Hey Y'all,
We arrived in Nuka Hiva,
Marqueses Thurs May 23, hook down at 3pm.
Having just completed the longest open water passage between two points of land....we were ready for a break and it was ....well it was almost a perfect
passage. Here's the story...
We departed the Galapagos in
nearly perfect conditions and a reasonable weather forecast for the next few
days.
Our transmission repairs
enabled us to motor south and around the remaining Galapagos and all seemed
well in our world.
As dusk approached that first
nightfal we noticed a large suspicious boat following in our wake. We were further alarmed as they came closer
and we saw behind them no less than a 8 additional boats.
We were a wee bit spooked and
took measures to insure that no uninvited guests would step foot aboard without
our express invitation. (please don’t ask what the measures are...they might be
illegal, (ya think?)... but suffice to say we took them).
We were flying our big ‘all
black’ spinnaker and were making good time but with this large downwind sail
full and flying, that’s the good news...the bad news is it ain’t real easy
changing direction and made for difficult evasive manoeuvring.
Kaija & I took up our
assigned positions and waited. With
engine in gear we were ready to evade or repel as needed. ‘Otto’ was steering the boat leaving me to
man the defenses including the whale stopper (just an expression, I have no
idea what it could possible refer to, but I assure you ... it works!).
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| Fishing Trawler with congo line of fishing boats...WHAT ARE THEY'RE INTENTIONS???? |
...they closed in on us...and
just when we thought boarding was imminent...they bore off...changed course
then continued to motor up on the same course with sufficient sea room...and
they started waving and cheering....and it appears after receiving all the
salutations and happy smiling faced waves, they just wanted a closer look at at
our nice boat and the big black sail.
They motored off over the horizon and we shut down the engine and sailed
into the sunset. A perfect end to a
first perfect day.
The next few days were quite
uneventful, pleasant enough getting used to the motion of the ocean and the
‘new’ concept of actually nonstop sailing which we had not done for a long
time.
Everything was great...until...day
7...the tranny stopped working. The transmission repair work we had done in
Galapagos failed. As a practice we would
run the engine every second day for a couple of hours to charge things up and
also to make slight course adjustments to keep our cross track to a minimum.
It's was on about the 13th
hour...once again, the forward gear of our transmission failed to engage. We were already 850 miles away from the
Galapagos and the thought of turning back was only briefly considered...and so
we sailed on...
After all, we are a
sailboat...duh!
The passage planning taught us
that sailing Rumbline (as the crow flies) would be approx 3000 miles, would
take 21 - 25 days. ..but turned out to
be 3709.7 miles and 26 days. Our best
travel day was 174 miles...our worst 54 miles...ouch!...but the real ouch
happened on day 25...
For 24 days it was so
incredibly glorious...hours of Bliss...what we
termed the Magic Carpet
Ride...when the person off watch was trying to sleep and motion
mattered...where you had no sense of the waves or of the boat moving...it felt
like gliding, at night with no lights, just the stars...a true sensation of
floating, like flying, incredible!
Strangely we did not
experience much in the way of sea life...no birds flying...no fish
jumping...3700 miles and no fish???...about the only thing we could count on
was that there were be a scattered few dead flying fish...so something must be
out there chasing them.
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| Deck Squid....mmm maybe not so tasty??? |
....Then there were the long
hours with light winds when you were drifting miles off course and couldn't do
anything about it... we would face that problem when it happened. All in all so far so good in fact it was
terrific...we had managed to make safe passage, always finding a little breeze
to keep things moving, because, if we stopped and got turned sideways to the
large ocean swells, running 8 - 12 ft and then that elusive wave that doesn't
fit...it's bigger and badder than the rest and catches you unaware...so keep
the boat moving at all costs...and we had managed to do so....
so...on the afternoon of day
25...our second to last day, being at mile 111.1 away from our destination with
light winds...but sailing at 5 kts...with our final destination within reach
for a next day early morning arrival, good light excellent visibility...I could
almost taste my first baguette.
Then the wind DIED!!!
I mean dead...no a puff...a
whisper of air...but we were still in those big lumpy seas...12 to 15 foot
swells...no real wave action, just lump and confused seas. With no way to maneuver the boat we got
turned sideways quickly and for three hours we were tossed and thrown every
which way but loose...oops...and I mean Kaija and I were just holding on, there
was stuff flying everywhere...so just when you think it can't get much worse...and
we were praying for some wind to sail by...(I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again...when you pray...BE SPECIFIC)
Ol Man Murphy decided to join
the crew and have his way...the skies blackened and we could see the line of
squalls coming...and then came the first hint of a breeze...
...did I say breeze...what I
mean is it started to blow...and blow...and blow....and within moments it was
blowing 30kts...30
KNOTS!!!!!!...YES...LET'S GO
SAILING...why isn't ‘OTTO’ holding course????... I had turned the Auto pilot
off during this unpleasant tossing and turning with no wind episode as it was
just making the drive computer crazy and being the generous Captain I
am...said...ok...it's been working flawlessly for 25 days...let's give it a
rest....so I shut it off....and now when the wind hits...and we started
moving...I turned AUTO on but it wouldn't hold course...after a half dozen
attempts it just shut down....
so keeping in mind...we had 24
days of wonderful weather...not always as much wind as we needed or too much
wind from the wrong direction...and it was taking longer than we had planned...
but we were safe, the boat was
easily managed and nothing was
damaged...all in all a great
trip... and then Day 25... it's mid afternoon on May 22...the wind is now
howling 30 to 40 knots...for 9 hrs...it blew and blew and blew some more...and
it continued throughout the nite till the early light of dawn. Obscuring what should have been an idyllic
sail under a full moon it was the longest period we have ever been in heavy
weather in all my years of sailing. It
was a very humbling experience.
Thankfully we prepared early
by reducing sail with a double reef in the main...so when the wind hit...I felt
comfortable with the
canvas...however, at about hr
7 of this storm...Kaija looks up and
says..."that's a new
crease in the main" referring to the mainsail....I
looked up and said
"honey, that ain't no crease ..that's a rent sail...
it was blown from luff to
leach ...in other words...the sail was RIPPED INTO TWO PIECES...THE TOP HALF
AND THE BOTTOM HALF....
sooooo...after having an
almost perfect sail of 24 days...avoiding any real storms and damage...with
only 111.1 miles to go...
We have no Autopilot...no
mainsail...no forward gear on the tranny...it's blowin 30 kts...dark as
Toby"s Arse (is that a word) and we are tired and grumpy...oh boy oh joy
can you imagine the fun we were havin now?
I am driving in total darkness...no
stars, no moon, no external reference to steer the boat, it's blowin steady 30
and gustin a whole lot higher, totally confused seas 15 - 20 ft. I'm driving
like like a blind man...it’s pitch black and I’m trying to navigate by
instrument like flying IFR (Instrument Flight rules)...diving after the wind
gauge...and digital compass trying not to luff up or load up too much pressure
and further damage the rig, or worst case...broach in heavy seas.
Oh and did I mention...that at
one point during the night, I had been on the helm for a number of hours (as
someone doesn't like to steer at night)(but is excellent in soooo many other
ways)...so....I am hand steering with no mainsail and reefed headsail...30
kts...and big nasty lumpy seas...and the WHEEL CAME OFF IN MY HANDS...YUP YOU
READ THAT RIGHT!...OFF TOTALLY OFF IN MY HANDS (thank you Beneteau?)
...this is a large 40"
destroyer wheel on a 1 X 10 inch steel keyed and sprocketted shaft I'm talkin
about...I thought I was delirious...at first it didn't make any sense....you
talk about SURPRISE SURPISE SURPISE... and I felt just like good ol Gomer
Pyle...(am I dating myself...does anyone
remember the Andy Griffin show?)
having the steering wheel come
off in your hands while you are blasting along at 8 kts in 30 kts of breeze..is
not quite as serious as it happening to you in your car doing 60...but it ain't ideal!...what did you do?
you ask??? haha...for those of you who know the boat you know we have 2
steering wheels...a his and hers...a backup plan...redundancy...who knows why
it’s there?...but I was sure glad that other wheel was over there looking back
at me (thank you Beneteau)
...don't ask...I don't know
why it came off...the whole shaft just came out of the pedestal...I turned to
Kaija and said...’here take this’...and handed her the steering wheel...(you
gotta find humor when you can!)...then hopped over to the other wheel and kept
driving.
suffice to say...we landed,
well not quite yet...
just as we were approaching
the anchorage of Taiohae Bay ...we were blessed with yet another squall and the
entrance thru the rocks into the inlet ...
the entrance was a complete
white out...no problem..., I've got a good 'GPS fix' to guide me thru the
rocks...then the wind shifted on to the nose...
let's see...no forward gear on
the tranny...and can't sail into the
wind...mmmmm...PROBLEM!!!...can’t
see the entrance...TIME TO CALL KEVIN!
Kevin & Princess Esmarelda
...lucky for us...along come
Kevin of Nuku Hiva Yacht Services. (thx to John & Cathy of Mystic
Moon)...we have been communicating him regarding getting parts and service for
our transmission...lucky for us...he is also the agent here and we were able to
raise him on the vhf radio and he came out and towed us in...and the good news
was as we were being towed into the bay...we were surrounded by a pod Melon
Headed whales, bottle nose dolphins, and off to the one side were three giant
mantas...how great is that.
