We were welcomed to Pitcairn by Imagination, who arrived the previous day, and Serenity, who arrived earlier in the day. It took us just over eight days to sail the 1,162 miles.

Our trip was full of adverse conditions…weather, boat systems and attitudes. Big winds, squalls, big seas, wind on the nose, wind on the stern, no wind…all make for an uncomfortable ride. We were really getting to experience true ocean sailing. And, we were really certain that we didn’t like it. There was no champagne sailing on Sheric. Our bilge was still taking on water, the sideband radio was acting up and we were not able to receive email or weather data, the shackle on the starboard running back broke, the line that the halyards were tied to broke and the anchor was bouncing around because the pin came out of the chock. Seemed like one thing right after another. We used almost as much fuel on this trip as we did going to Easter Island. Thankfully we were able to re-fuel before leaving.

We spent one night anchored at Pitcairn. Around midnight, the conditions changed, the wind shifted and Sheric rolled and bounced (quite violently at times). All three boats picked up anchor and went around the corner to see if the northwest side of the island was any more comfortable. Turns out…it wasn’t. Imagination and Serenity decided to stay and tough it out. They had already cleared in, gone to shore and wanted to go back again.

We elected to keep going on to the Gambiers in French Polynesia. After calling Pitcairn Radio to inform them of our departure, we said our goodbyes to the other two boats and set sail for Mangareva. While we were disappointed that we would miss spending time on the island, we weren’t really interested in being uncomfortable at anchor for the next couple of days.

It should have been a two-day sail but we had more adverse conditions…squalls with gusts to 35 knots, big seas and then no wind. Once again, we were not happy. While we try not to enter unfamiliar anchorages after dark, we arrived at the Gambiers just prior to sunset and we were exhausted. The wind on the west side of the island was blowing 25 knots (seemed like there was a funnel effect) and we weren’t really interested in doing circles for 12 hours. Against our usual practice, we elected to enter the channel and try to find a spot to anchor inside. We found that the buoys were not lit but we had watched another boat (Sea You Soon) on AIS as they entered and they followed the well-marked channel on the chart so we used that as our guide. Since the wind was still blowing quite hard, the waves in the channel were breaking over the bow of the boat and throwing Sheric’s nose rather high into the air. Thankfully, Jarvis (our autopilot) was able to handle the motion and kept us on track. Once we were through the channel, we hailed Sea You Soon on the VHF and asked if they had found a place to anchor. They indicated they were set and there was plenty of room around them. Again, since the buoys were not lit, both boats had decided not to go all the way into the Rikitea anchorage until the next morning.

We were unable to set our anchor on the first attempt. We could hear the anchor and chain dragging over coral. We picked the anchor up and moved the boat to the other side of the anchoring area (that was indicated on the chart) and dropped the anchor. Once again, we could hear grinding and dragging over the coral. Since the boat seemed to be holding, we decided to stay put even though we knew we probably weren’t set. Over the next 30 minutes or so, we realized that we were very close to a reef (we could hear the breaking waves go past Sheric onto the reef) and with each wave, Sheric would be lifted and slammed down as the chain was getting wrapped around the coral heads below. Just as we were trying to get settled for the night, we heard a loud bang then silence. We immediately started the engine and realized the boat was quickly heading onto the reef. Before Sherry even made it to the bow to check out what happened, Ric was yelling that we were grounded. Sherry found the chain had broken and we were adrift. It was completely dark and we had no idea which way we were facing. Unsure what to do next, we decided to put the engine in reverse and try to back off the reef. Thankfully, with a little gunning of the engine, we were able to clear the reef and get back into deep water. With that behind us, we still had to figure out what to do about anchoring. Our Rocna anchor and at least 150 feet of chain was sitting in the coral below. While Sherry drove the boat in circles around the green buoy in the channel, Ric tried to figure out how he was going to connect our spare anchor to the remaining chain. Needless to say…it was very stressful and quite unnerving. After taking a few deep breaths and uttering quite a few curse words, Ric grabbed some tools and a shackle then went to the front of the boat with his life vest and tether. The last thing we needed was for him to fall overboard. Within about 20 minutes, the spare anchor was attached to the remaining chain and we returned to the anchorage (later we realize it was really just an area within a reef) to find the shallowest water possible since, at this point, we didn’t know how much chain we still had on board. We never did find any sand to anchor in. In fact, we dropped the anchor then watched as the boat drifted toward the shallow water. We kept one-hour anchor watches throughout the night and re-anchored four times. The final time we anchored, the boat held but only because the chain was wrapped around a coral head. Again, we were hearing the grinding of the chain across the coral with each rolling wave coming to shore. Neither of us slept and we were both very concerned about losing our spare anchor. Filled with adrenalin and worry, we impatiently waited until first light so we could try to assess the situation with the anchor. We wanted to get out of the reef area as soon as possible and into the actual protected anchorage. At sunrise, we attempted to lift the anchor and discovered that the chain was stuck in the coral. We tried a couple of times to put out more chain then bring it back in hoping to relieve the tension and unwind. Unfortunately, we weren’t that lucky. In fact, the remaining bow roller was crushed and both sides of the chain harness snapped due to the tension on the chain. Around 0700, Sherry got on the VHF radio and called Ieta (pronounced Yeta), one of the boats in the anchorage with their AIS turned on. Thankfully, Peter answered and listened as Sherry explained our situation and asked for help. Peter graciously took over and coordinated with other cruisers (Sylvio & Patricia on Barbarossa) to find someone willing and able to dive on our anchor to assess the situation. About 45 minutes later, Adam and Alyssa arrived in their dinghy. They are Americans and their boat, Heritage, was anchored inside. Adam was able to free dive to determine the situation with our chain and anchor. He then directed us in lifting while he moved chain away from the coral heads and freed the anchor. Once the anchor was on board, we tied up their dinghy to our boat and they both came aboard for the ride into the protected town anchorage. You can imagine…we were very appreciative of their time and effort to come to our rescue.

We found a spot, dropped the anchor and sighed a breath of relief. Adam and Alyssa took off in their dinghy and returned a few minutes later with a baguette and a grapefruit. They had offered to make breakfast for us but we graciously declined and suggested we get together soon for dinner (our treat). What incredibly nice and generous people!!!

Once we were settled, we were sitting in the salon and took a minute to hug each. Sherry let out a few tears. We agreed that we should assess our future with sailing but that we didn’t want to make any life-altering decisions just after the stress of the situation. We needed to take a few days to decompress and stop shaking.