Manatee in the Pacific

Vessel Name: Manatee
Crew: Chris, Irene, Max, and Beau
07 October 2018 | Middle of the Pacific Ocean
02 October 2018 | Pacific Ocean
02 October 2018 | Pacific Ocean
30 September 2018 | Pacific Ocean
27 September 2018 | Nuku Hiva
27 September 2018 | Fakarava
05 September 2018 | Fakarava
04 September 2018 | Fakarava
26 August 2018 | Tahiti
03 August 2018 | Tahiti
03 August 2018 | Tahiti
10 July 2018 | Huahine
10 July 2018 | Huahine
08 July 2018 | Moorea
30 June 2018
25 June 2018 | Huahine
10 June 2018 | Huahine
09 June 2018
Recent Blog Posts
07 October 2018 | Middle of the Pacific Ocean

Ray's Blog (Ray)

Friday, October 5:

02 October 2018 | Pacific Ocean

Waiting for Sergio (Chris)

Technically, the North Pacific hurricane season concludes at the end of October. We left Nuku Hiva on September 24, knowing we would have to look toward Mexico to see if any storms were heading into the hurricane zone above 5N latitude. If there are any threatening storms, you simply stop the boat [...]

02 October 2018 | Pacific Ocean

A little more from Grant

The highlight of the crossing so far was the equator. We hove-to (means stop the boat) at the equator and went swimming! From an outsider's perspective, it may seem just like swimming in any other body of water (lake, pool, beach), but in reality, it was quite frightening! It was a very vulnerable [...]

30 September 2018 | Pacific Ocean

Grant, Back for Round Two

Crossing to Hilo:

27 September 2018 | Nuku Hiva

Hawaii via the Marquesas (Chris)

The same day Ray arrived, we set sail for Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas. We needed to check out of French Polynesia there and we also wanted to stock up on fresh food for the crossing to Hawaii. There is a lot of fruit in the Marquesas, and not much at all in the Tuamotus.

27 September 2018 | Fakarava

Waiting for Crew (Chris)

After Tim left Fakarava on August 21, Chris, Ryan, and Fil hung out at the South pass for several more days, then on August 25 moved 6 miles to a nearby anchorage called Hirifa in the southeast corner of the lagoon. Hirifa is a good anchorage with a sandy bottom (few coral heads). The family living [...]

Ray's Blog (Ray)

07 October 2018 | Middle of the Pacific Ocean
Ray Tetreault
Friday, October 5:

By way of introduction, this is Ray Tetreault. I'm privileged to be here because of a long-time friendship between Irene and my wife, Anne Wolfer. Together, Anne and I have a wonderful daughter, Sarah, 15 years old, and we live in Salt Lake City.

I was on Manatee once before, with Karen Kahn when we moved the boat from San Francisco to San Diego at the start of her family's similar adventures in 2006-2007. And I'm glad to be here with her son, Grant, to complete the family connections.

I joined Manatee on September 15, and within hours of stepping off the plane, we raised anchor in Fakarava and headed for Nuku Hiva, which is a five day beat.

An exciting moment and feature of this crossing that enticed me was the time below the equator in French Polynesia, and as you know, after crossing the equator, we needed to ease our progress, and we hove-to, waiting for Hurricane Sergio to take its course. A shout out and thank you to Tim Rayle and Irene, who provided Chris with excellent forecasting information, and so after our idle time of 36 hours, the storm's track and forecast bode well, and we resumed.

Sailing quickly now, making up the miles we lost to drifting while stalled. The next milestone in the crossing was the doldrums, and if you interpret that as boring, it was anything but. We experienced shifty winds, our first significant rains, and lightning. Scary as all get out when your mast is the tallest thing around, with lots of metal sticking out. But, we only experienced flashes at a distance, and the rain, heavy at times, did well to clean the boat of accumulated salt.

Now, we are under full sail and directly on track for Hilo, our destination, with the doldrums almost fully behind us.

Grant and Amanda are teamed up, making pizza for dinner, and Chris is in the cockpit "making it all happen." We've coalesced well as a group, each one contributes in their own way. For instance, we are almost able to take in a reef (shorten the sail for safety) or shake one out (return the sail to its full size for speed) with winks and nods instead of words and lengthy explanations.

Manatee is a a great boat and provides a lot of stability. Today's ocean swell is mixed and rather large, but the boat just goes with it. I feel very fortunate to be here.

Waiting for Sergio (Chris)

02 October 2018 | Pacific Ocean
Chris
Technically, the North Pacific hurricane season concludes at the end of October. We left Nuku Hiva on September 24, knowing we would have to look toward Mexico to see if any storms were heading into the hurricane zone above 5N latitude. If there are any threatening storms, you simply stop the boat (heave-to) and bob around in the ocean while the storm danger passes.

This is a common tactic for boats sailing from French Polynesia to Hawaii in September and October. Historically, only a small percentage of hurricanes make it out as far as Hawaii, but this year there have been several, including one (Hurricane Lane) that hit Hawaii in September and one (Walaka) that just roared past between us and Hawaii a few days ago.

As luck would have it, a new storm was reported forming off Acapulco just as we left Nuku Hiva. This new storm, Sergio, was forecast to move WNW, which would take it out of our way. However, two days ago, NOAA revised the forecast predicting Sergio would first move westward for two days at around 15 knots before turning northward. This made me nervous, because what if the forecast is wrong and Sergio just keeps tracking west like Walaka did? We have 1000 miles to go to Hawaii, and although Sergio is currently about 2000 miles away from us, it is moving more than twice as fast as Manatee. I do not want to get into a race with a hurricane.

So, in an abundance of caution, we heaved-to this morning on the edge of the hurricane zone to wait until Sergio turns north in 36 to 48 hours as predicted. If Sergio keeps moving west, we will keep waiting. We are quite comfortable, with our bow pointed into the waves, the sun shining, and fresh breeze keeping us cool. Ray made Huevos Rancheros for breakfast, Grant is listening to bluegrass and making a cake, and Amanda is preparing to make banana bread after lunch. We also have plans to binge watch Bond movies later on while munching on popcorn. So, this heaving to business isn't so bad.

A little frustrating, perhaps, but certainly not uncomfortable. Hopefully, we will start back on our journey to Hawaii sometime in the next 48 hours or so. If not, we have enough food, water, and fuel to wait here for a month or more if we have to. Here's hoping it doesn't come to that.

Our friend, Tim Rayle, has been joining Irene in sending us regular weather updates, and we also get weather from our In Reach and from the single sideband radio.

A little more from Grant

02 October 2018 | Pacific Ocean
Grant Kahn
The highlight of the crossing so far was the equator. We hove-to (means stop the boat) at the equator and went swimming! From an outsider's perspective, it may seem just like swimming in any other body of water (lake, pool, beach), but in reality, it was quite frightening! It was a very vulnerable feeling. Don't worry, Mom, we took all available precautions.

Other than that, there really hasn't been much to report. We have had some minor technical issues, but nothing Ray and Chris can't handle. I'll leave you with a joke Chris's mom sent us (thank you, Claudia). Did you know that if every single human on the planet Earth held hands and formed a line around the equator, a lot of people would drown?

Grant, Back for Round Two

30 September 2018 | Pacific Ocean
Crossing to Hilo:

Well, I am back. If you don't remember me, my name is Grant. I joined the Tresser/Brown family in Mexico for a little under a month back in December. I didn't quite get enough of Manatee the first time, so I'm back for round two!

As exciting as it may seem, however, the six days of sailing this far has consisted of mainly three things: eating, reading, and sleeping. We have 65 pomplemousse (French for grapefruit), 15 mangoes, a bushel of starfruit, and an entire stock of bananas.

Nothing but gourmet meals every day. The list goes as follows: Day one, barbecue chicken. Day two, two types of curry and lentils with fresh bread. Day three, fajitas with beef, beans, and cabbage. Day four, pizza (peso, meat lovers, steak and cabbage, cake for dessert. Day six, red beans and rice. We are eating like kings.

There have been other amazing things besides the meals too! The sailing has been fantastic. We are consistently moving at seven knots and are pacing to get to Hilo right on time. It has been a great opportunity for me to learn from some great sailors (Ray, Amanda, and Chris).

Every once in a while, we are greeted by dolphins or flying fish. That's always a nice treat for us! We get to take a break from the super stressful times we are enduring, like napping for three hours or reading on deck under the sun.

Hawaii via the Marquesas (Chris)

27 September 2018 | Nuku Hiva
Chris
The same day Ray arrived, we set sail for Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas. We needed to check out of French Polynesia there and we also wanted to stock up on fresh food for the crossing to Hawaii. There is a lot of fruit in the Marquesas, and not much at all in the Tuamotus.

The trip to Nuku Hiva was 537 miles to the north east, generally against the prevailing trade winds which blow from the east. The forecast was for light ESE to E wind, which would work well for a NE heading. As it turned out, the wind was mostly from the ENE, which meant we had to beat into the wind all the way there. Luckily the wind was light enough that the seas were relatively calm. As it was, Manatee banged a bit against the waves, which made Grand sick and Chris a bit queasy.

We arrived in Nuku Hiva on September 20, happy to be there after five days of uncomfortable sailing. We spent the next two days checking out of French Polynesia and picking up some fresh food for the trip to Hawaii. We decided to go to Daniel's Bay for our last days in paradise, where we could hike to the waterfall (the same place where Max and Beau got lost back in April), top off our water, and the fruit! Mathieus and Maria, two locals, loaded us up with 60 pomplemousse, a stock of bananas, uncounted mangoes, starfruit, and pomme citron (Polynesian apples).

The sailing plan for the leg from Nuku Hiva to Hawaii is relatively straightforward, and is described in an atlas of world cruising routes as "...A fast and pleasant crossing almost any time of year." Sail directly north to the equator in the east to southeast tradewinds. Then turn northwest toward Hawaii in the NE trades above the equator. The trick is to carefully watch the weather to the east, particularly off the coast of Mexico and Central America, where hurricanes form. With this in mind, we left Daniel's Bay on September 24 headed for Hawaii. We left late in the afternoon because just before departure, we noticed the saltwater foot pump was leaking, sending water splashing into the motor compartment each time the pump was pushed down. Unfortunately, we also discovered at the same time that the freshwater pressure pump was broken. As a result, we delayed departure until 5:00 p.m., starting our journey under clear skies, a rising moon, and calm seas.

Waiting for Crew (Chris)

27 September 2018 | Fakarava
Chris
After Tim left Fakarava on August 21, Chris, Ryan, and Fil hung out at the South pass for several more days, then on August 25 moved 6 miles to a nearby anchorage called Hirifa in the southeast corner of the lagoon. Hirifa is a good anchorage with a sandy bottom (few coral heads). The family living there caters to cruisers with a grass shack restaurant where you can have dinner if you give them 24 hours notice and you can drop in for a beer any time. As you would expect, Hirifa attracts a lot of boats and has a very nice, friendly cruiser culture with lots of socializing.

The weather forecast predicted a 30 knot windstorm from the south by the end of the week. We wanted to wait out the storm in the anchorage at Hirifa, but we needed to get Amanda as well as get supplies in Rotoava, which is in the north, 30 miles away. So Chris, Ryan, and Fil made a quick trip to Rotoava and back to get supplies before the storm hit. We also arranged a seat for Amanda on a passenger boat that makes a daily run between Hiriva and Rotoava so we wouldn't have to sail Manatee during the windstorm.

The southern blow started the morning of August 30 and lasted three days. We weathered the storm in relative comfort, anchored close to the Southern shore were the wind was not able to form waves. Amanda flew into Rotoava on the 31st, and took the windy, bumpy boat ride down to Hirifa, arriving after dark. Chris and Ryan picked her up in the dinghy and then proceeded to get very wet during the wild ride to Manatee.

On September 2, the storm had passed. Chris and Amanda took the opportunity to make a final dive in the South pass, seeing many sharks. During the dive, we heard the singing of humpback whales so we knew they were in the area. After diving, the dive master spotted the whales in the pass. So we drove back to the pass and jumped in the water with snorkel gear. We spent the next hour watching a cow, a tiny calf, and two other adults lazily riding the tide into the lagoon. It was a rare and amazing experience. We stayed in a group giving the whales ample room. But several times, they swam near us, coming as close as 15 feet. Too close for comfort!

September 4, Chris, Ryan, Fil, and Amanda motor-sailed back to Rotoava to wait for Grant Kahn and Ray Tetrault. Grant arrived on September 7, and Ryan and Fil flew back to Papeete on the 9th, drawing a close to their Polynesian sailing adventure.

Ray arrived on September 15, completing the crew for the crossing to Hawaii.
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