The Tuamotus are a series of atolls, typically 5 – 10 miles in
diameter – low lying coral rings with a pass to get inside. Some are
inhabited and some not. They cover a huge area in the pacific to the south of the
Marquesas and east of Tahiti.
After studying various charts, articles and pilot books, we decided to make our
land fall on Raroia (where the Kon Tiki was wrecked on the coral in
1947). The wind looked like a good beam reach – easterly 15 knots
constant. The problem with theses atolls is that you have try to get
through the passes at slack water – at other times the water can run out
at between 5 and 10 knots and there can be huge standing waves depending on
wind and sea conditions. So the name of the game is to time your arrival
to coincide with low water. We based our passage of 450 miles on an average of
7 knots. We set off at 11.30am Thursday with an easterly wind of around
20 knots which gradually built and all through last night it blew 25k and even
with deep reefed main and small staysail, we couldn’t get the speed much
below 8 – 8.5k without making the boat’s rolling motion
unacceptable. Once again those lovely rolling long waves of the pacific have
eluded us and the seas are huge – with the waves on the beam. So
this morning we came to the conclusion that Raroia is not a viable option, so
at 0630 we bore away for Manahini. We are currently broad reaching under genoa
only, making between 7 and 7.5 knots but have the waves mainly on the stern.
24 hour distance: 182 miles Position: 11.34.57S
141.10.08W