Iorana Family and Friends
Its October 23, 2012
Yes already, where did time go? Even for a cruiser supposedly in Slow mode time seems to fly by
Inspiration at Sea is Still Yes in the French Polynesia, Tahiti. My departure date was September 8, and yes did depart made it as far as Tikehau, well the doorstep. I was traveling with Cetus, on our way to Hawaii. New green (literly ) crew aboard (from an add on Lat 38th) . Well we departed with we thought a good window from Moorea, it was to be a two day trip then rest up in Apataki. Mother Nature had other plans, we started out actually sailing quite nicely and well things got dark and stormy.. wind of course on the nose and seas. Cetus was ahead then behind, I Inspiration tends to sail a little fast.. they motor faster. Well going into day two and evening we chose Tikehau to hide out the storm and outside anchourage ? Beating into it with out a radar at night in the Tuamotus is not a adventure I would hope to do again. Never knowing where the real Atol start and stops is huge trust in your charts, and for anyone that have sailed Mexico and beyond you understand. We were in touch with Cetus all the time and they have Radar and get weather reports as well.. they manage to get closer to the Atol and seemed it might be okay to hoav too.. they did.. I was fighting our way back to them as with avoiding land and trying to motor sail I ended up to far the other way. Tacking back and forth between them at night also gives you grey hairs. They radioed after getting more weather reports and no let up in sight. With the seas in this condition the Atols are dangerous to even attempt in daylight. We made the choice to turn around and run back to Tahiti to regoup.
We had departed at 6 am on Monday the 3rd and returned anchor down 6am the 7th. It was the wildest confused seas and big seas I can remember. As at one point we took 3 waves over my bow to fill my cockpit and float everything including my huge cushion. There was constant waves coming over the gunnels and then over into the cockpit so many times you were standing in water to your knees. I have never had a WindVane before and am So thankful I did as my Hydrovane name Barry (after my father as real salty) held course after these huge hits. I really am amazed ! no auto pilot would had held up to such a beating and well crew, was under the weather and that would have made more stress on me as it was there was enough. Talking to Cetus , Terry and Heidi were too fighting the seas and wind. They made it in the night before, my engine was overheating at times and point of sail was not great. So thus hear I am.
Cetus departed a couple of weeks later and today are 5 days for Hawaii, having a not bad passage, some thunder storms yet making good miles. Me my crew flew out that weekend and I got busy with mechanics dealing with my overheating issues. The other task was crew. The yanmar turned out to need more than some more tweeking that they did just before I left round one.
Seems the Oil Cooler is too far gone, I got on the horn and had one shipped from my favorite dealer in San Diego, Elias at Pacwest Marine. He was cheaper than what they could be for me here and it was here in just over a week! To remove the oil cooler, they decided to lift the engine as I also expressed problems with my transmission. It have given me some trouble in the past, not going into gear all the time etc.. so asked them to check it out as well.. yup the gears are worn so far that a rebuild is needed, and up rebuild is more than a new one… so here I sit waiting for the New transmission!
In the mean time I was able to convince my Trusty Crew Rudy to come back for yet another adventure! This will be his longest leg yet. He had done several with me even to El Salvador. I have to update all those legs and Galapagos. He arrives on the 3rd of November and we have our papers my extension expires on the 6th. Yes I got it , the No One Ever Gets extension… as well . What’s a gal to do, no engine and no crew? So with letters and several meetings, thank goodness Cetus Heidi was still here. She helped me with letters, meeting with Florian at Sin Tung Marine (they wrote a letter stating my repair needs ) and we did it.
Unfortunately Cetus had to depart as nothing was wrong enough for them to be able to stay. We had lots of repairs on both our floating homes when we got in. Leaks like have never seen. Terry continued working on both our boats, as some projects it just takes two people. He knows Inspiration at Sea as well as Cetus. They are the greatest and sure miss seeing them on the mooring next to me.
We chat every night on the SSB to see how they are moving along, they hired a Weather Router, Ken and we have done the same as like what we see and hear from them as they move along. Its nice to have someone else watching out for you with all the tools of the trade.
Here I sit and been a busy gal, repairing deck leaks, take out the bad screws, fill with penetrating epoxy then new screw, epoxy and plug. Terry gave me a lesson before he left, so far have done are 60. The rest will have to wait till Hawaii as ran out of good screws. I make my own plugs. After that I decided to sand the coach house and paint it nice and white to match my newly painted hull and topside before I left Mexico. Also lost of sanding and varnishing inside and out.. so she is pretty shinny. Now looking at again provisioning for the passage, so baking has started again and every few days I make a trip in with Gerry cans for fuel and water. Almost topped up. Been running my geni every other day if no sun or wind to keep lights on. My outboard motor gave me a pain in the butt littlerly, as the carburetor got plugged. Every one I told as they saw me rowing to shore and back, said ooh that s bad re it being a 4 stroke Yamaha. Most local cruisers here have the little 2 stroke 5 horse. So I pleaded with Florian at Sin Tung as they sell and work on merks . He personally on his lunch time came and pick up latterly off my dinghy and took it to the shop. He emailed a day later it would be here at the dock and it was a pretty bad clog. I even have an external filter that my fault I should have changed when I saw what looked like tea leaves in it as well little parts get through… I had been rowing back and forth for a week till he took it away.. so my hands are recovering from blisters as well as other parts, it this heat of the your body drips with sweat, thus I should have worn gloves and sat on a cushion!
I follow with some info on French Polynesia, the place and people, what to do and note of good contacts.. also a bit on the 30day 23 hours from Galapagos – Tuamotu FP.