June 22 - It’s a beautiful sunny morning and the weather report is favorable for beginning our trip to Rangiroa. Weigh anchor at about 8:10 am and out of harbor by 8:30 on our way to Rangiroa. Wind and seas moderate and we start off making good time in sunny weather. We add the double reefed main to the reefed poled jib. As the morning progresses seas and winds lighten and it’s a little slow going, but not bad. Day is uneventful.
June 23 - At 2:45 a.m. wind deserts us and we are becalmed. Nothing to do but drift with it until the wind comes back. Wind starts to come back by 6:30 am and by 10:00 a.m. we have light but sailable wind. Return to single reefed jib and main. For the first time since well before Nuku Hiva we engage the autopilot at 10:44 a.m. and as of the writing of these words at 12:11 p.m. it’s working. We’ll see. Skies are sunny. Autopilot fails about two hours later. Oh well. We didn’t have high expectations. We have a lengthy discussion about drawback of having keeping on course with jib poled out as wind moves further forward and towards the latter part of the afternoon take down the pole and sail at between 60 and 90 degrees with single reefed jib and double reefed main. Boat is well balanced and easy to handle and our speed increases substantially.
June 24 - I generally find my midnight to 3:00 a.m. shift a real “nuisance” without autopilot (not a night person and have difficulties seeing at night-even the instruments), but tonight was an exception. Boat wanted to sail the course we were on, wind pickup up and we were “flying at an average of I guess to be well over 7.5 knots for most of the watch. Was even able to sit rather than stand at helm and recline watching us staying on course without my intervention. Very cool. Wind has not backed to the East as we feared and current sail set up continues to work well. Biggest issue I see right now is planning when and where and how to slow down to get to Rangiroa at slack low tide (around 2:00 p.m.) on Wednesday the 26th. Current really rips through the entrance channel at all but slack tide and all cruising guides insist should only enter and leave at slack tide.
June 25 - Well, this past evenings Midnight to 3 a.m. shift was as miserable as last night’s was terrific. Light winds, backing to the East with a sail plan not intended for that. Very little leeway on wind angle to remain on course. Ugh! 147 n.m. to Rangiroa at 8:45 a.m. Wind continues to vary between light and moderate and to swing between ESE and E. We leave current sail plan up (no pole) and deal with the wind swings to the East as best as possible. Skies are sunny and clear as day breaks. Boat much easier to handle during the day as conditions settle and wind is more consistent. Later in the afternoon winds become gusty and it’s hard to maintain course in current conditions. We have to balance comfort with a certain need for speed to be sure we get to Rangiroa cut tomorrow at slack tide as speeds of incoming and outgoing tides are very high and can’t allow us to get caught with an aft wind and an outgoing tide. We put the second reef in the jib and the third reef in the main and it makes our motion far more manageable without dramatic loss of speed - actually with very little loss of speed. Boat moves beautifully through the water with double reefed jib and triple reefed main in 14-16 knts. breezes. If this keeps up during the night it will be perfect for us to arrive in good light at slack low tide at Rangiroa cut.
June 26 - When we awake this morning around 6:00 a.m. we are only 15 n.m. from the entrance channel into Rangiroa, but slack low tide (ideal entrance condition) is not until 2:00 p.m. so we start to revise sail plan to reduce speed and start thinking in terms of heaving to in order to wait outside the channel until it is time to enter. At the same time it becomes more clear (it was already “on our radar”) that there is a big system which will impact Rangiroa in the next day or two and for an indefinite period thereafter with high seas and strong winds which would “maroon” us in Rangiroa until it passes, and so with great reluctance on my part (I was very, very anxious to see, snorkel and dive Rangiroa), we decide to pass it by and continue on directly to Papeete, 200 n.m. further on. Winds are already more blustery (18-21 knts.) than we have been experiencing and the seas are expected to build, but are no presently higher than many we have experienced earlier in the trip. By late afternoon the winds are considerably higher than predicted and the seas somewhat more as well and we are now in what would generally be described as moderately “heavy weather” doing almost 8 knts. most of the time and up to 10 knts. briefly. The boat is handling the conditions beautifully but we are sailing under fully reefed jib and main and concerned about the stresses on our jury-rigged repair to jib furler/forestay. Make hot dinner under rough conditions when the crew advised “sandwiches”. Galley floor is very slippery for some reason and I’m sliding all around during the effort but enjoy the satisfaction of completing and serving hot dinner without serious injury.
June 27 - Wind blows steadily at 24 knts. and above all night with gusts to 36 knts. and for the first time in the entire trip from Punta Gorda to here, we experience other than ideal sailing conditions, but as I said before, boat is handling the conditions beautifully and the “bright side” is that we will get to Papeete much earlier than expected, insuring a daylight passage through the entrance channel to our anchorage and a truncated travel time with these challenging conditions. We get to Papeete around Noon local time and enter the lagoon without difficulty (there’s a lee from the weather as we get within a mile or so of the channel). We learn that neither of the two marinas in Papeete has a berth for us due in large part to boats not leaving because of the heavy weather coming in, and we motor in the lagoon to the Marina Taina location to look at the anchorage that Tahiticrew has recommended. Before anchoring we take on fresh water at the Marina Taina “service dock”. It’s a tiny dock down a channel to the land side of the marina in a location that I would never have attempted early on in my ownership of Duet, but conditions are calm and the crew is of course a big help, and we complete the process without difficulty. I’m a little concerned about the quality of the water which we are taking on from a cut garden hose on a simple spigot and ask some people in a dive boat if it is drinkable. The first response I get is something to the effect that “it’s not very good but it won’t kill you” with a suggestion that I buy bottles of water at a little store at the site. Then when I explain that I want to take on a lot of water, I get a somewhat reluctant “yeah, it’s OK to drink”. Before we leave the service dock a marina representative shows up to ask tell us to go the marina office to pay for the water, so I feel better about the qualify of the water since I can’t imagine the marina charging for unpotable water. Flat rate charge of about $16 very reasonable considering the 450 gallons that my tanks hold. After taking on water we leave to anchor. The preferable anchorage is on the seaward side of the lagoon channel just inside the reef, but we learn that it is only for use of moorings, no anchoring allowed, and there are no moorings available, so we spend some considerable time trying to “squeeze in” safely to the recommended land side anchorage. Anchorage depths are generally 50-55 ft. and rise very steeply to too shallow water on the land side making safe anchoring a challenge in this quite crowded anchorage. We finally anchor further from Marina Taina than hoped for, right next to a resort with quaint thatched over-the-water bungalows immediately adjacent to where we have anchored, and an unobstructed view of Moorea and the open South Pacific over the fringing reef. It’s an awesome view. We are no longer “at sea”, so the first order of business is beer, which turns into multiple beers, then a roast capon dinner (first time I’ve used the oven on the entire trip). For the crew it’s the end of the journey. For me it’s just the end of the first part of the journey. Tristan and Burt will fly home in a few days and I’ll be here hopefully overseeing repairs and waiting for Kryss is scheduled to fly in on the 14h.