Single handed to Tahiti |
| Tuesday, 31 May 2005 |
| Single-handed from Auckland to Tahiti
PT reports from Spirit of Adventure
On the morning of Wednesday 27th April, Spirit of Adventure cleared customs in Auckland with only the owner on board and set sail for Tahiti. It was to be his first solo voyage on the yacht and his aim was to be out of the Hauraki Gulf by sunset and into clear space of the Pacific.
After an easy downwind leg with a SW wind of 18-22 knots and the yacht sailing easily between 9 and 11 knots he passed the Great Barrier Island and the end of the Coromandel Peninsula by 1600 and was out into the open sea.
Following the information from the onboard navigation software MaxSea and the downloaded files he headed mainly east to cross the dateline the following day, and continued along the southern latitudes, ticking off 36, 35 and 34 with a steady S or SW breeze. He found the sail handling, reefing and changing foresails easy if each action was planned and excuted with care.
Six days later he turned north and was becalmed but he furled the sails and waited ‘I didn’t use the engine. To use an engine in an ocean like the Pacific is stupid, you consume only your diesel. It’s better to wait for the next wind and the wind comes back mostly just one night later.’ With the pilots off and rudder fixed he was able to sleep in comfort and relax after the first few days alone.
Despite being in the middle of the ocean at 31.34 S, 168.46 W, thousands of kilometres from land, the next day he was surprised to be visited by many small swallows. They accompanied the yacht for some time to rest and fly on.
It wasn’t until the 9th day at sea that there were any problems, then the Raymarine autopilot developed a fault, and Peter switched to the second B&G pilot. Unfortunately this also gave problems, so the first thing was to get the sails down. Trying to get the main down in a strong wind whilst trying to steer the boat alone wasn’t so easy, but after a short tussle it was furled on the boom.
After fixing the wheel he used the onboard communications system to send to New Zealand for information, with the reply coming back only minutes later. Firstly to checking the electrical supply to the pilots – also not so easy as it involves snaking in and out of the lazarrette, but without success.
Peter wasn’t confident in his ability to fix electronic pilots if the fault wasn’t obvious, but he was confident in using good sailing technique to steer the yacht with the sails. By now it was nearly sunset and there was 550 Nm left to get to Tahiti and he was impatient to get moving.
With the wind at 120 degrees from starboard and the genoa and job set, he trimmed the sails to get the heading steading, firstly for 5 minutes, then half an hour, then one hour. It was a great relief, but he still needed a way to stop the occasional trips to the helm to adjust the rudders. He set up a line back to the cockpit off the port wheel and was able to lie down and steer by the stars in between naps. With only the two foresails up he covered 130 Nm that night.
The following day he changed to the solent and was able to cook lunch or write e-mails and rest. The next day the wind was stronger and south-easterly so at 0400 he decided to use the engine to arrive in Tahiti before sunset. It would have been too dangerous to cross the reefs between Moorea and Tahiti in the dark with no pilots.
During the day the wind blew up to 40 knots and at 1230 he saw between the spray, the silhouette of Moorea. At 1600 he sailed into the wind shadow of Tahiti.
Furling the foresails and taking the jib down, he prepared to anchor, taking out the fenders and getting the ropes ready. At 1730 the Spirit of Adventure passed between the two pillars into the beautiful lagoon of Tahiti, the display showing 28.3 degrees for the water temperature. At 1800 the ropes were fixed on the mooring of the Taina marina in Tahiti.
‘The feeling to arrive here, to dive into this beautiful and calm lagoon, to smell the burned coconut skin, this is like returning to paradise.
I have had in the whole trip many pleasures, and never felt bored’
In only 13 days, Peter sailed the Spirit of Adventure 2266 Nm.
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