Sad News From New Caledonia

[JPA Cate]

There has been rioting, with 4 deaths so far, and widespread destruction of cars, and looting in Noumea.

Here's a link to an Australian Broad-Casting article about it: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-...iots/103853654

It seems possible to me that order will be restored, as it has in the past, and there will be a few place visiting cruisers ought to avoid.

Ann

PLEASE DO NOT INDULGE IN POLITICAL DIATRIBES, that will result in thread closure.

JPA Cate, site team

[RaymondR]

Results from the last referendum on independence from France:

2021 New Caledonian independence referendum

12 December 2021

Do you want New Caledonia to attain full sovereignty and become independent?
Results
Choice Votes %
Yes 2,747 3.50%
No 75,720 96.50%
Valid votes 78,467 97.02%
Invalid or blank votes 2,418 2.99%
Total votes 80,881 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 184,364 43.87%

[Alan Mighty]

Most amusing that the authorities of France are pointing to the black hand of Azerbaijan in the events in New Caledonia.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/art...671708_13.html

https://www.politico.eu/article/fran...new-caledonia/

I thought that Azerbaijan's alleged involvement was about as likely as a deliberate link with the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu on 7/8 May 1954. I still remember the horror of watching the remnant of the Wehrmacht, by then the cannon fodder grunts of the Legion of Strangers, sent on their March of Death by the victorious Viet Minh, while the officer caste of the French paratroopers, fresh from their trenches with wine cellars, were trucked to their POW hotels.

I also remember us, the crew of Led Myne I, stumbling on our way to Marine Corail in about 1982 and using our poor French to buy a necessary part. We'd taken pains to worked out what we thought was the right technical name in French for the part. The bossman of Marine Corail listened to our halting French with increasing impatience, then asked in perfect English for the English name for the part. He disappeared into his back office, returned to the counter, told us in English that we had used the correct nomenclature in French for the part, then said he was desolated to report that he had none in stock.

[Alan Mighty]

French cruisers sail (or plan to sail) from New Caledonia to what they think is 'safety' in Australia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ar...y-in-australia

[NevilleCat]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

French cruisers sail (or plan to sail) from New Caledonia to what they think is 'safety' in Australia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ar...y-in-australia

I'm interested in what you mean by the quotation marks around safety in Aus. Are you able to expand on that whilst still conforming to the forum rules?
Personally I have only spent a couple of weeks in New Caledonia as I have friends who lived there until a few years ago. I am surprised that the couple in the article thought it was a particularly 'safe' place as, even in the short time I spent there, it was apparent there was underlying tension and had a sense that it was only a matter of time before it broke.
Do you see parallels with what we are seeing in parts of Aus?

[donradcliffe]

I would take my kids and run to Australia. You can always go back if things settle down.

If things get bad in the USA, I will run to Australia myself.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by NevilleCat

I'm interested in what you mean by the quotation marks around safety in Aus. Are you able to expand on that whilst still conforming to the forum rules?

'Safety' is such a relative term. Your safety might be my insecurity.

This is a cruising forum. So let's ignore the current stories in Australia of rampant youth crime, knife crime, drug-driven crime, religious/ideologically-driven crime, the epidemic of domestic violence, the continued genocide of First Nations people by white settlers and their police forces (particularly after 2/3 of Australians rejected the notion of a Voice to Parliament for First Nations people), and so on.

I'll focus instead on making a passage from New Caledonia to Australia (and I'll ignore the bureaucratic nightmare that Aus Border Force can at times deliver to any cruiser who hasn't paid full attention to on-water matters, whatever that may be).

We in Led Myne made our first voyage to New Caledonia from Australia just after Alan Lucas published his Guide to New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

Mid-May to mid-September is a relatively benign time to sail from, say, Noumea, to Aus. The usual pattern is that a big High slowly moves W to E over Aus, sometimes acting as a blocking High, before moving into the Tasman. In between the High pressure areas are sometimes intense Lows. A strong 'blocking' High acts as if if pushes the Low to the south. A weaker High may alllow the Low to extend a Cold Front to its north. When such as Low is over the Tasman, New Caledonia can get a few (perhaps three) days of nasty Westerly winds.

After mid-September, those Lows are usually higher in latitude (i.e. further to the South). The Highs are often even more benign.

I've attached a screen shot of the surface wind pattern (at about 10 m above sea level) for 2200 Aus East Standard Time on 22 May. You'll see the wind pattern of a strong High with two centres: one just at the South Aus/VIC border and the other larger center in the Southern Ocean. You'll see the strong winds around two Lows: one far to the West of the SW corner of Western Aus; and the other squashed to the South of the High.

You can (with good fortune) see an interactive version of this, and step ahead in time at: Interactive Weather and Wave Forecast Maps

I'll leave it to you to work out (1) for which port in Aus a cruiser in Noumea might head (Bundaberg is a favourite port to target; ports to the north such as Cairns and ones to the south are sometimes possible), depending on the wind and sailing speed); and (2) when you would choose to depart.

[NevilleCat]

Thanks for that, I was just watching an episode of Sailing Jaygo do that trip in bad weather.
It has a pretty good representation of bad weather actually, hard to capture those conditions except from the relative security of a big Amel
https://youtu.be/EhMhPUFPTdg?si=eAQU_iAkfiEj7Tte
https://youtu.be/EhMhPUFPTdg?si=eAQU_iAkfiEj7Tte

[mvweebles]

I had near zero knowledge of New Caledonia. A WSJ affiliated podcast assisted in my understanding of the overall situation.

Following podcast should start at beginning of the story. About 3-4 minutes overall.

https://pca.st/episode/5f068563-9d58...eda4aaec?t=344

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by NevilleCat

Thanks for that, I was just watching an episode of Sailing Jaygo do that trip in bad weather.
It has a pretty good representation of bad weather actually, hard to capture those conditions except from the relative security of a big Amel
https://youtu.be/EhMhPUFPTdg?si=eAQU_iAkfiEj7Tte
https://youtu.be/EhMhPUFPTdg?si=eAQU_iAkfiEj7Tte

Nice video ! We experienced similar storm when returning from Noumea to Bundaberg. Beam reaching. Storm ended before closing on Frazer Island. Got 1 wave in cockpit. I would close doors next time, just in case. Also no damage. We had random large freak vawes coming directly on bow, luckily not steep enough for boat not to climb them. Wide hulls were an asset as boat handled beam seas really well.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I had near zero knowledge of New Caledonia. A WSJ affiliated podcast assisted in my understanding of the overall situation.

Following podcast should start at beginning of the story. About 3-4 minutes overall.

https://pca.st/episode/5f068563-9d58...eda4aaec?t=344

Part of New Caledonia's appeal as a cruising grounds lies in the availability of French wines and cheeses. In our experience, the people have been friendly--French, Caldoche (people of French parents, but born in NC), and Kanak.

But for sailboats, parts of it are like a little heaven: it is scenic, and the barrier reef means passages using spinnaker, inside the reef in beautiful sunny conditions. And, because the southern reef is protected as to sea life, there are beautiful, fish laden places to skin dive, and there are also many birds who prey on the baby fish, so it is richer in birds and fish than many sites.

Geologically, at one time it was part of where Victoria, Oz was, till its plate drifted away, and it is heavily mineralized. Views from islets inside the reef have turquoise water, yielding to sapphire, to the green of the mangroves, and then to the central massif, and it's a special pleasure to watch the alpenglow creep up the mountains. Lots of eye candy.

Ann