretty good to us.”

“Are we daunted?”

“We are undaunted!”

Decision made: Fiji it is.

Border Force, NZ Customs, and Fijian entry paperwork was amended, withdrawn, and resubmitted. And just like that, we, the undaunted, were ready to go.

Sure, we could have ignored the forecasts and pushed on to New Zealand. But I’ve learned that you never really win trying to muscle through Mother Nature’s moods. She was telling us to change plans—so we did.

So far, it’s feeling like the right call. Has it been a perfect run? No—but it rarely is. That’s a story for another day.

What I do know is that flexibility is key in passage planning. Forcing yourself through a plan just because “it’s the plan” or because of tight timelines? That never ends well.

That’s one of the things I love about offshore sailing: you have to work with the elements, think laterally, and be open to all the options.

So next time the weather gives you lemons...

Make kava.

Bula!

Matt