After an afternoon of dinghy sailing in anchorage #8 (Nuku island), we decided to do a "peanut" crossing, we mean a serious crossing of 6 miles from anchorage #8 to Neiafu in a Davisson sailing dinghy of Orca III that we renamed "peanut". Peanut can only hold three of us comfortably so Jocelyn, Maya and Alec skippered the first leg of the trip and got "the easy downwind part" say Kyle, Emilie and Jenny who had to tack multiple times into the entrance of the harbor.
It was a real crossing with a major brake, luckily at the end of the voyage, the aluminum mast broke, nearly hitting Emilie ....but all in all it was so much fun! It took us 2 hours and we almost kept up with the big boats (Malachi, Orca III, and even speedy O'Vive) who were following along. We had up to 20 knots and went almost 4.5 knots at one point. The coordinate of the transfer point was 18' 40 355S (we are in the southern hemisphere); 174 02 003W (West).
Kyle says: "It took Orca III for ever to pass us, I felt very proud!"
Alec says: "It was intense at time, when it gusted to 25 knots!"
Emilie says: "It was so much fun to sail on our own!"
Maya says: "We were spreading like peanut butter with a peanut!"
Jocelyn says: "It was fun and faster than I thought it would be!"
Jenny says: "We were so excited to pack our lunch that we ate it as soon as we got in the dinghy, good so it didn't get wet!"
Check out more pictures in the pictures gallery (on the right) under Tonga