After 4-5 days of following winds of 17-22 knots, the breeze died last
night. Luckily though what is left (5 kts) has moved northerly so we are
able to keep our sails up with the engine on and get a little boost from the
zephyrs.
We are now on Niue time (GMT-11). That puts us 7 hours behind the East
Coast, 8 hours behind Nova Scotia, and 16.5 hours behind India. Our next
stop (Tonga) will put us at GMT-12..plus a day… or GMT + 12. I fear that
it is going to get very confusing! I remember doing very poorly on the
International Date Line quiz in Geography, Fall 1969!
When we returned to Tahiti 4 weeks ago the temperature had dropped a lot.
And it continues to drop as we head south. We are now about 1200 miles below
the equator. Since that time there has been no need for AC, and we wear
sweaters or long sleeve shirts at night. It does make for great sleeping
though. When the winds turned northerly last night, the mercury fell a bit
more but the cold air cleaned up the haze and the sky was crystal clear. The
moon rose at 0400, just a sliver of a grin left.
In three weeks time it will be the first day of Spring. I will certainly
report on the first crocus or robin that we see in Tonga!
Landfall in around 24 hours, Thursday 1100 am (ish) ( 6pm EDT, 7pmADT,
Friday 0330 India Standard Time) See, it doesn’t take long to get confusing.
No wonder I pooched that quiz!
JL’s corn chowder is thawing for lunch!
All are well.
In the South Pacific there is almost always an ocean swell from the
southwest. This is the left over energy transfer from some gale or storm
down in the “Roarin’ Forties” or further south. On a calm day these swells
look more like a rolling sapphire wheat field than the ocean. Massive but
docile waves, a quarter of a mile apart, the slope so gentle that the rise
and fall of the boat is almost imperceptible. But when the wind blows from
the east which is did all night (18-22kts) it is a different story. The
waves still continue from the southwest but now compete with the waves
kicked up locally by the wind.
During the night we certainly rocked and rolled and when the sun rose at
0600, the light revealed 6-8 foot waves with dancing white tops as far as
you could see. And the sea was confused because the SW swell was coming on
the beam and the wind generated waves were coming over the aft port quarter.
As these two systems competed with each other you could see a set arrive
from the SW than a set from the ESE. When one side lagged, the other rushed
in to takes its place. The southerly swells rock the boat from side to side
and the easterly swells raise the port quarter and then slide under the boat
to send the starboard bow in the opposite direction. When the waves are
evenly matched they come together and form a cone of water with a geyser of
foam shooting off the top. When this happens alongside the boat, we get
drenched..then rocked, then rolled!
We arrived at Aitutaki, Cook Islands at 1PM and headed into the
“anchorage”…no, I cannot even use that word. We headed into a 100 foot
space in shallow water outside the reef in the lee of the island. The word
lee, however, pertains only to the wind..our old friend the SW swell was
rolling in, forming steep waves in the shallow water( the “anchorage”) then
combing across the coral reef. Great! That’ll be a nice secure safe place
for JL to work under the boat….Not! So we tried (unsuccessfully) one more
time to feather the prop and failing that headed to Niue determined to
ignore the rumble for 4 more days
On the home front, Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club hosted the Atlantic Nationals
last weekend. There were 34 of these Starling Burgess classics at the
starting line and local skipper Ian Evans took 2nd place over all..missing
the gold by 2 feet..literally. By all reports it was a grand event including
the intimate dinner for 188 at Tom and Kitty Clements.
…… Two feet..you’d think that two boat lengths would sting less!
We have had 20-25 knots of wind for the last 24 hours and looks like we will
keep this fresh breeze for another 48 hours. We are flying only our mainsail
which allows us to stay deep and keep on the rhumb line. We are doing 7-8
knots consistently and we don’t have to listen to the jib flogging back and
forth over the foredeck…not that you could hear it anyway…over the sound
of the rotating shaft!!!! We should arrive in Niue on Thursday.
Today is my brother Bob’s birthday. He is..older than I. Happy Birthday Bob
and thanks for making the Ship’s Log..your home page!
All are well.
“The stars, as if knowing that no one could see them now, frolicked in the
black sky. Now flaring up, now going out, now quivering, they busily
whispered among themselves about something joyful but mysterious.” L.
Tolstoy, W&P
——————————————————————–
As many longtime readers know, I have been identifying constellations and
listing them in the Ship’s log since The Atlantic….Oncearound. As we slid
into the southern hemisphere last winter I began “bagging” many more in
this, to me, virgin patch of sky. I kept meaning to list the new ones in the
log but never got around to it…..too busy telling you what we had for
dinner!
Anyway, in June I decided to make a list of all the constellations I’d seen
so far. There are 88 “official” constellations and it quickly became
apparent to me that it would be much quicker to list the ones I had not
identified. To my amazement I had identified all but 16. Over the next
couple of nights I made a concerted effort and ID’d 12 on that list leaving
only four which would have to wait until later in the season when they were
above the horizon at night time.
Well, we are back at sea and early this morning I identified three of the
four. All that remains is Antlia and I know exactly where it is. If the sun
had come up an hour later I would have had it…so it is certainly an
achievable goal in the next couple of weeks.
So I have left 1 constellation out of 88 and 37 pages out of 1215 (War and
Peace).
Yesterday while I was off watch and sleeping, the Mate got to messing around
with the Nobletec charting system and discovered that we were exactly on
track to arrive at Aitutaki, Cook Islands this afternoon. He researched the
island and discovered that it would be a perfect place for us to attempt the
propeller repair. Palmerston Atoll, once on our route had slipped away to
the north and by any reckoning we were to arrive there at night…impossible
with the lack of accuracy of So. Pacific charts! So as you can see on the
‘location’ page we’re are headed to Aitutaki and should be there shortly
after noon. Because the dinghy and motor are securely packed away, we will
not go ashore but our anchor will touch ground and ….well, we’ll count it
as a stop in the Cook Islands.
So in addition to that, Egg’s in a hole for lunch, blackened Filet Mignon
for dinner and diagnosing and fixing a long term problem we had with the
pressure water, the Mate had a very productive day yesterday (..and he got
about 10 hours of sleep!) We are both hoping that today’s
underwater-propeller-greasing will be as successful. You’ll certainly be the
first to know.
All are well.
I have changed our destination to “west” because we may pull over to
Palmerston Atoll (Cook Islands) to try to resolve the non feathering
propeller issue. We can no longer get it to feather by clamping on to the
shaft..even completely stopped, the dog will not fold up. So in the
“unfolded” state the moving water under the boat just grabs on to the
propeller like wind to a windmill. Too bad we don’t have any wheat to grind.
The shaft assembly is located about three feet from the head of my bunk and
it is loud and annoying. If it was one sound I could probably get used to it
but the pitch and shudder change with the speed of the boat..which is
constant…every puff, every wave, every leeward smack on the butt.
Jonathan had the midnight to 4 am watch this morning and long about 2 AM I
wandered on deck still unable to sleep…which isn’t good when you only get
4 hours at a time. The mate said, “it is time to charge the batteries, Skip”
….which is code for run the engine. Perfect, the engine is also located
about three feet from the head of my bunk and for some reason when it is
running, I sleep like a lamb. I don’t know if it is the “white noise” or
what but that Perkins is the best soporific on board. Last night ( 4 hours
ago) it accomplished two things. With the engine in gear the freewheeling
shaft ceased and that engine purr had me off in dreamland in about 3
minutes..and two hours are better than none.
I got out some manuals last night and found that this prop can be greased
through two openings on the side of the hub. Remove a screw, place a zirc
fitting (which I can rob from some other piece of equipment) and apply the
grease gun (which we have). I doubt though, that the writer of this manual
understood that Jonathan will attempt the operation…..under water. That is
why we are headed to Palmerston Atoll where we can anchor in the lee of the
reef and have at least a chance of pulling it off. I might have written a
log describing how Jonathan did the entire operation underwater, out at sea,
holding his breath, with the boat traveling at 8 knots..but it isn’t even
close to April 1st.
I have been sitting here typing and trying to control the auto pilot. But
Otto hates steering downwind. He just cannot keep a course without yawing
15-20 degrees about every two minutes. So I just said “Frig it, I’m going
sailing! Actually ‘frig’ was not the word I used but this is a PG rated
(Proper Grannies) website. So I went into the cockpit shut off the damned
auto pilot and just sailed for a half an hour. It was great. I could barely
hear the rotating shaft nor did I have to listen to Otto’s whiney piston. A
half hour of bliss. We are so much better driving downwind than Otto, it
isn’t funny. I must say though he has great endurance, doesn’t mind the
weather and rarely complains about the food.
All are well.
When I was home people often told me that they followed our journey on the
website. “Send us an email”, I’d say. “Well I would but I was afraid to
bother you” was too often the reply. Bother us? Two guys out in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean with no one but each other to talk to? Bother us?
Please do!
Yesterday morning we ostentatiously raised the sails at the mooring and
sailed out of Bora Bora! With Paddy Reilly singing “Farewell to Nova
Scotia” at full volume on 6 speakers, we sailed out of the lagoon lowered
the “le drapeau tricolore” and bid farewell to French Polynesia. It is time
to go. It is time to knock another thousand miles off our voyage.
We have trade winds to Niue which is good and bad. Good because they are
steady, and constant, bad because they are often (as in this case) blowing
right up the stern with just enough veering and backing to put you by the
lee every few minutes causing a shudder to reverberate throughout the hull
and when the centerboard is down to make that mighty plank jar from one side
of the case to the other.
Soon out of the pass we went to shut off the engine and discovered that our
feathering prop which we thought repaired was, in fact, not. I think that it
is just time for a good servicing. Anyway one of our tricks was to shut the
engine off in gear ( which is how it is done) but at a higher RPM. We that
didn’t work either but for our trouble the engine wouldn’t restart. When the
engine was turning over, I heard that dry sound that I remembered from the
Galapagos so Jonathan took the engine box apart, loosened the injectors and
we bleed the system. Unfortunately, we are getting good at this..and we soon
had an engine again. Under the theory that the prop won’t feather because we
are moving too fast thought the water and not enough drag is created we
headed into the wind and nearly stopped the boat. Better. This time just a
very slow rotation of the shaft so we opened the back of the engine box, got
a massive set of channel locks and I got a good grip on the shaft holding it
stopped and .just daring the prop not to feather!!!! It did. Unfortunately,
this is not a convenient way of feathering the prop and the mate may have to
use one of the new air tanks in Niue or Tonga to remove and grease the
offending part.
Back at sea. Four hour watches through the night, scanning for whales and
porpoises ( none yet), bagging celestial constellations, books, crosswords.
A fresh refrigerated Cassoulet (from Carrefour) and salad for dinner last
night. Lunch was Progresso Tomato and Rotini soup which I think that “the
purser” has been hoarding since Norfolk, Virginia. This followed by PB and
J’s with homemade (Splenda sweetened) strawberry jam made for us by Sam’s
mother Deb Little. Thanks Deb, the jam is great …but this is the last time
that I’m going to share it!
So now, this is no time to be shy, step right up to your lap tops..come
on..bother us!
All are well.
Boum Boum Prohibited? In French Polynesia? That’s it…….Were outta here!
We checked out with the Gendarmes today to get clearance for points
elsewhere.
There are definitely mixed emotions about leaving the amazing plot of
the globe. And I mean mixed in many ways. The Marquesas were
unbelievable, Rangiroa atoll fascinating, Papeete profitable and
Moorea was a splendid two week vacation. But I must say that Huahine
and Bora Bora just haven’t made the cut. They are sort of a poor man’s
Marquesas and though I’d encourage anyone to come visit here, I think
that the Mate and I have just gotten a little too jaded with the
splendor of paradise. The neatness and quaint little houses that we
raved about in Hiva Oa have been replaced by squalid plywood
structures and many half finished cement block buildings on these two
islands. The yards and main street are littered and the town centers
look like they were hit by a 10 megaton strip-mall bomb. Bora Bora has
many really luxurious resorts but it looks like not much has “trickled
down.” It is hard to believe that this is the same country and culture
of Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa and even Papeete. Bora Bora is known for its
amazing lagoon and that cannot be denied. The water is the clearest
we’ve seen in French Polynesia and the shades of blue from dark
Sapphire to turquoise are astounding. It is a great place for a
honeymoon!
On the more optimistic side we are both ready for new adventures. We
landed in French Polynesia in April . . . .and it is time to move on.
We will skip the Cook Islands (or just sail through them) as we work
our way 1100 miles to Niue an island nation of 1500 residents with
30,000 more living elsewhere! The diving is supposed to be fabulous
and though still Polynesian, it is (was) a protectorate of New Zealand
so we expect to find a different culture. There are reports of a very
venomous sea snake living there but its mouth is so small that it
could only bite the webbing between your thumb and index
finger . . . .it shouldn’t be hard to protect those areas!
Our Iridium phone gave out this week but it turned out to be only the
antenna and we had a spare which Jonathan has secured to the spreader
with wire ties. I think that it is the same antenna off Thunderhead so
I don’t think that it owes us much. We also had trouble on the trip
from Huahine with our Max Prop feathering propeller . . .it wouldn’t
feather! But again the mate came to the rescue by diving on it and
scraping away hands full of barnacles that grew on the folding
mechanism as the boat idled in Papeete.
I am ¾ through War and Peace. It is truly an amazing read. I
expected 1200 pages of drudgery and enforced reading but find that I
cannot put it down. I see now why it has lasted 150 years. I know that
a few of you have joined me in reading the book and here is what a
reader wrote about it today:
————-
“Wanted to say thanks so much for War and Peace, especially the
translation you chose. I have picked up the book before, but never
got into to it. I figured it was one of those books that folks
intimate that they have read, but never really did. I also thought it
was one of those western rites of passage that could be postponed
indefinitely ’til death. Friends to be gathered at the wake, “Do you
think X read War and Peace?” ‘Oh, I am sure he must have at some
point. He read everything.’ And now I am marching into the ranks of
the true believers, and in this lifetime. What a wonderful surprise.
Who would have thought that so much drawing room chit chat, gambling
and foolish coupling could be such a great read.”
We weigh anchor in the morning, at the crackah dawn. We’ll be putting
up our location daily and keeping you up on the minutest details of
our passage.
All are well.
New pictures in Moorea album and Bora Bora album.
It dawned on us yesterday that we hadn’t been sailing on Alpheratz in more
than two months. The trip to Moorea was a 10 mile power and prior to that we
had been in a marina since June.
As the sun was setting around 5:30 pm (yes!), we weighed anchor and headed
out of Cook’s Bay. It is a large bay so we decided to put the mainsail up
inside the lagoon rather than wait. We’d seen weather gribs which showed 20+
knots of wind for the overnight passage but it certainly didn’t seem like
that inside the bay. We decided to put two reefs in the main anyway and
headed out the pass using GPS, Radar, range lights and red and green lighted
buoys. We were quickly and safely through but the wind was less than 5 knots
and coming from all for directions. The slatting of the mainsail began and I
was just about to ask Jonathan to douse it when we arrived outside the wind
shadow of the island. True to the forecast we had twenty knots from the ENE
and just on the starboard quarter.
The seas were quite sloppy but I figured that we were still on soundings
(shallow water) and that it would improve in a short distance. Well it
didn’t improve and we had 12 hours of the most erratic swells and waves yet.
They ranged from 4-8 feet and came from one quarter, dead astern and then
the other quarter.
Sometimes the sea would smooth out for a few minutes, lull you into false
relaxation and then come roaring back with breakers and fast descents down
the front side. With only half the jib unrolled and a double reefed main, we
did mostly 7.5-8.5 knots all the way from Moorea. As we surfed down the
slopes of the oncoming waves we frequently saw 10-11 knots through the
water.
Jonathan cooked hash and fried eggs for supper. If this doesn’t seem
delicious to you, I suggest that you join us for a sleigh ride in 20 knots
and 8 foot seas. It was a gourmet repast! I took the first watch from 8 to
12 pm and Jonathan the second from 12-4 am. When I went to wake him at
midnight he was already alert. He suggested that he might have gotten half
an hour of sleep. During my off watch I came to understand why; Rockin’ and
Rollin’ down below! The quiet phases are just enough to ease you into sleep
and then comes a set of waves that knocks the boat on her beam ends. You
can’t hear the outside noises down below but you can hear the pepper hitting
the salt hitting the thyme hitting the rosemary hitting next in line. You
can hear the books slide from the front of the shelf to the rear. You can
hear the jar of mustard roll in the locker and the can of tomatoes slide
into the soup…all endlessly.
I finally found a way to wedge myself into the corner of my bunk, secure the
3.8 lbs of War and Peace and settle into a good read. Eventually I went up
on deck, drank some Perrier headed back to try again. This time I was more
successful and when Jonathan came to wake me at 3:50, he heard the usual
snoring and decided to give me an extra half hour of sleep..though I suppose
this means I’ll need to give him time for a nap today! Mates these
days…..They get a full half hour of sleep during the night…and they are
wanting more! By god, when I was his age we had to walk to the foredeck,
barefoot, and sometimes with snow up to our waist…no never mind, that was
to school.
We are in Huahine. We almost skipped Moorea to spend more time here. At
first glance, it was a very, very lucky thing that we did not. More later.
All are well.
On Saturday 200 friends, old and young, got together to celebrate a joint
birthday party for Pete and Ann Lindsay. Peter was celebrating 90 years and
of course we’d never ask Ann how old she is! These two folks have been dear
friends for many, many years ..and great supporters of all the adventures
and voyages. Sorry to have missed the fling….but we’ll be there for your
100th. Happy 90th birthday to you both (…whoops!)
I got an email from Justin Bauer (past and future crew!). He began by
commenting on our hike up Magic Mountain which I described in the last log.
He said “It sounds like you guys had a truly amazing hike.”
Then he went on to tell me what he did over the weekend:
This weekend Joe, Frank, and I climbed Mount Whitney. It was a great hike.
The hike was 21 miles, 6,000 ft of elevation change, and took us 14 hours.
We started the hike at 1:30 in the morning which was beautiful. It was the
perfect temperature for hiking, no moon, no clouds. We watched the sun rise
from about 12,500 feet. Above 13,000 ft the hiking was very difficult and
slow. I was walking around like I was drunk. The stumbling was not good as
we were mostly walking along the edge of cliffs or steep slopes at that
point. The hike back was more entertaining than normal because we had not
seen most of it before.
……now THAT is a truly amazing hike!
We are finally leaving Moorea..not by choice really but we are rapidly
running out of visa days in French Polynesia. We will have only about a week
left to see both Huahine and Bora Bora. But the time in Moorea was well
worth it. Lots of diving including two dives on our own. Hikes, swimming,
good food..and wi-fi really worth pirating! Jonathan will spend today
getting the boat ready for sea and I will get the rest of the Moorea
pictures up on the web site.
The trip to Huahine (Wah Hee Nay) is about 90 miles. We will leave at 6 PM
and arrive in the early morning. The trip out through the pass here at
Cook’s Bay is well lit and defined..as long as we remember that here the
navigational rule is Red Right… Leaving…not Returning!
All are well.
Today, Saturday Aug 9th, Katharine Millet and RJ Hoar were married at
Trinity church in Copley Square. It was only “La Police aux Frontieres de
Polynesie Francaise” that kept the Mate and I from attending. Each of their
mothers (Patti Hartig ,Christy Moore) has been a friend of mine since
childhood! We wish RJ and Katharine our sincere best wishes and
congratulations..and if the honeymoon is Bora Bora…we’ll see you there in
a week!
Yesterday, Jonathan and I headed across the Island in our rent-a-wreck. We
drove first to The Belvedere for a fine view of both Cook’s and Opunohu
Bays. We then proceeded to a hike we had been told about up to the top of
Magic Mountain. It was a 45 minute hike up along a dirt and sometimes paved
trail..and it was beautiful. We left sea level where the air was thick with
salt and lush vegetation. A few hundred meters up we came across a small
citrus grove and passed first lime then orange then grapefruit trees. The
trees were both heavy with ripe fruit and also with new budding flowers. As
the air breezed through the orchard and across the trail, a pungent aroma of
both citrus and floral bloom wafted by. We continued up another couple of
hundred meters up and we were surrounded by a pine forest. Last time we were
in one of these (Hiva Oa) I described it as smelling like a Bar Harbor gift
shop….and I repeat the simile. Cool, cedar…not a moth to be seen!
At the top of Magic Mountain, the view did not belie the recommendation. We
could see the coast from Cook’s Bay to Hauru, the protective Coral reef and
the passages inside the lagoon and out to the Ocean. There will be pictures
up in the Moorea album soon. It was a dazzling sight…and if our pictures
do not capture it…our mental hard drives have it loaded in permanent
memory.
We bought three air tanks today from our friend Henri at Scubapiti. While we
still don’t have a compressor, this will allow us to do an occasional dive
by ourselves and get the tanks refilled at local shops. Mostly we will still
be diving with scuba shops and local dive masters but now we can go down and
practice skills etc.
In locations where dive sites are limited, it will allow us to return to a
site without the need of a guide.
We found a golf course on the north end of Moorea. It is a public course and
so green it looks painted. I think that there is a round in store for us.
It is a very windy day today here in the anchorage. We are using the time
for “Homework”. I continue on with my Continuing Medical Education courses
and Jonathan is making progress with finding a course for the Royal Yacht
Association, Yacht Masters Certification…”Captain’s License”. I started
War and Peace and JL is finishing the Aubrey/Maturin novels. An aside..if
you are thinking about buying an AOL Kindle..put it off…books feel much
better in your hands.
We miss you all WAY more than we are willing to admit.
More pix in Moorea Album this afternoon.
All are well.
Boum Boum Prohibited? In French Polynesia? That’s it…….Were outta here!
