I'm very happy to have arrived in the Austral
Islands and be back in French Polynesia.
It was a long crossing.
22 days, not much wind.
We gambled with the fuel use early on,
and lost.
So, we sailed.
There were 3 excellent days of hull
speed beam reaching, then, rien on the windage.
We encountered some squalls and 36
hours of a front that brought rain, headwind and curses.
Overall, we had 9 days of < 100 nm
of progress. The trip took 1 less day than our longest passage last
year, but was 2/3 the length.
We recorded our shortest day of
progress ever- 60 nm.
We were lucky, though, and had no big
gales or storms, no significant mechanical issues and no medical
problems along the way.
By the time we arrived, we were pretty
exhausted. I think on the fatigue continuum I was somewhere between
jet lagged after flying coach to India and finishing a long month of
ER night shifts attending drunks and other random weirdos.
Anyway, for now, it's baguette,
cannonball, pamplemousse, nap, whisky, repeat. Sounds good to me.
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| We had lots of changing conditions during the passage. Spinnaker up, spinnaker down. Pole out the jib, take the pole down. Raise the main, lower the main. |
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| As usual, fantastic sunrise and sunsets across the Pacific. |
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| Somehow, everything has a purpose. |
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| Great dinner! |
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| Ready, set, squall! |
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| We sailed wing and wing for about 2 hours before conditions changed enough that we had to change sail, again. |
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| Day 22- Land ho, captain! |
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| Pulling into the pass at Raivavae. Raivavae has the reputation as being the most beautiful of all the French Polynesian islands. More on that later. |
