Niue Yacht Club

Thanks to the support of the Niue Tourism office with funding from NZ Aid, we were able to replace our whole field of 20 moorings for this season. We have retained the same design as we used used previously, but replaced the lines with 24mm Polyester 3 strand rope. Heavy duty shackles were used to connect with mooring blocks and stainless steel pick up eyes on the surface float. For added safety, and to aid a night time approach, we have added reflective tape. The outer mooring line has white reflective tape and the inner line is marked with blue. GPS locations,marking the outer limits of the mooring field, are available on our website.This is accessible using Sailmail or equivalent. Niue is one of the 21 locations for Sailmail and so the closer you get to Niue, the stronger the signal becomes. if you send an email to “query at saildocs.com” leave subject line empty and in the Body : send niue.moorings. An automatic response will provide information on radio communications, customs clearance and other helpful information for cruisers on the Niue Yacht Club in particular and Niue in general. We may be small but we are organised. Until we meet on the wharf. Best wishes to all our cruising friends.

After weeks of delay, the freighter finally arrived with our three large crates containing 20 mooring lines, almost ready to go. A quick inflation,numbering and adding the reflective tape and we placed 6 in Alofi Bay this week. There were a number of teething problems as we have changed to polyester rope that is heavier but with more stretch. To support the additional weight of the rope, but keep the first 15 metres vertical and clear of obstruction on the seabed, two large seine floats were spliced in the line. To allow our divers to get the bottom shackle to the bail arm in the concrete block below, a weighted belt was attached to overcome the flotation from the floats. This didn’t always work as planned and slowed the rate completed moorings. This week we will try again. Note the “seriously “heavy duty shackles with safety split pins. All designed to keep our visiting yachts where the captains left them.