{"id":490,"date":"2026-09-27T17:40:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T07:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maluayacht.com.au\/?page_id=490"},"modified":"2026-10-03T10:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T00:52:35","slug":"tonga-new-caledonia-2014","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/maluayacht.com.au\/?page_id=490","title":{"rendered":"Tonga, Fiji and New Caledonia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I left French Polynesia from Bora Bora and headed west towards Tonga into unsettled weather. This became one of the more demanding passages of the Pacific stage.<\/p>\n\n\n

Read more \u2014 Tonga<\/a><\/div>\n
Read more \u2014 Fiji<\/a><\/div>\n
Read more \u2014 Vanuatu and New Caledonia<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n
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Engine trouble<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After two days the main engine developed a fuel-related problem. It could still be run to charge the batteries, but it would not reliably drive Malua ahead. That changed the nature of the passage: sailing was no longer simply the preferred means of propulsion but the only dependable way west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across to Tonga<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The crossing demanded the self-reliance expected of a long-distance cruising yacht. Weather, sail plan, battery charging and the engine problem all had to be managed while I continued west. The experience also drew on lessons from earlier ocean sailing, including the approach to heavy-weather downwind sailing that I associated with Bernard Moitessier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiji and New Caledonia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From Tonga I continued through Fiji and on towards New Caledonia. Fiji was familiar territory from earlier Pacific cruising, but this time it formed part of the final homeward chain of islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By late October Malua was in Noumea. The Mediterranean, Atlantic, Caribbean, United States, Panama and almost all of the Pacific now lay astern. Australia was one passage away. I waited for the weather window, completed clearance formalities, filled the tanks with duty-free diesel and prepared for the final six- or seven-day passage to Coffs Harbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n