We planed to use Fakarava's remote southern pass as a springboard to
head out of the atoll towards Tahiti. However, as my SSB is now
somewhere between California & Seattle (on route back to the service
dept at I-com) combined with our remote location, "I thought".... I
try to gather weather information from a sailing yacht we passed
earlier that day, ... So via channel 16 on my VHS radio, I hailed "
sailing vessel H...... .H..... this is the sailing vessel Apple! do
you read me?" after making the initial contact & explaining the
whole SSB scenario ..blah, blah... I said i was looking to make the
255 mile passage Tahtit the following morning... could they kindly
check the weather on their SSB for me....?
Well... within 10 minutes they hailed be back on the VHS with the
following.... Winds ESE 10-12 knots, swell SE 1.5 meter..
ummmm Sounded like the trade winds are building back.. Which is great
news! ESE would be the perfect wind direction for broad reach SW
232 degree M heading & with only 10 knots I'll leave the massive 170
Genoa (front sail) up! ...
Cut to: The following morning, 9 am in perfect sync with the slack
water, we exited the atoll... ( which was very hard to do, because
"Fakarava" is a million words about being beautiful) ... & to make
things worse, the weather outside the atoll was a little
disappointing.. The supposed ESE winds was more like pure south !!..
& after cleared the Lee of the island ( sheltered side).. the South
wind's quickly clocked to become South-West (straight on our nose) &
rapidly began climbing from 10 knots to 22 knots... & where was the
light swell's? we had a confused waves from the NE (confused is a
"real" term used for lumpy sea's) .. becoming increasingly darker &
darker... until almost completely black .... ... Yes, yes, yes ..I
know what you're going to ask! ... Where do the fish hide in storms?
Ummmm.. Good question? The clouds had become Soooo heavy, that if
they swapped places with the Ocean.... Nobody would ever know!!!!
And that's exactly what they did.....!! .... Because suddenly the
Ocean above!! Started falling..... Each droplet of rain was like a
perfectly formed transparent needle, each needle retained a
microscopic brain... a brain focused with pure masochistic
determination to create the maximum impact on my skin.. . It rapidly
became too painful even to open my eyes.. . Veronica & Apple (dog)
took refuge in the saloon (which wasn't easy as the yacht was being
banged around) i though.. we thought.... this can't it get any
worse... because there wasn't any mention of this sort of weather
conditions in the "Jeanneau yacht broacher" & I'm sure the yacht
broker would of mentioned it ?? ....Ummmmm? ... & suddenly... right
on queue, THE MOTHER OF ALL SQUALL'S appeared .. so the now once SW 22
knots, instantly became 30-40 knots NE-ENE-SW-ESE.. every direction
all at once.!!! .. Sooo the combination of constant crashing waves &
squall's forced "Apple" into a "Jibe" (sudden 90 degree turn)
fortunately i'd had time to set a preventer on departure, which saved
the boom from crashing over & possibly de-masting her...
Anyway the yacht is classed — blue water "A" rated. So in theory she
can can take anything up to a hurricane.. But we... Veronica, Myself &
apple (dog) all had enough of battling into this SW winds.... "This
picture isn't what i'd bought into...." We simply wanted MORE white
beaches & clear blue sky's, smiling happy people, .... So I spun the
yacht round & headed straight back to "Fakarava" ... which we reached
with in just 2 hours with our now following 22 knots of winds... I
didn't even check the tide chart's, I'd rather hit a reef that stay
exposed to that storm... We just sailed straight into the pass & into
shelter.... Ahhhhhhh... what a cool sanctuary.. later that night we
were joined in our secluded anchorage by a 38ft catamaran
( Exactly the same model as Rick's cat in Mexico) which had been de-
masted, they must have cut-away the whole mast & rigging in that
storm.. Then motored into Fakarava..... That's anther story from
another yacht.... However the young family aboard all seemed in fine
shape & happy to find refuge within the atoll.....
"Never Again"...will I trust weather from a strange yacht..... After
acquiring inter-net in the north of the atoll.. I found out that a
second front had indeed moved through.. The people who given me
weather clearly hadn't really studied it...
So now.... Fully up-dated. We waited 3 more days for the front to
dissipate . Leaving us with the warm trade winds ESE to sweep us out
of the northern pass .... What a wonderful 2 days passage to Tahiti.
bathed in a warm breeze, guided by the "southern cross" above, we
enjoyed an amazing passage....
Haaa......Tahiti.. Famous through-out the world for the romantic
charms of HMS Bounty.... Also the french painter Paul Gauguin live
here between 1891 & 1903 , were presently moored at the Tahiti yacht
club in Papeete..... & looking forward to the return of my SSB on
monday!! Then after resting, re stocking..... We're going to explore
the "Societies" < Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora ...
