This is the first blog of Leg 7: we tour French Polynesia. Sailing there was too much effort for us to leave the area before we see more of the beautiful islands strewn around the South Pacific!

We left our Wings "on the hard" (on land) on the island of Raiatea, French Polynesia (about 110 nm from the island of Tahiti) and flew home to Alaska. Wings is in a cradle rather than on separate boat stands, and that helps protect her by being more stable. We also hired a person to watch over her, someone who will open her up to fresh air once a week, and watch for problems aboard. Having a boat watcher is a first for us, but leaving her for so long compelled our decision.

So much to do while here in Alaska! As you remember, perhaps, we had some engine problems to solve. Unknown to us, a leak formed in the heat exchanger tubes through which cooling ocean water travels. The heat exchanger, as the name implies, transfers engine heat captured in engine coolant, to the ocean salt water pumped through the heat exchanger, then expels the warm salt water back into the ocean. The salt water bled through the holes in the tube walls and into the coolant system, increasing the volume of coolant. While salt water is an excellent heat exchanging liquid, it's very corrosive to the engine and not welcomed. The excess coolant caused overflow from the coolant overflow container, and by happenstance, that salt water/coolant dripped on the starter. The starter and solenoid corroded: a stunning example of a "cascade failure", a fancy name for the domino effect. The only supplier for the parts is in England, so all of the many parts had to shipped from England to Raiatea. Jeez...

The new starter has been installed. The injectors have been replaced with the new ones that we left for that purpose. The new heat exchanger is yet to be installed but is in the works. There are several more less-drastic repairs in the schedule. I'd LOVE not to have to do all of this work myself!

West Marine very kindly replaced the used whisker pole that they mistakenly sent and at their cost, sent the replacement to us. It's on Raiatea awaiting our return. The new solar panel charge controller is there, now: it failed on the Pacific crossing and the manufacturer was quite contrite and replaced the unit and paid for shipping.

We bought a new anchor: a 65-lb Mantus (http://mantusanchors.com/why-mantus/) We were fortunate to be accepted by Mantus as a testing boat, so we'll provide some feedback to Mantus on how the anchor performs in the bottoms that we experience in French Polynesia. Our old and loved 45-lb CQR has had some holding and setting problems now that we're in sand and coral and we searched around until we found this anchor. We have very high hopes that the 20 extra pounds and new design will provide some much needed security. More on this throughout the leg, I'm sure. As official Mantus "Ambassadors", they rightly expect some feedback and analysis from us. We're the only Ambassadors in the South Pacific and they were excited to have their anchor tested there. Shipping it to Tahiti? Not so cheap.

At long last, we're discarding our old Gamefisher outboard. The 1970s-vintage Sears outboard is persnickety to operate and finding parts is all but impossible, and it wasn't a great engine when it was new! We'll give it to someone who wants a challenge, or someone we don't like. We've decided on a new, 4-cycle, 6-horsepower Mercury short shaft. Getting an outboard from the US of A to Tahiti is simply too expensive and complex so we'll buy one in Papeete. The extra weight of the 4-cycle is a problem that we've yet to solve, but we need an outboard that's reliable and that we can operate or sell in the US when we return. The 6 HP has a fuel tank in its head so we don't necessarily need an external tank to try and store: a plus for us. It also has a compression release so that starting is much easier: a plus for Conni. She MUST be able to start and operate the thing. Our huge dinghy will easily support the engine's weight. We might need a lift for the engine, and that adds to the cost, but we'll do what's necessary. The lift might double as a support post for a wind generator, if we buy another one. This is a great example of the way boat projects balloon in price.

We've got a ton of smaller items stacked at home: spares and replacement parts, for the most part. It's a room full! We've purchased a lot of items from our local West Marine during our time here. I'll replace all of our old potable water hose, so we have 100 ft of ½-in water hose, various new fittings, and hose clamps. We have 300-ft of 3/8-inch double braid rope for various tasks. We have a new main halyard and shackle. There are hundreds of items, small and large.

We have tickets. We have a return date. We even have a few people who want to join us in French Polynesia for some sailing time. Personally, I can hardly wait to return to Wings and begin the tour.