Sailing into Hiva Oa - Cruising Blogs

More yachts from the World ARC around the world sailing rally are pulling into the Hiva Oa anchorage in the Marquesas. Here are some more of the crews cruising blogs from sea and in the Marquesas in the south pacific.

Yacht: Kasuje

Hi all,
This will be our last log on this passage as we have some 140 nm to go and anticipate making landfall about 10 pm tonight our time. That's 07.30 Thursday morning in the UK.

Many thanks for all your emails during the passage, we await them with eager anticipation and your good wishes help us through the less pleasant moments.
Thanks also to my great crew on this leg ,firstly for looking after me during my bout of Montezuma's and for there patience on this long passage.
This is the longest single passage and the furthest from landfall we will encounter on the whole world cruise and I think it is fair to say that we will all be glad to hit land.( Well not exactly hit land but gently come alongside). Fortunately the passage has been without incident, just the usual maintenance items and Kasuje has behaved impeccably.
So bye for now we will send an update probably at the weekend and then on reaching Tahiti and I leave you for now with one more image from the Galapagos.

Love to all
Hope to catch up in April
Skipper Steve, Angela ,Bruce and Ruby.

Yacht: Cleone

Leg 4 Day 17 - Complacency

Pride comes before a fall, but what comes after Complacency?

I can tell you when you are sailing; tearing one of your best and most important sails. The Skipper was calmly relaxing in his bunk, thinking that every thing's cool but a touch windy. The crew's on deck, thinking probably the same kind of thoughts. So the Skipper (being the skipper) has a bright idea. What about another reef in the mainsail? Well, the crew, being the crew, think that it is a splendid idea, and so the drama begins.

But first to set the scene. Cleone has an inner forestay, off which to fly our storm-sails, as I think I've already explained. Partly because the original place it was secured to when not in use has broken, and partly to make it more convenient should it be needed, when at sea this forestay is secured and tensioned to the strong-point on the deck designed for it when in use. The disadvantage to this is that when we tack, gybe or need to reef the sail, the easiest and safest way of doing this is to furl the Genoa. Despite the work involved (pulling the furling rope in a breeze is quite a challenge; ask the crew) there are two advantages to this; one it means (in theory at least) that the Genoa does not flap around the crew's head as they are working at the mast with the boat's head to wind, and also that the Genoa does not beat itself to death on the stays and mast at the same time. So, since on a leg like this we don't tack or gybe that often (though we do seem to reef and un-reef fairly often - say once or twice a day), it make sense. But yesterday, all this logic went out of the window (out of the porthole? Ed). In furling the Genoa preparatory to reefing the main (which, as it transpires, we should probably have done some time before), the lazy sheet became wrapped round the Genoa and forestay, and forced the Genoa onto the waiting spinnaker pole. By the time this was noticed, it was too late, and there was a six-foot tear in the Genoa.

Well you can imagine the scene that followed. A lot of swearing - obviously - helped enormously. But the crew responded well, and we rapidly unfurled the torn sail (counter-intuitively) and stripped it out of the forestay foil, shoving it unceremoniously down the fore-hatch. Continuing at the rapid rate, we next set the working jib. This gave us a bit of shelter to work behind, and soon the spare Genoa (in all its ancient glory) was flying bravely, drawing Cleone along once more at over 6 knots. There remained only to furl the working jib, and then there was leisure time to have a cup of tea and inspect the damage. We could needle-and-thread it, but on the other hand it is a complex tear, starting near the Clew as it does and moving along a seam towards the luff. So, since we are not anticipating any up-wind work for a bit, it's probably better to entrust it to a sail-maker straight away. It will have to be mended properly as soon as we can anyway, so any work we did would have to be undone, and might make matters worse. So we hope there is a good sailmaker available, either in the Marquesas or in Tahiti.

Apart from that, we've managed to make another 160 miles or so of progress. The wind has held up throughout the night and this morning, much as predicted for us by John Dyer and Commander's weather. A very nasty cross-sea (cross as in diagonal, not angry - Ed) developed during the night, making life pretty uncomfortable, particularly for those trying to sleep below (ask Elizabeth). But this morning, although the wind is much as before, the sea is much more even, and life is more comfortable.

So with that I will close.

All well and happy, but the Skipper is having to cook again. Yesterday's potato cakes from the hands of the Master (take a bow, Chris) will be impossible to match.

Best wishes,
James, Chris & Elizabeth
Yacht Cleone
09.20S 131.163W

Yacht: Lady Kay

generator trouble

Hi
Only 445nm to go - made v good progress overnight at the cost of being thrown into the air a regular intervals whilst trying to sleep. I had to prize my grip from the mattress when I woke up.
Generator stalled last night. Michael changed the fuel filter, which was full of muck - impossible to get clean fuel in Galapagos - but unfortunately we still have a problem - possibly with the coolant system or the impeller. Both engines are working, so not too much of a problem as we can use these to generate power. Our useful manual, badly translated from the German, contains some wonderful advice e.g. Attention! Before opening the de-aerating points the generator must be stagnant!! and ' the coolant must be refilled so long, up to recognizes that the cooling water level does not sag any longer'. However, the diagrams are good, so hopefully we will be able to sort the problem. We are waiting for quieter seas before the next mechanical investigation.
Best wishes
Jackie, Michael and Kerry

Yacht: Whitbread

The Management

Sailing on Whitbread requires lots of management of various issues. We have fuel management, water management, food management etc. etc. and if anything goes wrong then its obviously poor management of that issue. For example, yesterday we had very bad "sugar management". We appear to have run out of sugar on board and currently blame Wolfy who has been having more than his ration with 4 sugars in his coffee. He is now responsible for good sugar management on the future legs.

Todays issue being raised is "shade management". Without a bimini in the cockpit and in the midday sun at 10' south of the equator it doesn't take long for the helmsman to turn medium-well done. We have resorted to various ways of creating good shade management, from wrapping t-shirts on our heads or draping towels over us to our latest one of helming with one hand whilst holding a picnic table size umbella in the other - although in a strong gust yesterday it was blown inside out and halfway down the length of the boat!

However one issue remains at the top of the poor management list, something we have looked at improving in many ways but those responsible are still guilty of.........very poor "fish management". We have been doing worse than rubbish at catching fish, we have lost lures, lost lines, even the fish alarm system of a can of screws has rusted away and functions no longer. We are sending the crew members away (they shall remain anonymous) on a 3 day intensive training course to 'Fish Camp' once we reach the Marquesas. 'Fish Camp' is famous for its radical approaches and techniques in the art of fishing and we are hoping they will return with warrior like skills.

OK we have 342 miles left on the treadmill. This is what it feels like out at sea with nothing for reference to guage your progress against. It's just the same patch of sea as the day before, the sky may be a little different and the waves a bit more lively but it is still the same patch, as if it just rolls under the boat like a treadmill, slowly and steadily.

Until tomorrow.

The Management

Yacht: Jus'Do It 3

land ahoy and baby boy!

26.03.08 5pm Marquesas time.

Ian phones home in the afternoon (25th) to learn he’s a Grandad again! Kadyn Darby was born 10am UK time this morning –congratulations to Jady, Lynn and big sister Myli! This very happy news is the icing on the cake of another beautiful day’s sailing in bright sunshine with a cloudless sky. We’re almost straight on course for Hiva Oa – the wind is a constant 15-20 knots and we maintain a speed of 8-10 knots throughout the afternoon and into the night. We’re seeing many different birds now (a sure sign we’re nearing land) including frigates, terns , boobys , sooty terns and some others that aren’t close enough for us to identify. They almost seem to hunt in layers, with the frigates the highest in the sky occasionally swooping down to grab what others have caught. Clearly the survival of the fittest out here! The forecast is for stronger winds tonight and in the late afternoon we see the first mackerel skies of the trip. As the night comes on it clouds over and becomes squally, with increased wind speed as predicted. Although there’s still quite a big moon, it’s often behind the cloud and it’s not until we’re quite close to Hiva Oa , and the nearby Island of Tahuata, that we can make out their outlines. A big squall hits us as we approach Hiva Oa; Ian takes the helm to ride it out and at one point we’re almost heading back out to sea. We’re all up on deck for the last couple of hours as we approach and begin to decifer the various lights ashore. We anchor on the outside of the breakwater until morning , then manage to anchor very close to the shore where it’s not too rolly. We wake up in a beautiful bay, steep sided and covered in lush vegetation with towering peaks behind. This looks and feels like the South Pacific! We’re welcomed ashore with floral garlands and we jump in a taxi to explore the local village, a couple of miles round the corner. It’s a sleepy wee town; we’re too late for checking in at the gendarmerie, we have a wander then go to lunch with the Strega crew. We walk back from the village and go for a wee siesta as planning to go ashore with Strega and Tallulah Ruby (who have just arrived) for a wee party……..

Yacht: Asolare

In Marquesas. First in Class!

“Asolare” is now safely in the Marquesas after a very fast crossing of 16 days and 20 hrs.

We came 5th overall and 1st in class! This was actually, for us, the first leg that we competed in as we stopped off on the first Leg in the San Blas Islands and on the Ecuador Leg in the Las Perlas Islands. The leg to the Galapagos was almost all motoring for the whole fleet.

We arrived in the dark – Asolare does not seem to know any better – so anchored outside the harbour until daylight.

It is sunny but very heavy clouds and some rain but the small supermarket stocked Tonic Water as we ran out halfway across the pacific as there was none to be bought in the Galapagos!

The photo is a “sunset” time photo in the anchorage with ARC yacht settling down for then night.

Capt. Peter