June 11, 2011

We left Bora Bora at 7:30 am under 30% cloud cover, winds 15-20 knots per hour. The night before, we received the go ahead weather forecast from McDavitt, a New Zealander who specializes in forecasting weather in this area for mariners. This is the first time we are using a voyage service (approximate cost, $100) but we like his confirmation that this is a good time to make this 8+ day crossing. He provides estimated headings, winds, and waves based on our destination, boat type and expected speed at different points along the way. Once we cleared Bora Bora island, the waves built to 10' and stayed that way for the next 24 hours. We immediately missed the quiet lagoon around Bora Bora. It will take a day or two to get used to the motion of being on the open ocean again. We are heading west and the wind and waves are coming mostly from the east, right behind us. This point of sail, directly downwind, is not our best angle of sail. On downwind, Dream Caper is slow. In winds over 15 knots we try to sail wing-on-wing (the mainsail on one side and the jib on the other). It is the only way we get any speed. It is, however, difficult to hold this configuration of one sail on each side; we have to hold the course exactly but often waves totally mess up the heading and one sail will flop to the wrong side which has to be corrected immediately. This requires a person watching the auto pilot constantly and making small corrections to ensure the heading does not vary more than 2 degrees. We cannot use our spinnaker or gennaker because they are light wind sails and the predicted gusts of 30 knots would make them unmanageable and could damage them. We are conservative sailors and, therefore, go slow rather than risk problems from having too much sail out. At 4:00 pm, anticipating nightfall when we want to have a very safe sail configuration, we double-reefed the main. With this sail set we made 5 knots, slow, but a safe speed for night time sailing. We each tried to nap in the afternoon, then Steve took the first night watch from 7 to midnight while Portia slept from 8 to midnight. Feeling fairly rested, Portia took the watch from midnight to 6:30 am, a long shift but she was not too sleepy, she enjoyed listening to recorded radio programs during most of the night, and Steve needed the rest. Because there was too much of a rocking movement from the winds from behind us and the 10' waves hitting us on an angle on our stern, it was too uncomfortable to read.

We made 130 miles of the 1100 miles after our first 24 hour period. Not great but okay in these conditions. The ½ moon was out during most of the night which at least lit the horizons, making it easier to stay physically orientated. One very quick but drenching rain squall hit during the beginning of Portia's watch, but the night was otherwise calm.