White water rafting
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Thu 27 May 2010 01:44
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Wednesday 26th May 1457 Local 0057 UTC (27th
May)
15:39.86S 148:21.27W
I desperately need a haircut and I hope that I can
bring Trish and I and Rhinn Marie safely into Pepe'ete tomorrow morning and
visit a barber. I am still on my Galapagos haircut.
Two days a go we entered the East pass at Rangiroa
and as it turned out it was no problem atall despite its reputation.
However 2 hours later I viewed the pass from the shore and it was fierce with
large standing waves and very fast flowing current with large eddies to boot.
You may also recall that I was describing to you some of the phenomenon that
can occur with flow reversals etc in these passes. Well funnily enough
after the 30 knot blow from the South East we had had the previous week so much
water had spilled over the reef into the atoll that there was only outflow for
three days. Try making that work in a spreadsheet to predict times!
Rangiroa is enormous and the whole of Tahiti could fit inside it. It is the
second largest coral atoll in the world.
Anyway we were safely tucked up in a slightly
uncomfortable anchorage for the night right in front of the now closed Kia Ora
village hotel (one of these places with picturesque thatched bungalows out
on stilts above the water) but now closed down due to the economic
downturn. The next day, Trish's birthday I organised to be up at first
light and moved the boat 15 miles west across the atoll, which was the
windward side of a lee shore, to visit the Blue Lagoon.
After anchoring up in a very wild anchorage with
only 15 knots blowing we launched the dingy. The boat was pitching heavily but I
had 70meteres of chain out so it was safe, but getting into the dingy was really
difficult and terrifying for Trish with it's violent movements. We took the
dingy inside a coral bar that seemed to surround a lagoon which was very pretty.
On the way in we had our second major encounter with Manta rays. They must be
mating just now and they were going through a ritual of wswimming on the surface
head to head right up to each other almost kissing. Some of them were
offering themselves up by swimming belly up in front of the very large, I take
it male, and some were again trying to get it on with our
dingy.
After wading through this lagoon I could take the
rib no further so we anchored it up. We then wandered through the lagoon between
two islands and the most incredible scene you can ever imagine opened up to us.
I will not try to describe the Blue Lagoon as our superlatives are wareing this
but it really was one of the most beautiful scenes I have even set eyes
upon.
Later on it was back to our anchorage at the other
side of the atoll after having real difficulty getting Trish back onto Rhiann
Marie after the wind freshening and the pitching getting worse. She was shaken
to say the least. Calmly back in the lee of the eastern Motu we anchored up and
went ashore to a superb hotel and restaurant Mai Tai for a Birthday dinner.
Simply delicious, and the setting very romantic overlooking the
lagoon.
This moring it was up early at 0645 to be in the
pass at 0800 to try and get to Tahiti 220 miles away by noon tomorrow. Trish was
slightly fragile still after her ordeal yesterday trying to get off the
dingy. It doesn't sound like much but the rib was surging forcefully up and down
by more than a metre behind Rhiann Marie. Anyway I was trying to be gentle with
her and just get her to Tahiti in one piece. However I had got up in the middle
of the night to take a grib and we were due to have 20 knots increasing to 25
knots for our passage to Tahiti this morning. That in itself would be fine but
it was just forward of the beam. We were going South West and the wind was
coming solidly from the South East so the sea would be on or just forward
of our beam. I didn't really say anything to Trish about the forecast just
to take two Stugeron as she quite often does on our first day of a passage. This
passage would only be one day but it was our first proper open water sailing of
any distance since we had sailed down from the Marquesas a few weeks
ago.
Anyway we arrived at the pass Trish presented
herself fo duty in her best bikini and asked if she should go forward as normal
to keep a lookout for the shallows in the pass. I said OK but maybe at the
mast - or the forestay whiever she felt comfortable with. There was a lot going
on in the pass and the flow was behind us so we hit 14.1 knots! I just called
Trish to come back when we hit the first of the standing waves and it was too
late! Big oops! The boat bucked and pitched and lurched violently and we
were shipping large amounts of white water over the foredeck. Trish was hanging
onto the forestay with both arms wrapped right round and was almost
disappearing from view with so much spray. She said her feet were also coming
off the deck as the boat pitched. Oh shit, she was trapped there and could not
let go and I had just to keep the boat going through it. "Are you OK?" I
screamed at her from 50 foot back. She just managed a thumbs up with a hand
that was wrapped round the forestay. Maybe she's even having a laugh I
thought. She was not. She said she was scared shitless and though it was the
ride of a lifetime it was not to be repeated under any circumstances. Think
white water rafting without choosing to
go.
This was not funny and it was a bad error on my
part. It could have turned nasty. It was not intentional of course but will not
be repeated.
I am now working hard to make sure we get down to
Pape'ete in one piece as it really is the last passage in another huge milestone
in our circumnavigation. It is however one of the poorest days we have had to
date with the wind as forecast 20 - 25 knots on the beam and the sea, which is
rough, is just forward of the beam, meaning we are having a lot of breaking
waves over the boat. The sprayhood is currently joined up to the bimini and one
of my bimini sides is on to try and keep the cockpit dry but it looks like a
long day and an even longer night.......
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