Ironie's Pacific Adventures

after spending 2 weeks longer than expected in bora bora waiting for a good weather window
to head north to suvarov,we saw what we percieved as a time to make a break.granted,the
weather window we were looking at was on the backside of one of the tropical waves that
have been a consistant weekly occurences since our arrival in french polynesia.it still looked
like the best chance we would get for another week at least so we decided to go for it.we sailed
out of bora bora lagoon to dolphins in the channel,which i always take as a good omen for
the passage.we were following behind"gingi"who left about 6 hours earlier and "cetacia"
who we watched go through the pass right in front of us,both enroute to suvarov.
as we cleared the lee of bora bora the true wind and seas set in.we were doing 6-7 knots
wing and wing downwind with 8-10 ft.following seas.not a bad, ride just a bit rolly.the skies
fortold a squally night so we prepared our foul weather gear and set our watch schedule.i
would take the first six hours and evan the late shift.as it turned out the squally night
turned into a full three days of crappy weather complete with a full blown electrical storm
one night and 40 plus knot squalls with 20 ft. seas on another...not for the faint of heart to be sure.
after day 3 of crap,the weather started smiling on us with sunny skies little fluffy
clouds and 10-15 knots of wind from behind.we even had our spinnaker working for us,lovely..
ahhhhhh,don't get too relaxed though...as we were on deck taking the spinnaker down on day 4,evan on the bow and me on the mast ,
lowering the pole to evan the pole uphaul line ran out too quickly and bopped evan on the
head!oooouuucccch!!!the moment it happened we were making a joke of it"hey, at least it was
only my head...lol"but as the night wore on evan was feeling nausea and a headache,the signs
of concussion...we immeadiately called our friends on gingi on the vhf and told them what was
going on.they called emergency medical help advice on the ssb radio for us as the ssb on ironie
does'nt transmit very well...i took evans pulse,checked his eyes for diffrent sized pupils,etc...the advice was for evan to lie flat and just basicly
take it easy no coffee ,heavy foods etc..and he should be ok...we did this and he seemed ok after a day or so so we continued
on our way to suvarov.by this time the weather had gone very light and we decided to motor
for awhile.we ended up motoring fo 24 hours straight.evan started feeling bad again as we were
getting close to suvarov.we ended up getting to the island in the morning and having to wait
for low water slack tide to shoot the pass to enter the lagoon which would'nt happen till 16:00
so i sailed back and forth in front of the entrance until we could go in.at 16:00 we entered the
lagoon easily.there were 3 or 4 other boats there,atlantis,afea and monica,no gingi or cetacia though.we'd lost vhf contact
along the way and had no idea if they would make it.we thought maybe they had changed course
for american samoa as gingi had snapped a steering cable in the bad weather ans was steering
with emergency tiller and windvane,juryrigged...the lagoon in suvarov was lovely.clear water with 150+
ft of visibility.as we jumped into the water(evan was feeling better again at this point)
a "gang" of black tip reef sharks came by to give us thier greeting to the atoll.they were
curious but not aggressive.none more than 6 ft long.evan had a swim to "anchorage island"and
saw the shack and bust thats been erected in honor of the author tom neal that lived there off and on for
10 years and wrote the book "an island to ones self" about his experiences there.when evan got
back to the boat he was feeling bad again and said he needed to see a doctor a.s.a.p..being 500 miles from
anywhere makes this a bit difficult so i told him i would try to contact the emergency medical
channel on the ssb from one of the other boats in the anchorage.the advice i got was the same
they said it can take up to 2 weeks to fully recover.i told him this when i returned and he said he still
needed to see a doctor.well,the best i could do was leave right away to american samoa but
we still wouldnt be there for another 5-6 days.so we left less than 24 hours of arriving in
suvarov.
the weather prediction for this passage was light the first day,5-10 knots the building
to 15 the next 2 days then 20 after the third day,a good weather report.as evan was still feeling bad
i would be doing most of the sailing and watches etc...so i was hoping for an easy passage.
after motoring for the first night we had the 15 knots good easy sailing for 2 days then it came again
,the big,sloppy squally system...oy vey!!!so the next two days again were wet and yucky!!
ahhh,oh well,sometimes cruising just is'nt very pretty.....
after passing the manua group islands of tau and ofu/olosanga(part of american samoa, early in the morning of the 25th
of june we arrived in pago pago harbor at about 1630 hrs. we were told by customs/immigration
to tie up to a local tug boat to clear in.we did this and as i'd advised them we had a man that
needed medical attention.they took evan in an ambulance to the local hospital.mission accomplished!!
as things stand now,evans taking it easy until fully recovered and has left ironie as crew.
he says hes feeling much better and is coming around.
gingi and cetacia both arrived in pago pago bypassing suvarov.gingi arrived with a snapped
steering cable,bent pole and ripped jib.cetacia arrived with a snapped then jury rigged inner
stay ripped jib and a non fuctional transmission.every one is waiting for thier various parts
to be delivered.
i am happy to be in pago pago to see some friends from cruising the galapagos and marqueseas
from last year.there's george("the man") from "thalia" and sam and jenn and family from"purrrrfection".it's
great to see everyone.pago pago is a bit dirty by south pacific standards.theres the tuna canneries and the associated stench(which is intermitent and not as bad as crusiers say...). out side of the inner harbor and town,
its clean enough with nice beaches and very friendly,fun loving samoans everywhere!
there is a nice yacht club here with great lunch food.a real luxury to have a restaraunt meal after the long passage and outragously expensive french polynesia...
everything is in a flurry of activity getting ready for the "festival of the pacific arts"
that will be held here in 2-3 weeks.it is a festival that happens only once in 3 years,showcasing all aspects of pacific islanders
arts, sport and culture.there will be 2000 participants from 20 countries represented....it promises
to be a big time.
ironie will be here in search of crew and enjoying the festival for the next month or so...
anyone who would like to visit or crew(yes,even you leon...lol),contact me via email at svironie@gmail.com
big sunny pacific love to all of you....until next time...captain stevie