Bora Bora to Raratonga
Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Thu 27 Aug 2009 18:36
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18.55.54 S 156.14.44 W
Three nights into our passage to Raratonga. we were
not expecting much wind so had a slow start. The second day the wind picked up a
bit. At teatime we caught a big Ship Jack Tuna (we caught two one on each line
at the same time, but the second one decided at the last minute not to come with
us after all), so plenty of fish in the freezer again. Just after dark and all
the supper tidied away we got hit by a squall, which is not unusual, but with
this one the wind changed from 14 kts to 36 in seconds, not giving us enough
time to reef the sails. The result was a very badly torn no 2 genoa, the bottom
half ended up in the water and the top bit flogged itself to shreds on the top
of the fore stay. Duncan managed to get it all back on board and down onto the
deck. We motor sailed with the mail all night, into the waves and the wind, not
much fun. The next afternoon when the wind was a bit less we managed to get the
old no 2 up. We carried on motoring through the night, but put both sails out
this morning and are now sailing again. Not very fast as we are still going into
wind and waves and the wind has come down to 13. That means we will not arrive
into Raratonga until some time Saturday all being well.
  Duncan filleting the tuna with the new filleting
knife
The bits that are left of the top of the no 2
Genoa
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