Footnotes from Water Music

We set of from Kauehi early this morning for Rangiora - Grace worrying about the pass which didn't sound the easiest if you got the tide wrong and you had an easterly wind. We got tide wrong and had an easterly wind!

As is our wont, we took the pass with a foul tide - just 3 knots of flood as we left - which was exciting, but not scary. The bore was running - but limited to the very sides of the pass. However once we got out of the Kauehi pass we found that once again the autopilot was not working! Brian (the electrical expert) and Stephen have now diagnosed an electrical voltage problem which may be connected to the rest of the Raymarine equipment. As a result we changed our destination and decided to abort the planned trip to Rangiroa as it would have meant 2 nights at sea - which we would have to manually steer. We also recognised that the trip direct to Tahiti would take 2 nights as, by that stage in the day it would be too late to get to Papeete (Tahiti) in daylight. We finally settled on going back into Fakarava - knowing that we would be hitting the pass at exactly the wrong state of tide. We have ended up back in our favourite island of Fakarava but sadly without the dinghy blown up so we are stuck on board which is frustrating!

Getting in was more exciting. With Gabrielle on the helm, we sailed into the pass at about 7knots - with the engine full on and still we were going nowhere. It is a first for us to surf down a standing wave and still go backwards! Tomorrow is another day ....and another pass ...