Current Position: 15 57.155’S 142 19.120W; Local Timezone: UTC-10; HDG: N/A; COG: N/A; SOG: N/A; Distance to Waypoint (Raroia): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 3885 nm;
Comments: Sunset was at 17:20. I am still 14 nm from the passage into the lagoon and just west of the smaller atoll Takume. As predicted, the wind is shifting more northerly and is lighter, making progress slow. The waves cause the headsail to flag and the boom the swing. The seas are calmer and there is no threatening weather to the north or east. I reached Trinity at sunset. They gave me advice regarding passage into the lagoon and recommended I make my the 10 nm north to where they are currently anchored. I was told the anchorage is not great by the town and the coral heads are easily seen in the lagoon, especially if the sun is high in the sky. When I was 7.5 nm from the passage, I heaved to. My position was 15 51.963’S 142 27.557’W at 19:09. I was traveling about 1.5 kt at 328, generally away from the atoll. If X is the number of hours I am heaved to, I will be:
(7.5 + 1.5*X) nm from the passage 12-X will be the time I have to sail to the passage
If I can sail at 4 km/h I must be able to sail the first distance in the second time. In other words …
4 nm/h = (7.5 + 1.5X)/(12-X)
Solving for X …
48-4X = 7.5 + 1.5X 5.5X = 48-7.5 X = (48-7.5)/5.5) = 7.3
Checking my work, if I have heaved to 7.3 h, I will be 7.5 + 1.5*7.3 = 18.45 nm away. And, it will take me 18.43/4 = 4.608h to sail that distance. 7.3+4.6=11.9h.
Bottom line is I should sleep 5h then plan to sail back to the passage. Note, I could have lowered the sails instead of heaving to, but under bare poles the wind would have pushed me towards the reef, not away from it, so what I am doing is safer. Before going to sleep, I checked the chain locker to make sure the chain was in order. I set periodic alarms. At midnight I determine I am drifting closer to 1 rather than 1.5 kt. At 3:30 I got up and made some chai tea. I was 15 nm from the passage. At 3:50, I set sail for the passage with the double-reefed main and half the Yankee. I was making 4 kt. Sunrise is in 90m. By that time I should be close to where I was when I heaved to last night. It is dark … no stars or moon. It is a strange feeling sailing towards a reef in the darkness. Another boat, “XIII”, apparently a 56’ sailboat is between me and the passage, very close to the atoll and perhaps 5 nm from the passage. Another one, “Lulu”, is 70 nm away following the same course I took to get here. At 4:45, the wind was lightening up, I’d say 8 kt from the NE, so I unfurled more of the jib to make a little over 4 kt. The wind picked up at sunrise (5:30), which was spectacular. I am doing 5 kt and I have 9.5 nm to go to the passage. The weather to the east looks threatening. I can see a squall is passing behind me, which is probably the source of the new-found wind, which is driving the boat 5.5 kt. At 6:00, I am essentially back to where I was last night, 7.5 nm from the passage, which ai am schedule to reach about 7:30. At 6:00, I turned the Radar on and confirmed the accuracy of the charts. I see the squall behind me on the Radar, but nothing else threatening. I am 7.2 nm out, essentially the same distance I was when I heaved to last night. I can see now my waypoint is about 2 nm from the passage and XIII is about 1 nm offshore when it turns at 6:10, not towards the passage but away from it, turning 180 degrees to head up into the wind, presumably to drop sails. At 6:15, I spot land, motus, the palm-fringed mini-islands that circle the atoll. It has been strange to be so close and not see anything, but then the whole atoll is the height of a coconut tree. At 6:20, XII turns to enter the passage. She follows the waypoints Bandit gave me exactly. I notice she gives the reef on the north side of the entrance, the one Trinity told me about, a wide berth. I am about an hour away from my waypoint. At 6:35, XIII has made it through the passage and is turning SW (200) towards the village, still following the waypoints. At my last waypoint (R7) she continues straight for about 2 nm before anchoring. Since the wind was light and I had two reefs in the main, I didn’t round up when I reached my outer marker, but just started the engine, furled the jib, and dropped the main while still under autopilot, which was directing me where I needed to be to avoid the reef anyway. The green seems out of place. I reached the outer marker at 7:40. From about a mile and a half out, I motored through the passage, following the waypoints. The channel was larger than I expected. The sails were stowed and secured by 7:50, about one mile from waypoint R1 and under motor at 5 kt. It seems I will pass into the lagoon exactly at high tide, just in time as there are squalls coming. A quarter mile from R1, I disengaged the autopilot and hand-steered. As I entered the passage, I could see the motus on the other side of the lagoon. There were markers in both sides of the entrance to the channel. I could see water coming over the reef to the left. There is a second reef in front of you as soon as you cross the barrier … hence the sharp right turn. There are standard red/green markers after that showing the water the anchorage at the village. The first green one marks a boomie, so stay to the left. In fact, all of the green and red markers are on top of boomies. The anchorage is in 35-40’ of water. It feels dicey as I cannot pay out enough chain because of a reef behind me. I want to check out the village. The once-a-month supply ship arrived/departed yesterday and so the store is supposed to be stocked. I met several nice people in the town , including a woman, Karen, whose home I thought was the store. When she understood what I was looking for, we both had a laugh about me inviting myself into her living room. She kindly showed me where the store was. I stocked up on some things, went back to the boat, and hauled anchor just as to more large catamarans were arriving. I navigated the 1 1/2 nm channel then headed out across the lagoon for the 8 1/2 nm trip to the north side. There is no way all four of us would have fit safely at the anchorage. I was hesitant to move. It was squally, which was of course precisely why I needed to move. I thought I might be difficult to see the coral heads without sunlight, but they stuck out like turquoise patches on the grey water. The only way to navigate across the lagoon single-handed was to put the boat on autopilot and sit out on the bow, going back to the cockpit to divert the boat when I spotted coral. The threat was real. I would have hit a dozen coral heads had I not spotted them. About halfway across the lagoon a squall hit. There were high winds, but not rain. Since I was not sailing, it was not an issue, except waves were kicked up in the lagoon and I was sprayed with seawater while sitting on the bow. Shortly after that, about two-thirds of the way across, I had to take quick action to avoid what appeared to be abandoned fish traps. I arrived at the anchorage about 2:15. Two boats were leaving as I arrived, leaving five boats to my port and two to my starboard. However, the boats are spread out hundreds of yards apart. As I was setting the anchor, two black-tipped sharks joined the party. B I just cannot imagine a more beautiful place than this … angry grey skies, turquoise water, green palm trees and white sand. This may be the best place I visit on my trip for diving, so I’m going to spend some time here. There is an issue with my AGM battery bank, Alternator, or DC-DC charger. The AGMs are charged (13.08 V), but the “input voltage” to the DC-DC charger is only 8.51 V, so the alternator did not charge the lithium bank during the crossing. This is an issue because there was no sun today and the lithium bank was used hard over the past 24h for Radar and autopilot. While I was trying to figure this out, I was hit by the hardest-driving rainstorm in awhile. The timing was good, because I needed a shower, but the water was very cold. Returning to the DC-DC problem … I believe I have found the issue … a short between the input wires. This was draining the starter battery bank. When things cool down in the engine room (after motoring), I will fix the problem (tomorrow) and run the engine to make certain the system is working and to charge the main battery bank. Even during the storms, the boat does not rock a bit. This means I have three things to fix here …
The wind vane The DC-DC charger The wind instruments at the top of the mast
I think this is going to take me a couple of weeks.
Comments: Sunset was at 17:20. I am still 14 nm from the passage into the lagoon and just west of the smaller atoll Takume. As predicted, the wind is shifting more northerly and is lighter, making progress slow. The waves cause the headsail to flag and the boom the swing. The seas are calmer and there is no threatening weather to the north or east. I reached Trinity at sunset. They gave me advice regarding passage into the lagoon and recommended I make my the 10 nm north to where they are currently anchored. I was told the anchorage is not great by the town and the coral heads are easily seen in the lagoon, especially if the sun is high in the sky. When I was 7.5 nm from the passage, I heaved to. My position was 15 51.963’S 142 27.557’W at 19:09. I was traveling about 1.5 kt at 328, generally away from the atoll. If X is the number of hours I am heaved to, I will be:
(7.5 + 1.5*X) nm from the passage 12-X will be the time I have to sail to the passage
If I can sail at 4 km/h I must be able to sail the first distance in the second time. In other words …
4 nm/h = (7.5 + 1.5X)/(12-X)
Solving for X …
48-4X = 7.5 + 1.5X 5.5X = 48-7.5 X = (48-7.5)/5.5) = 7.3
Checking my work, if I have heaved to 7.3 h, I will be 7.5 + 1.5*7.3 = 18.45 nm away. And, it will take me 18.43/4 = 4.608h to sail that distance. 7.3+4.6=11.9h.
Bottom line is I should sleep 5h then plan to sail back to the passage. Note, I could have lowered the sails instead of heaving to, but under bare poles the wind would have pushed me towards the reef, not away from it, so what I am doing is safer. Before going to sleep, I checked the chain locker to make sure the chain was in order. I set periodic alarms. At midnight I determine I am drifting closer to 1 rather than 1.5 kt. At 3:30 I got up and made some chai tea. I was 15 nm from the passage. At 3:50, I set sail for the passage with the double-reefed main and half the Yankee. I was making 4 kt. Sunrise is in 90m. By that time I should be close to where I was when I heaved to last night. It is dark … no stars or moon. It is a strange feeling sailing towards a reef in the darkness. Another boat, “XIII”, apparently a 56’ sailboat is between me and the passage, very close to the atoll and perhaps 5 nm from the passage. Another one, “Lulu”, is 70 nm away following the same course I took to get here. At 4:45, the wind was lightening up, I’d say 8 kt from the NE, so I unfurled more of the jib to make a little over 4 kt. The wind picked up at sunrise (5:30), which was spectacular. I am doing 5 kt and I have 9.5 nm to go to the passage. The weather to the east looks threatening. I can see a squall is passing behind me, which is probably the source of the new-found wind, which is driving the boat 5.5 kt. At 6:00, I am essentially back to where I was last night, 7.5 nm from the passage, which ai am schedule to reach about 7:30. At 6:00, I turned the Radar on and confirmed the accuracy of the charts. I see the squall behind me on the Radar, but nothing else threatening. I am 7.2 nm out, essentially the same distance I was when I heaved to last night. I can see now my waypoint is about 2 nm from the passage and XIII is about 1 nm offshore when it turns at 6:10, not towards the passage but away from it, turning 180 degrees to head up into the wind, presumably to drop sails. At 6:15, I spot land, motus, the palm-fringed mini-islands that circle the atoll. It has been strange to be so close and not see anything, but then the whole atoll is the height of a coconut tree. At 6:20, XII turns to enter the passage. She follows the waypoints Bandit gave me exactly. I notice she gives the reef on the north side of the entrance, the one Trinity told me about, a wide berth. I am about an hour away from my waypoint. At 6:35, XIII has made it through the passage and is turning SW (200) towards the village, still following the waypoints. At my last waypoint (R7) she continues straight for about 2 nm before anchoring. Since the wind was light and I had two reefs in the main, I didn’t round up when I reached my outer marker, but just started the engine, furled the jib, and dropped the main while still under autopilot, which was directing me where I needed to be to avoid the reef anyway. The green seems out of place. I reached the outer marker at 7:40. From about a mile and a half out, I motored through the passage, following the waypoints. The channel was larger than I expected. The sails were stowed and secured by 7:50, about one mile from waypoint R1 and under motor at 5 kt. It seems I will pass into the lagoon exactly at high tide, just in time as there are squalls coming. A quarter mile from R1, I disengaged the autopilot and hand-steered. As I entered the passage, I could see the motus on the other side of the lagoon. There were markers in both sides of the entrance to the channel. I could see water coming over the reef to the left. There is a second reef in front of you as soon as you cross the barrier … hence the sharp right turn. There are standard red/green markers after that showing the water the anchorage at the village. The first green one marks a boomie, so stay to the left. In fact, all of the green and red markers are on top of boomies. The anchorage is in 35-40’ of water. It feels dicey as I cannot pay out enough chain because of a reef behind me. I want to check out the village. The once-a-month supply ship arrived/departed yesterday and so the store is supposed to be stocked. I met several nice people in the town , including a woman, Karen, whose home I thought was the store. When she understood what I was looking for, we both had a laugh about me inviting myself into her living room. She kindly showed me where the store was. I stocked up on some things, went back to the boat, and hauled anchor just as to more large catamarans were arriving. I navigated the 1 1/2 nm channel then headed out across the lagoon for the 8 1/2 nm trip to the north side. There is no way all four of us would have fit safely at the anchorage. I was hesitant to move. It was squally, which was of course precisely why I needed to move. I thought I might be difficult to see the coral heads without sunlight, but they stuck out like turquoise patches on the grey water. The only way to navigate across the lagoon single-handed was to put the boat on autopilot and sit out on the bow, going back to the cockpit to divert the boat when I spotted coral. The threat was real. I would have hit a dozen coral heads had I not spotted them. About halfway across the lagoon a squall hit. There were high winds, but not rain. Since I was not sailing, it was not an issue, except waves were kicked up in the lagoon and I was sprayed with seawater while sitting on the bow. Shortly after that, about two-thirds of the way across, I had to take quick action to avoid what appeared to be abandoned fish traps. I arrived at the anchorage about 2:15. Two boats were leaving as I arrived, leaving five boats to my port and two to my starboard. However, the boats are spread out hundreds of yards apart. As I was setting the anchor, two black-tipped sharks joined the party. B I just cannot imagine a more beautiful place than this … angry grey skies, turquoise water, green palm trees and white sand. This may be the best place I visit on my trip for diving, so I’m going to spend some time here. There is an issue with my AGM battery bank, Alternator, or DC-DC charger. The AGMs are charged (13.08 V), but the “input voltage” to the DC-DC charger is only 8.51 V, so the alternator did not charge the lithium bank during the crossing. This is an issue because there was no sun today and the lithium bank was used hard over the past 24h for Radar and autopilot. While I was trying to figure this out, I was hit by the hardest-driving rainstorm in awhile. The timing was good, because I needed a shower, but the water was very cold. Returning to the DC-DC problem … I believe I have found the issue … a short between the input wires. This was draining the starter battery bank. When things cool down in the engine room (after motoring), I will fix the problem (tomorrow) and run the engine to make certain the system is working and to charge the main battery bank. Even during the storms, the boat does not rock a bit. This means I have three things to fix here …
The wind vane The DC-DC charger The wind instruments at the top of the mast
I think this is going to take me a couple of weeks.