No Stay Niue

Well it wasn't as bad as the forecast, first two days were a bit difficult but no squalls, just variable direction and moderate seas, however the rain did continue. Apart from the day ashore on Palmerston it rained almost without a break for ten days! Some was just rain, some was buckets full. Water had been pouring into the cockpit and everything it flowed over was slimy, mildew was growing everywhere and on the last day of rain the white paint on the topsides blistered with tiny bubbles all over. Then the forecast continued to be wrong as instead of the promised 7 and 3kn I had two days of 20 from the SE, so I really flew along. I arrived at Niue in the middle of the night and rather than wait around for the sun, and taking the future forecasts into account, it seemed wiser to keep going. So another nation passed by! I saw some lights, that's all.
The next night in the early hours of the morning the forestay chose to leave the mast. This results in a mighty bang followed by a lot of flapping noises! I'm so lucky it happened in a light breeze and not in a squall. It was a pretty scary job, pole waving up and down (this pole, by the way, is the scariest thing on the boat, it's heavy and under the right conditions, see above, it can get up a lot of momentum), one of the remaining pieces of the furler reefing swinging at head height on the halyard, genoa flying and swimming free...
So the new plan is to motor to Tonga, just 100 miles on and perhaps do repairs there, or just fill up with diesel and motor on to Fiji. There's a slight catch, in that I just poked a stick in the lower fuel tank to see how much there really was, and as expected there is just enough to get to Neiafu Harbour on Vav'u. Just enough isn't really enough as running out by a breaking reef for example would be a shame. So despite a sudden lack of interest in sails, I've put the staysail and fully reefed main up to save fuel. The mast has an inner forestay so this light load should be ok and I've braced the top with a halyard to the bow.
Weather has turned beautiful at last, very light breeze and calm sea. I treated myself to a whole half grapefruit as I should be able to get some new supplies in Tonga. It's calm enough to grate coconuts, so the cream is done, washed up and ready to make the coconut coffee!