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Mar 28 Enroute to Pitcairn "All or nothing!"
Position: S28deg06min/W118deg43min. Day 5's run: 124 nm. After 19 hours of motoring, then sitting around with no wind at all for the next 8 hours, the wind finally found us! We've reduced sail to a triple reefed main, have a storm jib hanked to the staysail stay, and a very small handkerchief of a jib out. Seas are 10'-12' along with the 22 knots of SE wind, which peaked at 28 knots in a gust. The swells are on our aft quarter and we're rolling quite a bit. Well, another day or so of the same thing and we should be over the top of this bad stuff and the wind is forecast to drop to less than 5 knots then! It's all or nothing! Sue says if you like roller coaster rides, you'd really enjoy this one...except it doesn't stop and you can't get off! (She says really IS enjoying this; and the moon lit nights are beautiful).
Mar 27 Enroute to Pitcairn Island
Position S28deg31min/W116deg39min. Day 3 and 4's 24 hour run (in nautical miles, respectively) was 113 and 104; possibly giving you an idea of conditions reflected in these numbers. Yesterday, for example, we motored for 19 hours in an effort to find any wind to sail; it had remained around 4 knots. Moving this 36000 pound boat in winds of 4 to 5 knots is especially difficult, and coupled with big swells is a lousy way to go. The sails slat around, and the boat just doesn't make good headway. We finally picked up a decent light breeze (less than 8 knots) late this afternoon, but it's still slow going (a glance at the meter reading wind speed says 4.5 knots true wind) and we've been going anywhere from 0-3.8 knots boat speed. We don't carry enough diesel to motor all the way to Pitcairn, yet alone have the desire to do so, so we'll endure the light wind conditions and be thankful we had a bit of them rather than too strong a wind that honks up and causes all hell to break loose. Meanwhile, we've put a few small sail patches in some areas of chafe in the mainsail and are getting more familiar with some of the intricacies of our MaxSea navigation software, which we're using at this time rather than our other program, Coastal Explorer. Btw, if anyone who knows our SailMail address would be kind enough to email and let us know if our daily blog entries have been posted, we'd appreciate it. We've been sending them thru the Chile SailMail station, and just received an email stating that the station's dial-up modem had been out, so we don't know if our daily blog has made it into the ether zone or not. We're slowly getting to Pitcairn; all's well.
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Mar 26 Enroute to Pitcairn Island
Position: S28deg44min./W114deg52min. It's all or nothing. We either have winds and seas that are strong and confused, or no wind at all with big swells. I finally lowered the main as we're motoring right now in less than 4 knots of wind thru the aforementioned swells; the main was slatting something fierce. As it was, it was a good thing I lowered it, as it was ripped high up in the sail where visualization is difficult. So, out came the sail repair tape and contact cement. In these seas, I don't want to be hand stitching anything. We tried our code zero (a sail for light wind) sail earlier but the swells prevented effective filling of the sail with air enough to drive it, so we took it down, and then discovered I had wrapped the halyard around the headstay wrong anyway so it was just about chafed thru. Again, another lucky thing we dropped that sail, as it would have ended up in the water, making retrieval a pain, but the spinnaker halyard would have parted, and that would have been a problem. Seems like someone's looking over our shoulder; no major disasters...we're catching them early :) All's well aboard. Approximately 843 nautical miles to Pitcairn, although we don't do a rhumb (straight) line. Let's hope the winds and seas cooperate a bit more; it would be most appreciated by this crew!
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March 25 Enroute to Pitcairn/Gambiers
Distance run day 1 - 125 nm
Distance run day 2 - 142 nm
Most of the day and all night yesterday were spent in what we call "challenging" conditions. In other words, conditions sucked! Winds were high, seas were large and confused, and we lost count of the number of waves that inundated the boat, came over the dodger, or into the cockpit. Were we having fun, or what? I finally put a third reef in the main (made the mainsail smaller) and that helped a whole bunch, but the boat motion was still whip sawing us around like crazy. I can't remember the last time we needed to go to a third reef. This morning the winds and seas have moderated just enough to make things more tolerable, in other words we're not getting tossed around like rag dolls. We're keeping a sharp look on the weather, which we get via Sailmail on SSB radio, and seem to be attempting to thread our way between the highs and lows that rapidly form out here as we gradually go northwest towards Pitcairn Island. We're also talking several times daily on the SSB radio with two other boats going the same way (Soggy Paws and Visions of Johanna) to compare notes and "share the experience...." I have a feeling there's more "challenging" weather in front of us....
Distance run day 2 - 142 nm
Most of the day and all night yesterday were spent in what we call "challenging" conditions. In other words, conditions sucked! Winds were high, seas were large and confused, and we lost count of the number of waves that inundated the boat, came over the dodger, or into the cockpit. Were we having fun, or what? I finally put a third reef in the main (made the mainsail smaller) and that helped a whole bunch, but the boat motion was still whip sawing us around like crazy. I can't remember the last time we needed to go to a third reef. This morning the winds and seas have moderated just enough to make things more tolerable, in other words we're not getting tossed around like rag dolls. We're keeping a sharp look on the weather, which we get via Sailmail on SSB radio, and seem to be attempting to thread our way between the highs and lows that rapidly form out here as we gradually go northwest towards Pitcairn Island. We're also talking several times daily on the SSB radio with two other boats going the same way (Soggy Paws and Visions of Johanna) to compare notes and "share the experience...." I have a feeling there's more "challenging" weather in front of us....
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Mar 24 Enroute to Pitcairn/Gambiers
Position: S8deg40min/W110deg25min.
Not much to report except lousy weather leaving Easter Island. Lots of squalls and confused seas. Right now we're squandering petrochemical, motorsailing thru light wind south, in the hopes wind will (it should...) pick up from the SE around latitude 30 south. No, we're not going to the roaring 40's...All's well. From the look of the forecasted weather about the time we'd get to Pitcairn, a new low pressure area is forecast to develop which may preclude our stopping there as it would bring heavy winds and seas. We'll see day to day...
Not much to report except lousy weather leaving Easter Island. Lots of squalls and confused seas. Right now we're squandering petrochemical, motorsailing thru light wind south, in the hopes wind will (it should...) pick up from the SE around latitude 30 south. No, we're not going to the roaring 40's...All's well. From the look of the forecasted weather about the time we'd get to Pitcairn, a new low pressure area is forecast to develop which may preclude our stopping there as it would bring heavy winds and seas. We'll see day to day...
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Tues. March 23, Enroute to Pitcairn Island (hopefully!)
S27deg20min;W109deg40min. We spent two rolly nights at the Hotuiti anchorage at Easter Island. The scenery was unsurpassed, and 15 moai are erected by the water's edge; quite beautiful. However, the weather was changing and the Armada actually shut down all ports due to impending bad weather, so it was time to go. We were disappointed we didn't see the quarry where the moai were carved out of rock, but we've got such wonderful memories of the island and the people we met, with special kudos and regards for the Armada. They were incredibly sensitive to the needs of mariners and responsive to all requests and, in our case, went over usual expectations in response to our "dinghy flipping" episode. So, three boats are leaving for the Gambiers, somewhat together. Ourselves, Soggy Paws, with our friends Dave & Sherry aboard their CSY 44, and Visions of Johanna, a 62' custom Chuck Paine design with Bill, Johanna and Gram aboard (they're waay ahead of us!). We've set a SSB radio contact twice a day amongst our three boats, and our collective goal is to stop at Pitcairn Island if weather permits. If not, we'll continue on to Mangareva in the Gambier Islands, which would be our first stop in French Polynesia. All's well aboard Infini, and we'll continue to attempt to post daily blog updates. We're also celebrating our son-in-law Sean's return to home, family and safety after a long overseas deployment. Cheers, well done and God bless!
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March 20 Dhinghy flipping adventure in Hanga Roa....
I guess I won't get any pictures posted any time soon...my camera was drowned along with other important items. Yes, my friend Sherry and I got flipped in the dinghy head over heals through a monster wave we couldn't avoid....timing departure (back to Infini) for that 'break' in the series of waves didn't work out when trying to return with a huge load of provisioning we had just done. I grabbed the bigger bags, using them for floatation, only to have them ripped from me when the next wave hit. There were many surfers around who came to help. The feeling of being a human tumbleweed in big surf is something I hope to never repeat. The dinghy was upside down, and Sherry eventually reached it, and managed with difficulty to right it. Engine and tank still intact! They got to shore before me....the Navy people were there to see if we were OK. The surfers gathered what they could...our oars and dinghy seat, a few of the now mostly empty shopping bags we used; Sherry got her sandals back, my Teva's are history. Also gone: our Standard hand held VHF, tiller extension, Sherry's credit cards, both our sunglasses and Sherry's regular glasses, my well used Franklin Translator that I was going to put the French chip in soon. We dried out all we could and a wonderful lady from a nearby restaurant dried our important papers...my passport, etc. M and Dave went out in Dave's dinghy to try to look for any floating stuff when they finally heard the news, and managed to retrieve a bunch of veggies, but no credit card wallet. The surf was too high for them to come into shore and help. The Armada took our Tohatsu outboard and cleaned it out, delivering it back to us at the boat later in the afternoon. We waited all day for the breakers to lay down, and when they weren't getting any better by 5pm we asked a returning fisherman to take our dinghy aboard his launcha, and Sherry and I got a ride back to our boats thru the big surf (M says we were airborne, but he couldn't get the camera out in time for a picture). So, another lesson learned the hard way....surf can be really dangerous here (and elsewhere). We're both fine; a bit battered and bruised, but nothing serious. We still have our dinghy and outboard, oars and most of our valuables, so we feel very fortunate. The people here were great, and the Armada was concerned and very responsive. Thank you all!
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March 18, 2010
What a lovely island! Of the 4500 people here, 4000 live in and around Hanga Roa. We spent the first day aboard, and watched launcha after launcha with 10 Japanese tourists at a time go back and forth from the ship "Oceanic," which had large lettering 'Peace Boat' on its side, and was also decaled "fight to end world poverty by 2015.".... We relaxed, and M. got our pressure water working again by replacing the high pressure switch on the Shurflo water pump that had failed. The day after, we ventured in through the surf (not too bad) to stretch our legs and explore. And walk we did....to check out the many tienda's (small shops where you can get fresh fruit, veggies, chicken, meats, eggs, spices, alcoholic bevs, etc...), pay our 'health dues' at the bank (about $80.00 US), and visit the Armada (navy). Our friends on Soggy Paws came ashore after getting checked in, and we found an internet cafe. It's always good to log on and feel connected....even for a little while. We celebrated everyone's arrival aboard Infini...and had the crews from Pursuit IV (Gary & Tara) and Zepherus (Andy & Rhian) join us also. Canadian registered, Zepherus had come from Juan Fernandez Is. (between Chile and here)---having experienced the tsunami effects (due to the recent earthquake in Chile) first hand. They plucked people out of the water floating by, corralled a loose dinghy, and 'donated' their outboard engine so a family of 4 could get back to shore, since they were ordered to leave before the second wave hit. They said there was no warning on the island, and the destruction was horrible. The next day we took a very scenic walk to the P. Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum. It's named for a German Capuchin missionary who studied the way of life and language of Rapa Nui society. He came to live on Easter Is. in 1935 and published many books about the culture. It gave us a good introduction about the different sites we want to see while here. Walking along any road you may encounter horses grazing on any available grass....even if it's between the pavers of the sidewalk! They're beautiful, friendly,and all branded. We took a half day tour the next day; Christian was a young local who spoke good English. Our first stop was Ana Kai Tangata (ana meaning cave)- where we saw petroglyphs of frigate birds on the walls...very scenic and dramatic, being right on the ocean. Next was the Orongo Ceremonial Village, with 54 stone houses built into the side of the cliff, and more petroglyphs. This village was only used once a year for their 'birdman' competition---which determined what family was going to rule the island for the next year. It involved a marathon to get to the offshore islet and come back with a specific bird egg intact...and took place in the 'winter,' which means cold weather and lots of wind, as well as sharks! The Rano Kau Crater was an easy walk next...the spectacular view awesome. This extinct crater is now the main location for the conservation of the island's native flora. The totora reeds covering the lake in floating bogs make it a dreamlike, unreal place. Ahu Vinapu (ahu: burial site, platform, ceremonial altar; 350 around the island) was our last stop, apparently showing the finest level of the old architecture. The Moai (monolithic statues) were interesting. If I remember correctly, it was explained to us that about 900 moai were originally constructed over the span of hundreds of years, but only 400 actually were placed upright by a series of ropes and levers. In war time, opponents wanted to pull down their enemies moai, as it was thought that the moai contained the spirit of the person or family it represented, so taking the shell eyes out and pulling it face down gave mani (life force) to the tribe who was more powerful. At this time only a relative handful of moai (was it 40?) stand upright and intact, and it's thrilling to stand next to these giant (some are over 40 ton!) depictions and memorials to man's spirit life. I'll have to take some time to download those pictures soon....but there's still so much to see!
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