So much for champagne sailing........ tropical storm hits QM
Quartermoon
Mike Share & Sammy Byron
Thu 3 Jun 2010 21:14
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We are on our way to the Tuamotus after a slight
detour to another Island in the Marquesas - Ua Pou - yet another really stunning
island with the most incredible vegetated basalt spires. We noticed a small tear
in the main sail and decided to pull into an anchorage to mend it as we heard
rumors that we could be in for a few squalls on the way, however nothing
prepared us for the 36 hour tropical storm that we couldn't shake! So much
for beautiful Pacific champagne sailing......
A slow start motoring away from the islands then a
fairly pleasant sail with winds from the SE. Then the fun began... at first we
were hit with the squalls, pretty predictable
during the day as you can quite easily read the clouds or you can
see the torrential rain moving across the water towards you. Apart from getting
very wet, we managed these pretty well with a fully reefed main sail and
then furled the headsail when we needed to decrease the sail
further. Looking back those squalls were a piece of cake, what we'd do for a mere 30
knots!
After a short quiet period of 15 knots we were
then hit with a mental storm with gusts hitting 40 knots +. Mike was at the helm
whilst I got some sleep and apparently it went from 26 to 32 to 40 to 50
knots within a few seconds. That's Force 10 ;-( It
was pitch black so he couldn't see anything worse than normal
above. We had all the reefs in the main but it was still way too much
sail up for the conditions. Mike did an awesome job helming - it was a real
fight to keep the boat bearing off the wind with so much sail out. He was
hanging off the wheel with all his weight and sometimes the rudder just couldn't
stop the boat turning up into wind, driving us beam on into the huge waves -
pretty scary. I tried to get myself out of bed and chuck some clothes on. Its a
rude wake up call at 4am when you have only managed 1 hr of sleep.
So the fun begins....we had to get the mainsail
down but both of us wondering how the hell we were going to do that?? We
were so overpowered and had a preventer on but any effort to get the sail down
was beaten down with derision! A new one for both of us in that sort
of wind, seas and torrential rain. After a bit of deliberation we managed
to sneak a minutes respite in the wind (It dropped to 35 knots) and somehow we
managed to get the main down on the 2nd attempt - relief is a mild
understatement.... So with a small handkerchief of headsail up we managed to
continue on our way still clocking 5.5 knots and we haven't had the mainsail up
since!
 We have heard from some friends ahead whom we
thought were tucked up lovely and safe inside the atoll that they also got hit
by the winds last night and in the process they dragged their anchor in the
middle of the night. Straight over some coral heads and into the lagoon.,Very
Very lucky that they didn't get grounded on one and their boat is still in one
piece.
It has now calmed to about 10 knots or
less and we are motoring through the atolls (Mike says sailing is
ridiculous - always too much or too little wind or from the wrong direction etc
etc). After 50 knots we were struggling to sail downwind so on with the
engine! It was touch and go for a while whether we were going to make
it to the Tuamotus which would have been so disappointing. The passes into the
atolls are very tricky with up to 10 knots of current at times and heaps
of coral pinnacles coming up from nowhere, so ensuring that you
enter at slack water is really important. If you add massive seas and wind into
the mix then it is grave yard for your lovely home... so we weren't going to
risk it. This area was known as the dangerous or low archipelago. It
is inaccurately charted and you can only see some atolls when you are on
top of them - reef with a little sand islet - coming up from 1000's of metres
deep to nothing within a very short distance. The guys who sailed here before
GPS are incredible - getting celestial fixes in those conditions would have
been impossible so it's easy to see why there are so many shipwrecks
littered around the place!
So why are we going there you are probably
thinking??? Well it is known for some of the best diving in the world for seeing
the BIG stuff so Mike (more so than I) is very excited. Lots and lots of sharks,
Manta rays and pelagic fish. The best dives are through the passes and they are
generally drift dives with the current. Our friend saw 50 sharks yesterday on a
snorkel! Also they are probably the most remote atolls in the world; the thing
you see on a sat photo as a giant ring of fringe coral, white sand
beaches with crystal clear lagoons inside, accessible via one or 2 natural
passes.
Lets hope that we don't get eaten by a shark.
Apparently they are very friendly (But hopefully not too much).
All I can get excited about at this precise moment
is a hot bath, a nice comfy bed and a bottle of nice of red wine. Unfortunately
none of that is going to happen in the near future unless Mike treats me to a
resort in Bora Bora (ha ha)........
PS..Forgot to say before all the carnage began we
caught 3 big tuna (also called Pacific Jack) in 5 hrs. Tuna Balti is a
good way to disguise the taste
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