April 07 |
Author: Toni |
Easter Sunday and we all go to church in Nuku Hiva
The mass is always enjoyable and a pleasure to participate and the Polynesian people singing is just awesome..
Egoistically I pray for fair winds and a safe passage to Papeete.
Fare well Nuku Hiva and all the islands of the Marquesas it was a fantastic experience and wonderful to see you all.
With light winds from the east we are heading roughly south targeting Roroia Atoll where supposedly years ago the Kon Tiki made landfall.
It is a 450 mile trip and being used to sail for 3000 miles not so long ago just a short hop of three days or so. |
The winds were fluky and sometimes none at all and we had to use the engine to bridge the lulls.
Progress was slower then expected.
On the 4th night there was no wind again and we used engine power to arrive there at a suitable entrance time. There can be up to 7 knots of currents at the entrance to the Atoll.
It was 0400 hours in the morning and only 17 miles to the Atoll when all of the certain there was a noise from the engine. We soon found out that there was a problem with the auto-transmission gearbox. Most likely the clutch had collapsed. That’s most unusual.
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Insert Picture Church |
Well….., forget about going to visit Roroia and the other Toumato Atolls and head for Papeete instead. But….! There was no wind and we were becalmed in the Pacific Ocean.
It is over 400 miles to go and ahead of us are lots of atolls and reefs.
It is not a situation I have had many times in my circumnavigation and now we have to deal with it sensibly. We were a safe distance from any reefs and eventually wind will come back.
Sometimes a rain cloud passed us by giving us a little wind and we managed to make a mile or two. Sometimes going backwards.
By nightfall we were totally becalmed again and took the sails down.
We just as well get a good nights rest.
By email I informed my agent in Papeete and friends of our blight, but we were confident that we can sail again soon.
Be patient! (not a good characteristic of mine.) |
Bottlenose dolphin |
Sun set in the Pacific |
We have enough water and food to last us weeks.
Gry and Vagn have already booked the flight back to Denmark and so we better be in Papeete before the 1st of May.
Friday the 13th of April and becalmed all day. The sea is like a milk pond and the color is purple blue and crystal clear and 2000 meters deep.
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Sun set in the Pacific |
Sat 14th of April 0200 Oops a puff of wind from the east .
Genoa out and we are sailing at 2 to 3 knots and getting excited about that.
By dawn we assumed the trade winds are back and we change our course to a more suitable heading doing now 5 kts of speed. |
No wind no engine |
We decided to dogleg around the Atoll of Makemo and head for open sea all the way to Papeete.
April 17th. Gosh we have been at sea for a week already and it is getting boring.
Papeete is on the horizon and we should be there tonight. For some reason I always arrive at night.
Rather then going into a busy harbor at night we dropped anchor in the lee of the Papeete island
and go into the harbour tomorrow. |
Downwind small |
| The next day we used the dinghy to get Little Swan in the right direction and while Vagn and Gry sailed Little Swan to the harbour entrance I stood by with the dingy to give them a push if needed.
All went well and in no time we anchored near the City quay and secured ourselves with robes.
Thank God we’ve had a safe arrival.
1st job is to find a mechanic to have a look at the engine/gearbox.
The mechanic confirms that in order to get the gearbox removed we need to take the engine out.
Not an easy Job. We decided to go to an anchorage 4 miles south of the City called Marina Taina .
We explored it first by Dinghy and decided to relocate ourselves to this lovely anchorage. |
Engine out |
Gearbox kaputt |
We strap the dinghy alongside Little Swan and slowly motor south passed the airport..
In no time at all we were safely anchored near the Marina.
Vagn and I built a steel frame to lift the engine out. We received 2 block and tackle from the mechanic. The engine weighs a lot.
In less then a day the engine was sitting on the coach house floor and removing the gearbox was easy. Sure enough the clutch plates were totally ruined. The mechanics tell us Papeete has no such spare parts and we have to order it from Sydney.
My good friend Peter Macdonald organized everything in Sydney and soon the parts were on its way by DHL.
Aloha from Papeete |
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Tahitian Girls |
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