Sunday 17 July
187 miles North of Hiva Oa
Hello Friends and Family,
Hiva Oa is a roughly kidney shaped island oriented East West. The small indentation on the kidney bean is facing South. This is actually a bay and off the bay is a small harbor. My plan was to approach the island from the East side leaving sufficient sea space between me and the Lee shore that I would be passing by. I would then gybe and head more or less West on a broad reach to the bay and then the harbor.
This was a great plan until the winds blew at 30-45 deg further South than forecast. As I have mentioned I can’t make the mark to the East of the island, I would have to tack and head almost North East to gain the room need to then sail South again. I estimate that this maneuver would cost me at least 12 hours of close hauled sailing. Not attractive after 33 days at sea.
An alternative and shorter mileage wise is to pass the island on the West side, no Lee shore issues that way, then turn East. Unfortunately I would then have to tack straight into the wind in a narrow channel. There is a small uninhabited island 1.5 mile South of Hiva Oa that forms this pass. In stronger winds I can see this area getting difficult with steeper seas because of more shallow depth and wind being compressed in the pass.
Even with its shortcomings I think this is what I will have to do. Winds are predicted to be somewhat lighter at the time I may arrive there, so I hope it will not be too bad.
At the moment winds are much stronger than usual in the mid 20’s Kn with a pretty rough sea state. I had plans of doing a number of projects today including finishing the repairs to the
furling gear that I will need to have working for entry into an anchorage. I am also going to pull the transducer, the inaccurate data is annoying me. However I am postponing everything because it is just too rough to take on those jobs. Last night saw another series of back to back squalls, winds up to 30kn. I stayed on deck till 2 AM monitoring the boat and I finally had to go with a very conservative sailplane so that I could ride out winds we were frequently seeing. Eventually the winds just stayed at the high level as I am experiencing now. BTW winds are forecast to abate substantially tonight. Good news!
Boat designers try to place sinks as close to the centerline of a sailboat as possible. The reason is this gives the greatest distance above the waterline for it to drain. Unfortunately in boats below about 30 feet this is difficult to do because there is insufficient width in the hull to get around a sink in the middle of the boat. In my boat the sink is on the Starboard side of the boat, that means that when on a Port tack the sink is on the low side of the boat, this creates a problem in that the bottom of the sink is very close and in some cases below the water line. This allows ocean water to travel UP the sink drain and to fill the sink. If this is the case and you have a big puff of wind and the boat heals more than a certain point water can empty out of the sink and into the boat. This happened a few days ago and has threatened to happen the last few nights with the sudden and severe squalls I have been experiencing. The boat I was under contract to buy dealt with this by installing a pump with a one way valve for the sink drain so you had to pump the water out of the sink but at least no ocean water could come in. I think I could re-plumb the drain so it was all automatic and had an electric pump. A bonus is that I have large drain lines running all over under the galley sink and they are in the way of using it efficiently for storage. With a pump system I think I can make it more convenient to use the under sink storage. The challenge is can I do this in French Polynesia unfortunately I don’t think so, lots of parts needed in American sizes and they may not be available.
I made an error, I have considered sailing to HI once my visa in French Polynesia expires with the possibility of returning to FP in the Spring. I recalled the distance was 1700 miles one way and it is, but from the Marquess not from Tahiti where it is more likely I would depart from. If you stop along the way in Kiritimati (formerly named Christmas Island) the distance is 2566. I think this makes it impractical to consider leaving FP when my visa expires sailing to Hawaii for the winter and returning to FP in the Spring. So my alternatives are to put the boat on the hard in FP for 3-4 months while I leave the country. Then return in the Spring to resume my cruising in FP OR just sail away in 3 months with no plan to return.
In my marina in Mexico there are quite a number of newer boats docked there. Walking by one a friend pointed out a hole in the stern of of the boat. It looked like an Amazon box that had been damaged in shipping and about as thick. It looked to me like someone could easily push their foot through the hull. At the moment I am being pounded, the waves are big and irregular, I can be launched off of one wave and come crashing down with a large bang and thud. It is said that hitting water fast enough is like hitting concrete, I believe it. My feeling is boats need to be strong out here, it is a tough environment and lots of stuff breaks. Your hull is not something that should ever break. The hull is an easy place for a manufacturer to cut corners on, know body can tell how stout a hull is unless they do some serious investigation or walk by a damaged Amazon box er I mean boat.
I received a nice note from someone who is receiving my updates second hand. If you are one of these folks I would love to hear who you are but also I can add you to the list so you will get it directly if you like?
Ben Lindner, S/V DAWN
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