An “Adventurous” Sail

Our goal was to leave Bora Bora early hours on Sunday the 21^st however we were delayed as we had to wait for the Police Station to open so we could get our exit paperwork and stamps (lesson no 1 – when wanting to leave early morning fill in all paperwork noting you are leaving the previous afternoon).  The cop told us they hadn’t received the exit paperwork so got on the phone and chased up Papetee while we waited.  They managed to get that sorted, we got our paperwork the stamps and we were back to the boat.  Final preparations and we were underway just after 10am.

We intended to stop off a Maupiti for a night but with the late delay by the time we got there we didn’t have a good view under the water which is definitely needed to get through this pass so we made the safety call of just continuing on and we would head towards Maupihaa (lesson no 2 – in future if we need to be somewhere by a certain time and we cant leave then we can wait until the next day).  We had a lovely calm sail through the night (I was taking my sea sick pills and was feeling okay at this stage).  Later afternoon we reached Maupihaa to be confronted by what was cruiser had written in a blog as the worst pass in French Polynesia – neato!

It is very narrow and as you head towards it the water is churning and eddying which throws the boat around.  A couple of years ago a hurricane had come through and damaged all the visual markers so all that was there was two white poles which gave you no indication of angle to go through, Craig just had to trust his instincts.  I stood on the front to help give directions if we were getting too close to anything and through we went – talk about heart in mouth.  We made it into the beautiful lagoon and found an anchor, there was only one other boat there (some lovely aussies).  This was an amazing island, home to thousands of terns and boobies (birds) and there are only 3 families on the whole island.  What had Craig and myself laughing was when we heard two of the families weren’t speaking to each other – how funny and awkward is that!!

We spent two nights there then decided it was time to make the crossing but first we had to head back out the pass.  One thing I didn’t mention about the pass was the tide is ALWAYS going out which means to have any control over the boat you have to go at speed there is no 2^nd chance once you have committed and lined up to it you have to go. 

Again I was up the front but off little use so I had the camera with me.  We lined up took and deep breath and gunned it.  At one stage we got really close to one side but Craig managed to wrangle it back towards the centre and we were through– worried?  Who had been worried?

From there we set a new course which pointed us towards Rarotonga and settled in for a nice relaxing sail……………………….well that’s how it started, we had beautiful winds, the sea was lovely so nice in fact that on the second night I actually slept downstairs (that’s unheard off when we are out of the lagoons).  On that second day we got a visit from three boobies, two of which decided our boat looked comfortable and they both found perches for the night. 

Day three started off lovely then around midday the wind started to pick up as did the waves.  It was around then that the two birds flew off (we should have taken that as a clue as to what was going to happen).  Before long it was bigger winds and bigger waves, even though I had taken more sickness pills it wasn’t enough and yeap I emptied my tummy. 

That night a huge wave knocked over our generator which then stopped working which was a disaster as we need the generator to top up the batteries during the night to keep the auto pilot working, sure enough a couple of hours later in the middle of the night the auto stopped – wtf.

We decided that we would take turns at the wheel to keep us on course, I went first and lasted 20 minutes before I had to tell Craig I couldn’t do anymore as I just kept throwing up.  Craig then went out for a while and while there rigged up some bungy cords on the wheel.  They worked a treat, they kept us going in roughly the direction we wanted to go although just slightly dragging us off to the side, that was fine by us and we tried to get some sleep.  Nope getting slapped around by the waves and knocked every which way wasn’t conducive to sleeping so we just laid there and waited for morning.  In the early hours of the morning I was crawling out the back of the boat with my pee bucket (yeap you read that correctly and that is all I am going to say about that) I saw that one of the dinghy ropes had snapped and the front of the dinghy was dragging in the water and quickly yelled out to Craig.  So there we were, I was holding onto a flashlight as well as one of Craigs legs while he had the other over the transom and was quickly sorting out a new rope so we could reattach the dinghy, we managed to secure it and get back inside again.

Day four wasn’t any better.  I was immobilised with nausea so all I could do was lay down and give helpful suggestions to Craig.  First things first he tried to get the generator going again without any luck.  He then played around with different variations on setting the sails and found one that would potentially work for that night.   During that day we had one particular great wave that managed to throw me completely to the floor (yes I could hear your voice Julia LOL).  Craig rigged up some ropes to stop that happening again but to be on the safe side I changed beds to the side that was tilted towards the water.  All we could do was lie in the dark and once again get bashed around and wait for light.  Still being nauseous and tired I can honestly say without a lie this was the longest night of my life (note that during all this I always felt safe on the boat).  Finally dawn began to break and Day five started.  Although the wind and waves were still big they weren’t as bad as the previous days and I was actually able to sit up for a while.

Once again Craig spent the day trying to make the generator work to no avail.  We knew we had one more night to get through!   It was not the best night but it wasn’t as bad as the previous few and I think because of pure exhaustion and the fact I hadn’t slept for around 60 hours I managed to snatch some sleep, not much but some.  Day six started and we waited for the sun to come fully up to shine on the solar panels so we could start the auto pilot, finally we were able to reset our course, only 23nautical miles to Rarotonga. 

About 9.30am I caught sight of land and we finally pulled into the harbour just after midday.  Yeah we made it our adventure was over………………………..nope!

Rarotonga habour is absolutely small, just enough space for 3 – 4 yachts as long as they go into the wharf in reverse and tie up like that.  There was a monohull already at dock and as we couldn’t get a hold of the harbour master they got on the radio with us and gave us directions on how to put our boat next to theirs in the only space available.   It sounds easy enough, get your boat in position, drop your anchor forward of where you will be docked, swing the boat around and reverse back into the space, throwing ropes to those on the wharf to catch and tie up.  If only it was that simple, there was a wind, a swell and obviously their boat and all the lines from that going up (past our intended space) and onto the wharf.  Craig tried a few times but the swell just wouldn’t let him reverse the boat in the direction we needed it to go and the last time we tried it we got really close to their boat, so close that our dinghy motor caught one of the lines (so not good).  Everyone was yelling, the guys on the boat scrambled to untie that rope, someone looked for a knife to cut it and just as they got it untied the force of it popped our motor off the dingy and down she went.  I could only look and mentally wave goodbye $3000.00.  We decided it just wasn’t working so one of the guys found the harbourmaster and we got permission to tie up on the container wharf for the night and we try it again the next day.

We got over to the container wharf and those amazing people from the other boat came over to help us despite our near miss to their expensive yacht. We got tied up front and back then had two springlines criss crossed which help keep us in place and is essential when tried up to the side of a wharf like we were.   From there we were able to go around and reassess things and you will never believe what we found.  The dinghy motor was still attached by the clip in small fuel pipe, unfrigginbelievable.    Craig was able to jump in and attach ropes to it and winch it out of the water and it is now drying out.  We will need to buy new clamps for it but hopefully fingers crossed it will live again.

The harbourmaster had come over and told us that he would call all the customs, biosecurity people and heath officers and we had to wait on the boat until all three had come.  First one was there within half an hour, sweet.  Three hours later we were still waiting for the other two.  Finally customs turned up at 4.30pm.  After she had left we decided we weren’t waiting anymore we needed to go get some food.  Both off us had been running on pure adrenaline.  Neither of us had slept for more than an hour in total over the last few days and I hadn’t eaten during that time either all I could manage was half an apple on one day and half an apple on another.  We were physically drained and exhausted.  We went for a nice walk and found a Trader Joes where Craig ordered and devoured a huge hamburger and chips.  Yeap you read right.  On the trip across when we were both really tired we kept thinking about meat and Craig had the goal that once we were on land he was eating meat!!!  I had visions of mince and cheese pies (of all things) and have decided as well that if I see something I really want I will have it, though I ended up having the Fish Burger which was delicious at Trader Joes I did look at the meat options.

Finally sated and thoroughly exhausted we walked back to the boat and settled down for a good nights sleep.  BANG – wtf??!!!  We were in bed less than 15 minutes when we heard a huge bang and we rushed outside.  One of the springlines had snapped in two and now the boat was moving slightly differently so the wharf fender was hitting the boat instead of the bouys we had placed, not good.  I kept moving our bouys around (this is dark by the way, we are working with a flashlight), while Craig jumped onto the wharf and started rejigging the ropes there to make up for the broken line as we had no long enough ropes left on the boat.  An hour later with everything in place we lay down again now both fully pumped up and awake listening to all the creaking ropes and the thumping of the bouys hitting the fenders.  It didn’t take long however for both of us to pass out and we slept through the night waking up at 6am, not fully refreshed but definitely much better after sleeping so deeply.

One of the first jobs we did this morning was go across to the hardware store and purchase some more long ropes.  Later today we will be moving the boat again but will ensure we have lots of help.

We definitely learned a lot of lessons in this trip.  When we left Bora Bora we had looked at the weather apps and seen the wind but neither of us really thought twice about it.  From now on we will be really keeping an eye on the weather and if the winds look to big then we will not be moving, we will stay where we are until it is suitable for us.  We will be getting the generator repaired (if someone here can do it) and also will be looking for a backup to that.  Having the autopilot going at night time is essential and we don’t want to go through that again.  We will also do fuller research into places we could be sailing to and whenever possible go for those that have moorings (or preferably anchorages). 

There were a couple of dark miserable nights out on the ocean but through it all it didn’t put me off, I just kept thinking and saying well this is a lesson to be learnt from this, what do we need to do to ensure this doesn’t happen again.   So we had big lessons we learnt and we no doubt will continue to have more in the future.  It wont stop us though, this is our life, our adventure……bring it on!

Final Note: We just caught up with another boat that just came in from Bora Bora.  They have been sailing for a few years and struck the same weather we did and said it was one of the worst passages they have done, it is great to know it wasn’t just in our heads.