Karen falls out of restaurant.

X86
Rich Carey
Tue 10 Jul 2018 22:11
16 38.20S, 151 29.30W

No alcohol was to blame.

We left Raiatea at a very respectful 09:30 and cruised to a petrol station to take on 20 litres of Benz. Found a nice wall to attach to, with skillful helming from Chance as ever. Then it was off to Tahaa, and a channel digging a mile and a half into it. No mighty hills around, but super lush greenery as ever, and a nice restaurant at the end of the bay.
The bar opened at18:00, so naturally we arrived at 17:59. Then some fun games of UNO, and a nice dinner. The only other tables occupied (3 Inc us), we're also yachties and one we knew. As we left, the folks we knew were also leaving, and Karen engaged them over the restaurant wall, which was attached to the dingy dock (actually vicky verky). While I walked 5 meters around the wall and down the steps to talk to them, Karen squeezed through a gap in the wall, which was two feet higher than the dock, and stepped off into free space ("I was sure there was a step there"). She hit the deck at standard freefall velocity, and we give all hail to the god of broken bones and smashed in craniums, for having taken the night off. Bashed, bruised, but broken not. Diagnosis indicates a route cause of 'plonkerism'.

Windy woo.

We headed to our current bay, to hole up for an expected Gale. Expectations were fully realized, with the top gust seen, of 36 Knots, and otherwise a fairly constant 25. This is a deep narrow inlet and we are right at the end - but - the wind blowing full force straight down it. Of 360 degrees, there's only a 'bad' 10 degree segment, and that's exactly what it is ! However, while a bit nervy, the holding is good, in soft mud, so we hold fast. Only two other boats are here, and they also have not moved. While there is a reef protecting the Island, the fetch between us and it, is long enough for the waves to build, so we are all at sea here. We've not been ashore for a few days as we'd get somewhat damp in the tender, but a shopping trip is on the horizon, fortunately the shop a bit closer than that.
Alas this Green Bay is not a good swimming environment, so we just lounge, reading and watching TV. I'm currently watching 'The Colony' which I'd rate as 6.5/10 - the leading lady, being a bit annoying, drags the score down a half point.

The wierd picture, shows how the boat has been ranging relative to the anchor (small blue triangle), over the last 3 days. Yellow arrow showed the wind direction at the time of the photo. Densest black track area, showing where the wind was strongest, so the ranging was small, as we held fairly static.

Unfortunately, while there will be a lull in a few days time, it will be brief and the east south easterlies will return, so this is going to be a windy couple of weeks.

All's well on x86, Karen's washed undies are flapping wildly on a line outside - non escaped yet.



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