We made the 65 mile crossing to Ua Pou today. We before dawn at 0500, hoping that if we could make five or six knots we would arrive at Hakahau Bay by mid afternoon, or at least before dark. But the first fifteen miles or so were in the wind shadow of the mountains of Tahuata and Hiva Oa, so the winds were shifty and inconsistent.

So we tucked downwind with main and Genoa, waiting for the wind to settle. We put off poling out the jib or committing to our downwind drifter sail until we were sure the gusts wouldn’t be too strong. When we set the drifter we got off to a good start, making better than six knots dead downwind with 17 or 18 knots of true wind and twelve knots apparent - ideal.

But when I woke from my nap, we were slatting about and making just three knots in under knots of breeze. Our hope of visiting town this afternoon evaporated, and we started worrying about entering a strange harbor late at night. At least the weather was nice, with brilliant sun all day. With several wind shifts we ended up setting and dropping job pole and main several times - each change takes half an hour!

As it turned out, Hakahau is pretty easy to enter in the dark, and the wind picked up enough finally that we were rounding the rugged northeast point of Ua Pou at sunset, looking at the island’s tall spire thrusting into the cloud in the after glow, and we still had enough twilight to pick our way into the calm harbor. We set the anchor hard, with lots of room to swing without hitting any of the other three sailboats anchored here. Plenty of time to explore town tomorrow!