May 17 Update
=============
We are on our way to Suwarrow. This morning I received a nice email from Erich. He and his wife Sabine crewed with us from St Lucia to Tahiti. It was great to hear from him. He and Sabine are back in Texas USA, he is busy doing house maintenance and Sabine is pulling weed in the garden. He has been following our progress and stated that I must be busy because I have not updated the blog since April 29.
It is about 7:00am, we are currently sailing downwind Wing on Wing in about 7-8 Kts of wind, doing about 3 kts over ground. At this speed Ian Thorpe (The Australian Olympic and World Champion swimmer The Torpedo) would beat us to Suwarrow.
We have had very lite winds since leaving Bora Bora and have been doing a lot of motoring. About an hour ago I woke to start my shift. The wind was about 10-12 Kts, fantastic we can sail in that and make reasonable progress. I set the sails to catch this wind and 10 minutes later it returned back to 5-6 Kts. This is very frustrating but also very typical behavior of the wind.
Three knots is slow but it is also very peaceful without the engine(s) running. A good time to update the blog. Thank you Erich for the reminder.
We have left Tahiti and are on our way to Suwarrow. What / where is Suwarrow and why are we going there?
Suwarrow (also called Suvarou) is an uninhabited Coral Atoll about half a mile long and 300 yards wide at Latitude 13 Degrees 13.7 Minutes South, 163 Degrees 5.6 Minutes West. This is about 425NM east of American Samoa, 800 Miles North West of Tahiti. It is about 300 NM off the direct line from Tahiti to our next port of call Niue (Tonga).
That covers the What and Where but WHY are we going there? In a single word . MUTINY.
Jeremy and Jacqui have threatened mutiny if I we do not go there. It is a part of the World ARC itinerary but we could easily skip it and go directly to Niue saving several hundred miles of sailing. Actually because we have had no wind, it would be saving us several hundred miles on motoring.
So why do Jeremy and Jacquie want to go there so much?
This is because they have both read a book called An Island To Oneself by Tom Neil. This is a true account of a 50 year old New Zealand guy who in the 1950s lived alone on the Atoll for 6 years. A real Robinson Crusoe experience. They really would like to see the Atoll on which the book is based. The World Cruising Club give each rally participant a USB memory stick containing various rally information and include the book as a PDF.
Jeremy said that I remind him a lot about the guy in the book. I have started reading the book to understand why Jeremy and Jacqui want to go there so much and to see why I remind Jeremy of the guy in the book. I think Jeremy is referring to something more than us both being New Zealanders. This could be revealing maybe even scary.
Reading the book is one of the reasons why I have not up dated the blog lately.
The last blog entry had us going to Moorea, so what have we been doing the last couple of week?
Moorea a very beautiful island surround by a coral reef is about 4 hours sailing time away from the hustle and noise of Papeete the main island of Tahiti. We anchored in sand just inside the Taotoi pass in 10 feet of crystal clear water. We planned to spend about 5 days here while we waited for Garry my nephew and his wife Rachel to fly into Papeete.
On the first day we went to one of the highlights of Moorea called Stingray City. It is just off the shore near the Intercontinental hotel. When we arrived there were a couple of tour boats with lots of tourists in the water giving squeals of fear or delight as string rays and sharks approached them.
The next few days were busy with repair and maintenance jobs mixed with dips in the water every now and then to cool off.
Here is a list of some of the jobs that got completed.
Fix leak in Port forward cabin hatch
Fix leak in Port aft cabin hatch
Fix leak in Starboard forward cabin hatch
Fix leak in the main cabin center forward small hatch
Install new low pressure pump for the water maker
Install new independent engine hour meters.
Clear drain hose of the fridge
Create new method to hold down sewage tank level measuring tube
Replace globes in Yanmar engine instrument display
Re-secure stern light
Re-attach swimming ladder lock
Yes Erich I/we have been busy.
However it was not all work. From the boat we could see some busses circling the island. One day we thought we would catch one of these to see some more of the island.
We locked the dinghy to a tree then went ashore and walked to the bus stop. The bus stop did not have a time table posted on it. not a good sign.
After waiting for about 30 minutes in the 35 Degree plus temperature we decide to try hitch hiking. We had heard that this is very safe because the locals are very friendly and will pick us up.
After about half an hour a young women rescued us from the heat when she picked us up in her mother in laws car. Air-conditioned luxury. She was from the Island Huahine and was visiting family on Moorea. She said the busses only run when the ferry arrives, and are basically for the ferry passengers only. Many of the locals commute to Papeete every day for work. We caught a lift with her to the ferry port. Luckily a ferry arrived in about half an hour and we took the bus back to where our dinghy was tied near the Hilton Hotel. A great day of exploring. Hitch hiking to the ferry port to catch a bus back to where we started. We did get to see the coast on the way.
On the 7th May we went back to Tahiti to moor overnight near marina Taina to pick up Garry and Rachel at 8:00am the next morning.
All went smoothly as planned, I meet Garry and Rachel at the marina office then using the dinghy transferred them their luggage and the treasure back to the boat. What was the treasure?
Baileys Irish Cream for the Skipper
New Sensor for the chain counter on the Windlass (Winch that raises and lowers the anchor)
New earth strap for the Generator
Most import of all some Whittakers Peanut Slabs A New Zealand sweet. Roasted peanuts trapped in a solid chocolate bar. For all the crew but mostly for the skipper if he can get away with it without being keel hauled. Being keel hauled is twice as bad on a catamaran because there are two keels.
Garry also bought with him a lots of fishing gear and expertise which proved its worth a couple of days later when we caught a very nice fish on our way to Huahine.
After picking up Garry and Rachel we sailed directly back to Moorea so they could visit Stingray City then late that afternoon set off for an overnight sail to Huahine.
Huahine is also an island that has shunned the big tourist hotels. It is peaceful and quiet. We anchored at the southern end and relaxed a bit. Later that afternoon I had a lot of fun trying to help a Dream Yacht Charters Charter Captain get his yacht off the sand bar. He misjudged the depth or got caught off guard and drifted over an area only about 6 – 7 feet deep which was less than the draft of his yacht. Luckily it was only sand not coral so only reputation and ego were damaged. With the help of another Australian cruiser we tried to get the boat off the sand in a falling tide. Using dinghys and setting the boats sails to tilt the boat ( a mono hull) we managed to move it about 20 meters and only had about 10m to go before the falling tide ensured that he would be there until midnight when high tide returned to lift him off. I could write a separate blog on the fun I had during this experience.The next day we went to Fare at the north end of the Atoll and did a bicycle ride to see the eels a local highlight mentioned in the lonely planet guide. On the road back past the airport we saw a very large archeological site. Going through the mud puddles on the road was more exciting than the eels.
The next morning we set off for Raiatea the location of the ARC rally yacht rendezvous, welcome dinner and traditional Tahitian dancing. It was a terrible anchorage exposed to the prevailing weather which happened to be very wet and windy during the rendezvous. Many of the yacht skippers were not happy with this location choice by the World Cruising Club.
In previous years it was held at Bora Bora. The change from Bora Bora was made because of too much theft of equipment and personal items from the yachts while at Bora Bora. It seems like Bora Bora is a dream island for the locals as well as the visiting tourists due to many yachts arriving bringing with them special midnight shopping bargains. You may also call it Five Finger Discount shopping. Whatever you may call it, it is still stealing from the visiting yachts but mainly from the local community because the thousand dollars spent by the 32 visiting yachts and crew over several days is being sent somewhere else.
We still planned to visit Bora Bora, it is definitely a Bucket List item for many people including myself. Andria and I visited Bora Bora several years ago on a cruising ship and ever since then I have dreamed of cruising its beautiful lagoon on a yacht. I thank my lovely wife Andria for making this possible. I just wish she was here with me to enjoy it. The good news today is I have heard from Andria and she plans to join us for some cruising in Fiji.
I had heard about the security risk of Bora Bora. I started a few days ago to make a security alarm from bits of equipment I had left over from owning a security and home automation business.
So what was up with the generator? About 15 seconds after it started it shut down giving an error message, No raw water flow. Ok the possibilities are the inlet is blocked by a plastic bag or maybe a fish, or the impeller has failed or something else more serious. I could not see anything blocking the inlet. We primed the sea strainer and pump with water. This is not normally required which is another reason for my concern. We restarted the generator. It ran without shutting down but to me the flow of sea water was not as strong as I was accustomed to observing. I was very suspicious that all was not well. I ran the generator and monitored its temperature. It was stable about 173F. Still not convinced I gave the generator some real work to do by turning on both air conditioners. Over the next 10 minutes the temperature had risen to 185F and was still rising.Ok I suspected the impeller (rubber thingy that pushes the water through the pump) of the raw water pump was on its way out to lunch. I had to inspect the impeller. This was indeed the problem. Of the 10 vanes on the impeller only one was left. This single vane created enough water flow to prevent the immediate shutdown, but would not create enough flow to keep the generator cool when it was under load. It also was not enough the self prime the pump on startup. I have three spares of these so am now down to two. Replacing the impeller is the easy part. The tricky bit is removing the vanes that have broken off and have become lodged in the water pump outlet and heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is a fancy marine industry name for a bit of kit that is essentially the same as a radiator in a car. Instead of using air to cool the engine coolant that circulates around the engine and through the radiator the marine heat exchanger uses sea water (ala. Raw Water). Hence the error message No raw water flow. It all makes sense really. Everyone knows that Raw Prawns live in raw sea water.
At the skippers briefing it was interesting to note the lack of interest in the race start instructions for the next leg of the race (Rally). For the first few legs, many were keen to race. But after ripped sails, broken equipment, back pockets that have been lightened by many thousands of dollars and getting to know each other we are much more concerned about helping each of us getting to the next port as safely and comfortably.
The starting instructions included rules that we must start and finish the race with our sails up and not use our engines. I am sure that many of the skippers were not all that keen to become the marketing arm for the World Cruising Club.
After the skippers briefing as soon as we received our clearance papers we were off to Bora Bora so would not be present for the start of race (Rally).
We were very appreciative of the owners of the yacht Aliena who allowed us to take her place in the first group departing for Suwarrow. This would allow us a much better chance to get to Tonga on time so that Garry and Rachel can catch their flight back to New Zealand.
The fleet had to be split into two groups because there are not enough mooring balls at Niue to hold all the 32 yachts. The second group was to leave three days after the first group.
On Bora Bora I took a picture of the same chairs outside a jewelry shop that Andria and I sat in when touring Tahiti several years ago. The chairs are the same but do need a new coat of varnish.
Bora Bora in spite of the overcast weather is of course beautiful. We only spent a day there but we had seen a lot of Atolls and lagoons by now and it was time to move on to Suwarrow.
Currently we are 341 NM from Suwarrow. We have been motoring all day but the wind has now picked up a couple of kts and we are sailing along slowly about 4-5 kts. A much more peaceful way to go at night.
If this wind holds up we should be able to beat the Torpeedo (Ian Thorpe) to Sawarow.
The book An island to Oneself is proving to be quite interesting.
News Flash. I have tried twice to send this update, but the SSB connections were too slow. In that 10-15 minute period the wind has veered 30 degrees to the south and picked up to 13 Kts and we are doing 6-7 Kts over the ground. Get out the way Thorpe we are coming through.
————————————————- Do not push the “reply” button to respond to this message if that includes the text of this original message in your response. Messages are sent over a very low-speed radio link. The most concise way to reply is to send a NEW message to: ianonzoom@zoomaway.net.au If you DO use your reply button, be sure to delete the original message text and these instructions from your reply. Replies should not contain attachments and should be less than 5 kBytes (2 text pages) in length. This email was delivered by an HF private coast station in the Maritime Mobile Radio Service, operated by the SailMail Association, a non-profit association of yacht owners. For more information on this service or on the SailMail Association, please see the web site at: www.sailmail.com