AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/05/20 23:20
LATITUDE: 09-58.36S
LONGITUDE: 139-08.84W
COURSE: 198T
SPEED: 7.0
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 13
WIND_DIR: E
CLOUDS: 20%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1010.6
AIR_TEMP: 33.9C
COMMENT: Beach House -En Route – Hiva Oa to Rairoa – Tuamotu Islands
After checking in, we did some shopping, maintenance and Nikki did a day tour of the beautiful island of Hiva Oa. We had a few evening gatherings with friends on Swiftsure and Blowin\’ Bubbles and a lovely dinner with Chuck and Linda of \”Jacaranda\”, who I\’d not seen in 7 years. After fueling up (Thank You Lanny and Ginger on \”Swiftsure\”), we were headed for the island of Tahuata. It\’s only 8 miles from Hiva Oa and while en route, we looked at the weather window to the Tuamotus (400 miles to our South South West). We realized, we were just in the beginning of a really nice window for a boat that could make the trip without question in a boat that can do our speed. Another concern is that with all the engine and steering issues to resolve, we will lose a month in Tahiti and as such, we do need to keep moving along the carefree highway…:-)
As we sailed by, we (radioed) waved goodbye to all our friends in Hanamananoe Bay on Tahuata and set sail. We\’re now en route for the two and 1/2 day passage to Rairoa.
Some of the other boats behind might take 4 days and this window would be too short for them. They end up with some pretty strong ESE to SE winds hitting them and it wouldn\’t be any fun.
We are headed to the island of Rairoa where the \”Kon Tiki\” raft of Thor Heyerdahl unceremoniously went aground on the atoll. This of course proved it was possible for pre-Columbian people from South America to have migrated to the islands of the Pacific. His ideas remain quite controversial to this day.
So far, we\’ve lovely flat seas and a beam reach with 10-15 knots, making around 6.5-7 knots. This should put us off the entrance to
Rairoa on Monday morning.
We\’ll keep you posted.
Feel free to drop us a note.
Scott and Nikki