Day one to the Cooks
14 August 2008 | Bora Bora to Rarotonga
David
Well it was very rough for the first 18 hours and now 24 hours into the trip it is starting to calm down. We were the only boat to leave Bora Bora yesterday due to the high winds. The only problem for the boats that waited for today or tomorrow is they may not have enough wind. Our wind has already dropped to 14-18 knots, down from 24-30 knots yesterday. It's always a hard decision when to leave on a passage. We left the minute we dropped Nathalie's family at the airport ferry. Sometimes better not to wait for perfect weather as it may get worse. Of course I am getting ahead of myself as we are only 24 hours into a 3+ day passage. 340 miles to go, 195 miles covered the past 24 hours.
It was very sad to say goodbye, I always have a hard time when I leave my family in France but this time was the hardest, maybe just because I feel so far away (13000 miles) but they know that they are always so closed in my thoughts and heart....I haven't spend that much time with my brother since 20 years and it felt so good to see him and his family, of course Mom was in Heaven with her four grandchildren even when the decibels went sky high! But it was time for the plane to leave and for us to continue on our voyage...Goodbye French Polynesia and Hello Cook islands.... The first day was a very fast and uncomfortable sail with 30 knots of wind but the next day we had to use the motor we are now almost there (30 miles to go, total trip 536 miles) and it feels good to arrive in port and be expected by friends, Orca III and Malachi will be there and we are probably going to moore right in between them both in this tight little harbor of Rarotonga. During this passage, the kids really participate (they always do through their watch and Alec has always been very interested by the sail change and navigation) but I saw a change in Emilie, she reefed the sail, help with the spinnaker, with the screecher(on this trip we had all sail combination!!!), she came a long way from being totally indifferent like at the beginning of the trip when it was really not her cup of tea...
Je suis toujours tres triste lorsque ma famille s'en va mais cette fois, cela a ete tres dur! Peut-etre car 13,000 miles nous separent maintenant, pourtant ils sont toujours si proches dans mon coeur et mes pensees. Cela fait 20 ans que je n'ai pas pass� autant de temps avec mon frere et cela m'a fait un immense plaisir de le voir avec sa famille, il n'a pas change, toujours aussi genereux, gai et amusant. Et Maman a bien sur ete tres heureuse de retrouver ces quatre petits enfants meme si les decibels etaient un peu fort par moment! Mais il est temps de repartir, notre prochaine etape etant les iles Cook (NZ)... Le permier jour a ete tres rapide et inconfortable, un vent de 30 noeuds et une houle de cote, la totale!... et puis le lendemain... au moteur, aujourd'hui (le troisieme jour), les conditions sont ideales, l'ocean est presque plat et le vent de 12 noeuds de travers nous donne une vitesse de 8.5 noeuds avec le screecher, les enfants font leur devoirs.... C'est tres agreable de savoir que nos bateaux amis sont d�j� la pour nous acueillir dans le petit port tres etroit de Rarotonga (Orca III et Malachi), ils nous attendent avec une petite place juste entre eux deux...J'ai remarque un changement important Durant ce dernier passage, les enfants font pratiquement toutes les manoeuvres avec leur pere maintenant (ils ont toujours assure leur garde la nuit et Alec a toujours ete interesse par les changement de voile et la navigation) mais Emilie cette fois s'est vraiment mise a l'oeuvre: mettant le rie, ajustant le screecher, aidant avec le spi, ellea bien change depuis notre depart ou elle etait completement indifferente a toutes les manoeuvres...