Bobbing Along.....

BOBBING ALONG  

 

Position 13D31.720s 142D33.620w

Approximately 210 nautical miles left to sail

 

Sunday, July 24 - we have just completed the second day of our 3 day journey to the Tuamotus Islands in French Polynesia.  We are headed to an atoll called Kauehi.  It was recomended by our friends on Saba who are also headed there.  Unfortunately the winds dropped during the night and instead of zipping along at 7.5 knots we are now bobbing along at 5 knots.  Our short journey may be extended another night because we have to time our arrival at Kauehi wih the correct tide.  The difficulty with this part of French Polynesia is the hidden coral heads and dangerous enties/exits into the lagoons of the atolls.  Each atoll has a tide.  All the water needs to squeeze out through a narrow pass when the tide falls and in through a narrow pass when the tide rises.  Sometimes if waves have been breaking over the coral reef there can be more water to exit than usual.  The secret is to judge your entry and exit to coincide with the calmer time as the tide changes or just after.  If you time it wrong you may have a head current faster than you can drive against or a tail current that sweeps you along preventing you from controlling the direction of your yacht.  An additional hazard is waterfalls being formed when the tide height is extreme.  Once in the lagoon you must also watch for the hidden coral heads.  We only plan to visit 2 atolls during our stay.  We are now running under full sail to try and increase our speed.  This is the first time we have pushed Faraway under full sail in the Pacific.  The drop in winds has also brought less swell and we are now able to move around the boat much more comfortably.  It feels unusual to be sailing along without being surrounded by towering waves and I definitely prefer these calmer conditions.  I even made bread yesterday but it still didn't pass the Blandy taste test.  Ian said it was more like a scone then bread so most of his went overboard.