14.41S 145.33W

Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Sun 14 Aug 2011 03:03
13th August, 2011
 
Today at 7am we sighted land for the first time in over three weeks. Our first contact with the real world came at the island of Takaroa. The morning was perfectly still as we motored around the western side of the island past the wreck of the steel clipper ship "County of Roxburgh" and onto the village nearby.
Overnight things went very quiet for us not long after dusk when the wind dropped out to a dead calm. At around 9pm we had given up any hope of sailing and fired up the motors so that we could continue our progress towards Papeete. In the early hours of the morning we motored through our now all familiar rain squalls which produced 20 knots of wind but importantly a torrential downpour of rain. I think it is now safe to say that the rain catcher that I devised in Panama is a success with two downpours overnight putting about 60 litres in our tank.
At first light the situation regarding wind had not changed, but the sky had completely cleared. All day we have been motoring in conditions that can only be described as perfect (for motoring). Most of the day we have had glassy smooth, deep blue water and cloudless skies. Late this afternoon we shut down the motors to have a swim and a shower. The water temperature at the moment is 30 degrees C so this was no hardship.
It is now 6pm and the sun is heading towards the horizon. We are still in a glass-off, but there is just a hint of wind coming across the water. The only other time I have seen conditions like this is on fishing trips we have made to Shark Bay. We are 78nm from heading through the pass east of Rangiroa and should head through there mid-morning tomorrow. From there we have a 200nm sail (hopefully) to make it to Papeete Harbour and a long, uninterrupted sleep.
Yesterday we travelled a mere 102nm, but most of this was under motor.
All things being well this should be our second last night of the passage and we are both grateful for this.
 
Andrew Partington