It was looking unlikely to make Bora Bora by dark at the end of my overnight watch. The wind had softened to about 15 knots - not enough to push the boat dead downwind at the five and half knots we needed with the loose footed Genoa alone. I didn’t want to hoist the main, since running wing and wing chafes the sails and in the rolly seas the boom gets to be a loose cannon,

At the change of watch, I suggested to Robin that we set the spinnaker pole on the Genoa to let us run dead downwind, but she was skeptical. She doesn’t like to watch me working on deck in the dark with the pole on rolly seas. When I pointed out we would go a little faster, Robin changed her mind and said, let’s do it.

So we set the pole and picked up speed, and by afternoon we had rounded Raieteia island and could just pick out the volcanic cone of Bora Bora in the mist. As we feared, there was a dead zone downwind of Raieteia, and we even started warming up the engine. But the wind shifted and filled in just as I started the 1400 watch.

The mountains of Raieteia were veiled in rain - I couldn’t tell if the squall was just a mountain squall or whether it would come our way. But as the wind started to increase my squall sense said “Reef NOW!”, so I put in two reefs. Which was a good thing since the rain squall brought gusts to 30 knots.

The squall passes, the wind dropped, and we were able to sail right up to the fringing reef that guards the lagoons around Bora Bora’s volcanic peaks. With the burst of speed from the squall plus the steady reaching breeze afterwards, we entered Teavanui Pass at 1720, motored south through the lagoon and picked up a mooring off of Bloody Mary’s just as the sunset painted the towering peaks of Bora Bora.

Bora Bora by dark! Just the name sounds like the most exotic place one could possibly sail! We will spend a few days here while figuring out what to do next.

While tieing in the reef I noticed a crack in the weld on the boom gooseneck toggle fitting - a fitting that is usually hidden under the folds of the sail. I had this fitting re-welded a year ago - but I will try to find a welder here in Bora Bora.