We are on the move

In Papeete we had seen an ad for canvas sewing... So we contacted Esther, by whatsapp. Good move. With her Catalan separatist husband Juan, they had raised their son on board their 1968 converted racing yacht, funding the lifestyle with her heavyweight sewing skill set and a Sailrite sewing machine. She built our aft sun shade, "wings" for the Bimini, sewed the fitted sheets using the Belgian Linen we'd had sent from Hong Kong to NZ, and even made up pouches for the loose spanners that had been doing my head in every time I needed one... We were anchored next to them so it was a very simple affair, although a bit like getting a wedding dress made, with multiple fittings of the partly completed work to ensure it was perfect. We complemented her very reasonable fee with a thank you evening of food and wine on board, learning a bit of Spanish modern history, and thoroughly confusing our budding French language skills by getting our heads half into pepperings of Spanish throughout the evening. 

With the requisite French permission for a Wednesday departure now in hand, we took the view that it was better to assume than ask if we took the better forecast on Thursday for our overnight sail to Rangiroa. So with our new sun shades making life in the new on-board chill zone very agreeable, we extended our stay at Haapiti while contemplating our next move.  

We then sailed from Haapiti to Cooks Bay as the preferred departure point, testing the windward sailing capabilities of Evenstar on the way. It became apparent that upwind angles in less that 15 kts were not going to generate enough power to push through the swell. With the small jib deployed on the forestay Evenstar is quite underpowered. However, as the wind got into the high teens and early 20's things started to make more sense. Even with the 25 year old dacron jib we managed a very respectable tacking angle of just less than 90 degrees in 20 kts of breeze. 

For lighter wind we will need to employ the big overlapping genoa, which sounds fine except it weighs about 60kg...That is a lot of sail to get out from the vee berth locker. We did get it out through the hatch for a look when we were on the anchor in Papeete, using the spinnaker halyard and a winch... otherwise forget it.  

We upped the anchor in the dark at 5.30 AM and headed out to the pass using instruments and chart plotter. As dawn broke we unfurled the main and motor-sailed north until the sou-easter kicked and we commenced proper sailing with a vengeance.  

We made great time with the wind moving from 90 true to 120 true, trucking along averaging 8.5 kts,  the legendary sea-kindly Hallberg Rassy hull making things very smooth and comfy on board. Until we head the big bang at about 5pm.... 

It was the newly repaired boom, broken in half right at the new repair welds. 

I was gutted. It had been a long and boring time in Papeete getting this and all the other repairs done. And this was now an ugly problem which totally compromised our sailing ability. It probably needs a new boom section sent on a ship. Weeks and weeks no doubt. 

We were just short of half way to Rangiroa. Do we turn back and burn our Tuamotu plans for more hanging around in boring Papeete? Continue with a compromised sailing rig, limping along? All the options were bad ones; but after a quick conference it was obvious all the crew favoured a forward looking plan to the next landfall, even if it took a long time to get there. 

After a few dark moments I considered a jury rig option. What if we unfurled the main and sheeted it like a headsail? We rigged up a rope to the spinnaker sheet block... Too far aft. So then we tried the staysail turning block and unfurled a good amount of sail. Et Voila! With that little amount of balance back in the sail plan, Evenstar took off again and resumed her racing onward journey. We continued to average over 8 kts. 

A nice silver lining and a gold star for a good work around. Dawn found us pretty much on track to make the slack water pass entry at Rangiroa. 

 

 

The enormous lagoons coupled with the narrow reef passes in the Tuamotus mean that the tidal currents are amongst the strongest on the planet. Entry is only feasible for a short time around high and low tides, adjusted by what other wave factors are at play... We were a little on edge.  But thanks to the success of our jury rig we got to the pass before the outflow had become too boisterous. 

It was a bit hairy but we worked our way through the shallows, against the 2 kt opposing current, and into the lagoon. 

Once inside there were fresh challenges. The waves inside the lagoon were worse than the ocean swells... And the wind angle was terrible. Sleep deprived, we bashed into both for an hour at a snail's pace, and arrived at the anchorage to find it barely semi-protected from the south east wind chop. Then, as we were re-setting the anchor, which had been tangled on coral, we lost all power. WTF? 

Easso motored in circles while I scrambled to work out the issue.. I found an old school fuse panel and attempted to short the terminals across the fuses with a socket set tool to see if any of them was the problem. Bingo! the culprit was an archaic 24v fuse. I found spares and installed one. Bloody hell.  

We spent the rest of the day recuperating. We'd avoided seasickness due to the smooth passage Evenstar had provided but we were still quite tired.  We did get out for a little sightseeing. The Tuamotus are a different geography altogether. 

Here's the dock at Tiputa looking back at the anchorage. 

And Tiputa pass, looking more benign from land than it does from the water...

 

We are looking forward to some diving with our new French diving accreditation. The reef dives and the inward current pass dive are meant to be word class. 

But the next big challenge will be implementing the sleep discipline needed for a short handed multi-day passage. Not my strongest suit.