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Overview

This website deals with our second circumnavigation. Here you will find the somewhat regular reports already filed starting with the building, by Kelly Archer in Auckland, of our Chuck Paine designed high latitudes cruising sailboat, Onora, to its return to New Zealand ten years and over 70,000 miles later. We plan to continue sailing and updating this site as we figure out what is next.

This summarizes what is contained in the [ Archives ].


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- ARCHIVES -

2004: Auckland, NZ to Sydney, AU


     

2004-2006: Antarctica

Onora was launched in June 2004 and we spent the first month in New Zealand getting to know the boat before pointing north to New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, the east coast of Australia and Tasmania.

 


     

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2005: Sydney, AU to Antarctica


     

We crossed the Tasman back to the South Island of New Zealand in early '05 to Stewart Island and Fiordland and made our way north to Auckland for Kelly's crew to go over what we had discovered and improve Onora's systems. Meanwhile we provisioned for the thirty day trip along the top of the roaring 40's to Puerto Mont Chile, landing in September of '05.

After a week of repairs we turned south through the Patagonian canals to the Straights of Magellan and turned east, transiting the Beagle Channel, arriving in Puerto Williams in December where we found good weather to cross the Drake Passage. We arrived in Deception Island in the South Shetland waters of Antarctica on Christmas Morning.

 

 

       

2006: Antarctica to Chaguaramas, TT


     

After a month, reaching past 65' South, we caught a strong northeasterly to Port Stanley in the Falklands for provisions and repairs and, a week later at the beginning of February, rode a gale force westerly across the Antarctic Convergence to South Georgia, the highlight of our first two years.

In March 2006 we beat up the middle of the South Atlantic in search of easterlies that allowed us to turn west to Buenos Aries. We warmed up along the coasts of Brazil and arrived in Trinidad where Onora was hauled out for a fresh bottom paint job.

 

       

2007: Chaguaramas, TT to Crosshaven, IE


      At the end of June we passed through the Labrador icebergs guarding the foggy Straight of Belle Isle and pushed on north to Disko Bay for a month of exploring Greenland's icy coast. We were lucky that Prince Christian Sound opened allowing us to visit one of the world's most dramatic waterways and certainly the most bizarre weather station at its eastern end where we were entertained by its three inhabitants, a night we will never forget.        

2008-9: Crosshaven, IE to Svalbard, NO to Inverness, Scotland


     

2007-2011: Northern Europe

We left Onora in Crosshaven Ireland in September and returned in May 2007 to cruise the south and west Irish coasts and over the top to the west coast of Scotland. The following summer started with the Outer Hebrides and the Orkney Islands before a return to Oban. In 2009 we transited the Caledonian Canal and crossed to the Shetlands and Norway up to Svalbard where we crossed 80' North and turned back to winter the boat in Inverness, Scotland.


       

2010: The Baltic Sea, Pt. 1


     

2010 and 2011 were our Baltic summers and we might still be there if the summers were longer. The first year found us going anti-clockwise along the southern Baltic states to St. Petersburg and then Finland, Sweden and a decision to leave Onora for the winter in Thuro, Denmark. We return in the spring for Poland, where we survived a hit by lightning and a grounding before swinging north to explore the Gulf of Bothnia and south again for the Kiel Canal and finally England for repairs.

       

2011: The Baltic Sea, Pt. 2


     

We crossed the Channel in 2012 and cruised the west coast of Europe down to the Canary Islands.


       

2012: Lymington, UK to Cape Town, SA


     

2013-2015: Brazil to New Zealand

We left the Canaries the following March and went south to Cape Verde and then zig zagged back to Fernando de Noronha Brazil and worked our way down the coast to leave Santos in April for Cape Town.

       

2013: Cape Town, SA to Albany, AU


      After some Customs issues we left South Africa the day after Christmas for the five thousand mile thirty-three day crossing including a three day emergency stop in remote St. Paul Island. We were very happy to arrive in Albany, Southern Australia in February 2014.        

2014 - 5: Albaby, AU to Wellington, NZ

     

 

Next came the Bight and Port Lincoln where a planned week stop stretched to almost a year.

We moved on to Melbourne, Tasmania and finally arrived in Nelson New Zealand on February 23, 2015, to complete our second circumnavigation.