Well what a bizarre overnight passage. Started out great with an easy sail up the Tahanea lagoon with just the jib out, a fine exit through the pass with no standing waves and smaller swell at sea once we established our course. Isabel knocked up a great stir fry, enjoyed a hot shower and went to bed. I stood watch as things went from fine, sailing with a double reefed main until things began to get a bit silly.
I encountered a couple of “dry squalls”, almost no rain but wind climbing from the low teens into the low to mid 20s, going from 110 degrees (ref true North) to 30 degrees in a matter of seconds. We were sailing with the wind on the starboard aft quarter, as deep as 140 apparent and suddenly we’re almost pinching and blasting along at 11.7 knots. Sooooooo, turn to port until the wind is well aft of the starboard beam and slow this mother down. Eight knots is still respectable, isn’t it?
Anyway, this went on through perhaps 3 iterations, then the heavens opened up and cats and dogs began raining down upon us. We had already shut the saloon doors in anticipation of rain with wind from the stern, so that was a good thing. One of the things I like about the Seawind 1160 is that there’s no reason to be outside in foul weather unless inspecting or changing sail trim – everything else can be done from the safety and comfort (warm and dry) of the saloon. I did have to go out and furl up some jib a couple of times to keep our speed under control, but no foulies required – just my good ole REI rain jacket.
Isabel popped her head out a couple times to see if I needed any help, and the second time I welcomed her assistance as SV Ari-B had turned pretty hard to starboard and was crossing our course line about 0.25 nm away. She kept an eye on their position while I managed the boat and monitored their AIS icon and radar signature along with the various squalls and wind shifts. Eventually she confessed that she couldn’t sleep and that I might as well crash for a bit. Excellent!
She awakened me around 0400 with about 6 miles to go to the Northeast corner of Fakarava. The wind had died away and she had just begun motor sailing. Coffee hadn’t helped and she needed to rest, so I took over, eating the leftover stir fry, making a cup of lousy instant coffee and firing up the water maker. The port engine makes lots of electricity AND hot water so heck, how about a nice long hot shower? Ari-B was about a mile away on a parallel track and nothing else out there, so why not?
Sunrise was pretty sweet, and we should be anchored in front of the village in about 1.5 hours. Time for groceries, internet banking, email, and maybe a decent bottle of wine. We’ll probably go out for a meal or 2, but truthfully the restaurant food at Fakarava is mediocre. Better to spend our CFPs on an overpriced bottle of wine and grill up some of that excellent Uraguyan beef from the freezer. We can buy more!
After more than a month anchored at various spots around Tahanea, i.e. no inhabitants, no cell phone signal, no internet BS, only fun and friends, Fakarava will feel like the big city. More than one shop! Restaurants and SCUBA shops and pearls to purchase!
We’ll have Fakarava Yacht Services wash all our dirty sheets and clothes, catch up on all the internet related stuff, reprovision for a few weeks of food, fill the cooking gas cylinders with butane, and have ourselves a bit of fun. By Saturday we’ll need to be tucked in at Hirifa, down at the Southeast corner. There’s another maramu coming. . .
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