Raiatea and on to Bora Bora

We are chasing the clock somewhat. Our original plan had us already in Fiji by now. 

So after a regretful and rushed farewell to Huahine we set sail to Raiatea. The wind kicked in nicely for the downwind trip. We tried to get one of the spinnaker poles deployed; but like everything on the boat we try for the first time, there was an issue. It dropped out of it's mast fitting and nearly brained Paul. Sandrine had a good belly laugh at this, it appears she's a fan of physical comedy. 

So we lashed the pole to the deck and continued on our way to Raiatea. The headsail was a bit unstable though. 

Once we were settled, Sandrine invited her friend Marie Claire over for dinner. It was fun chatting away in hybrid pidgin French and English, it got easier with the second bottle of Bordeaux.  

Marie Claire was a teacher in Reunion, then when the kids were grown she divorced her husband, sold everything and bought a yacht which she sails all over French Polynesia by herself. She says you can't trust other people with your boat and it’s much better to sail alone. Here she is explaining what  “gros con”* means, having just described a local marina manager of mutual acquaintance thus. 

After fixing the pole and various more boat jobs in Raiatea we are ready for the big trip. There were a couple of trying days stuck on board at anchor, weathering a windy deluge. Once the sun came out, Paul and I sailed to the town dock for the final provision. Evenstar looked quite becoming tied alongside the wharf. We filled the tanks, did the big shop and we are ready to go.

 

We finished the preventer set up, prepped the cruising spinnaker and set sail for Bora Bora. We coaxed 6 kts of boatspeed in 8kts of breeze. Evenstar has a turn of speed in both light and strong airs it seems; preferably the wind is from the beam. It was a very chilled sail over the almost glassy waves. The motion of the boat was rhythmical and subdued. Everyone had a snooze at different times. A great day's sail.  

We arrived after sailing right past a very impressive whale heading south just outside the passe. 

Once inside, we picked up a mooring buoy, dropped the jib (which was by now nice and dry), flaked it in on the deck and stowed it. Then we then hoisted the hitherto untried genoa ready for the downwind passage ( I hope there's no issues with this sail) and jumped ashore for a couple of beers at the Bora Bora Yacht Club.   

Sandrine will head off for a paraglide tomorrow, on the windward side of the very impressive volcanic plug which is the main landmark on Bora Bora. Paul and I might go for a dive outside the pass. 

Then Fiji beckons. 

* "massive cunt"