Thursday 12th  April:  South Pacific Ocean 14 17.8S  143 56.4W

Today’s Blog by David  (Time zone UTC -9.5;  BST-10.5)

Approaching Tuamotos

We are now two days out from Nuku Hiva, heading southwest on a beam reach in 15 knots of wind.  We are approaching  Isles Tuamotos, a group of 74 atolls (each essentially a ring of coral reefs with the occasional  islands each of which enclose a lagoon  of sheltered water) spread out broadly in a line running NW-SE over about 700 miles of the South Pacific, about 150 miles east of Tahiti.  Of the 74, a little more than 30 are habitable  - at least they were until the French commenced their Nuclear testing programme based on Mururoa which has rendered a no-go zone of the South Eastern-most 200 miles.

These islands are not much more than rings of coral, sea shells and palm trees visible by eye from not more than 10 miles – and then only down sun. Many of them are quite closely spaced at the north west end and so approaching by night is out of the question.  We planned the 500 mile passage based upon an assumed average speed of 7 knots but these are ideal sailing conditions and we are having to reef the sails in order to slow down. With about 100 miles to go we now have just the staysail and three reefs in the mainsail and even then are struggling to stay below 7 knots.  A nice problem to have!

We will get to Kauehi in the morning, and will need to wait for the sun to be high enough in the sky to enable us to navigate. We will winch a man 8 metres up the mast with polarised glasses whose job it is to con the boat through the coral heads and into the lagoon. The currents run strongly in the entrance channels – up to 8 knots, so we need also to time our arrival for slack water.   Tomorrow we are fortunate that high water is around midday.  

So you can see that these are very different from the Galapagos and Marquesas Islands, steep to the shore with 300m volcanoes visible from 60 miles. A very different kettle of fish. Hmmm…...

Mr Rice and Bits goes up market

Mt Pasta and Bits having already branched out last week, Mr Rice and Bits has now found the recipe book;  the other day he produced designer “Rice and Bits” - chicken in ginger and coconut milk, served with pak choy and rice.  So good that he has engendered a little competition among  duty chefs…. Good!

Mr Grumpy  on a Good Day

Here is a photo of David, a man well known for his cheerful and sunny disposition, but here at his most expressive:

And,  here, his crew

What about the Whales?

What indeed!  In out blog of March 4^th, we said:

“It is said that this next leg is one of the more likely legs for us to – literally -  run into a big whale.  Good job we had a watertight collision bulkhead fitted when the boat was built!”

And indeed it was, because, In summary, this morning at about 8 15AM we were bowling along at about 8 knots. The sun was shining and the sea, blue – all was well with the world when we hit a whale!

Suddenly, with a peremptory THUMP, THUMP, the boat juddered as if we had hit the ground (in about 3,000 metres of water, this was an unlikely event) and we pretty much stopped in the water momentarily before our speed began to pick up again.   It actually felt like we had fallen off a big wave in heavy sea, but this morning the sea was smooth and flat.

Quite what kind of whale I cannot tell you. There was a commotion in the water on our starboard quarter but it was all too quick to identify it.  In retrospect, since there was no evident puffing and blowing that we might have expected of a mammal  (consider  how you might react had you been hit by a 33 tonne object travelling at 8 knots!) and given out close encounter with a whale shark earlier (blog passim) , and having ruled out more solid objects (containers, trees etc.  because it was a thud not a sharp bang) we speculate that one such whale shark might have been the culprit.

Anyway – our hull is still water tight and there is no evident damage – the bilge pump remains silent  (yes -  it is turned on, but thanks for asking!!).  Tomorrow we will dive under the boat and inspect her – then decide what further action might be necessary.

Never a dull moment in this sailing lark!