11.21S 142.43W

16/5/09

Day 3

We left the Marquesas, Nuku Hiva, on Thrsday at 2pm; before we were out of the anchorage the water powered generator fell apart and had to be hauled out of the water. The following morning we replaced 2 bolts which were leftover from a previous repair and it’s now back in business. The wind is rubbish and the engine, without battery charging, has been on for 36hrs and likely to remain so till we reach Rangiroa in the Tuamatus.

On Friday morning we woke up to find, for the first time in a month, another boat in OUR ocean, who, when he inevitably caught up with us, turned out to be a chap with a catamaran we’d met in Nuku Hiva. Unlike us who are fat and slow, he roared off to port on a beam reach with his spinnaker out. Despite the humiliation and envy we plodded on. Overnight the wind completely dropped and spun around at 2-3 knots for five hours like a roulette board – engine on fairly sharpish. Next morning we awoke to find another cat behind us. Hours later, he turned out to be the same one we’d met the day before who’d had the most horrible time in the middle of the night getting his spinnaker down and presumably lost several hours in the process. Needless to say he’s now miles ahead of us again, but it was odd to see the same fast chap 2 miles behind you on two successive mornings!

Various repairs to damage caused by careless crew but little else to report.

Keith

Guy realised that we were not going to make it to Tahiti in time for his flight home so jumped ship from Nuku Hiva by air. Definitely the right decision as there is only 5 knots of wind swirling around so our passage to Rangiroa in the Tuamotus is going slowly but with no deadlines we are chilled.

It now seems very quiet and the nights are longer but we have quickly adapted to being just the 2 of us again.

Should get to Rangiroa in about 3 or 4 days and have to look at tides to get through the pass into the lagoon when it is slack. Don’t like the sound of 6 knots of riptide on the ebb, but like most of what they say it might not be true. Hopefully not worse than the Pointe du Raz. Supposed to be related to moonrise.

Clare