Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Another one of those same day at sea days today. One bite on the fishing lines which triggered the nut alarm. Nothing on the end of the line though. Absolutely nothing. Lure, weight, leader, swivel and clip all gone. Put on another set but nothing else for the rest of the day.

On the morning net we learned that the boats that set off a day behind us have had to motor some of the time. Looks like we got lucky. The wind has died down a little so we’re doing less (but some) regeneration. We’re still on track to arrive earlier than slack tide on the 29th but by less of a margin.

I also learned that slack water is about an hour to an hour and a half after low water and at the same time as high tide. This gives us an extra margin for entry into the lagoon at Kauehi as we’re scheduled to make low tide around 11am. The pass at Kauehi is quite wide so we may be able to enter it before slack but we’ll figure that out when we’re there.

This morning was internet (very slow), shopping, getting gas for the dinghy and boat prep. After lunch we were off on our way to the Tuamotus. The wind was fair and we’re making around 6 to 6.5 knots. It will be nice if we can cover the 500 odd miles in four days. Just under in fact as we need to hit slack tide to make it through the pass in whatever atoll we decide to arrive at. Our current target is Kauehi – the entrance being at S15 56.954 W145 10.837.

About 15nm west of Ua Pou our luck with fishing took a new turn. The nut alarm was triggered and I found we had a fish on the line that stayed on the line. I hauled it in slowly as it was putting up a bit of a fight. I knew it wasn’t a mahi mahi as it wasn’t leaping out of the water to through the hook. When the fish was near the boat I realized it was a decent sized Wahoo – a good eater and the first we’ve ever caught. I managed to get it aboard and put our large safety pin through it’s jaw which tethered it to the boat. We weighed it at 20lb before slitting it’s gills and chucking it in the water to bleed out. I pulled it in again and gave the cuts a second go. Not much blood this time but I put it in the water again. As I was lowering it down the steps the link between the pin through it’s jaw and the line to the boat failed and we lost the fish. Boy were we all disappointed. It’s one thing losing a live fish but having a dead fish escape really sucks. Particularly 20lb of delicious wahoo.

We’re back on our regular watches. Nothing much else to report for day 0. (I like counting from day 0 as it makes the arithmetic easier later on).

I woke up for my morning shift to the rumble of the generator. We were motoring. Steve must have decided that our sanity was worth burning some precious fossil fuel. We would reach landfall today. Today today today!

It was still quite dark and gloomy when I took over the helm. The sky was covered in dark ominous looking clouds. Steve said he had to deal with a couple of small squalls but it look like it was clearing up. Checking the sky I noticed that most of the squall clouds had passed us except for one large squall behind us. Looking at the wind direction and the radar it looked like it would just miss us. We were motor sailing at this time. Wing on wing. Sometimes the wind picks up and gives us an extra push.

The wind speed was showing 5 knots.

I suddenly felt the boat surge forward. The sails billowed full. The wind speed now showed 20 knots. Steve rushed out shouting ‘make sure we don’t jibe’. It felt like the boat was about to take off. I DID NOT LIKE THIS! I saw the wind clocking behinds us. We were about to jibe. I went to press the Manuel button to take control of the boat and froze. My mind went blank. I was like a deer staring at headlights. I heard Steve shout at me and then take over the helm. He managed to get control of the boat. I couldn’t move.

Ten minutes later the squall passed us. We had only got the edge of it. It took another half an hour for my heart to calm down. I realised that I’ve never had to control the boat in a crisis situation before. I wasn’t prepared and so panicked. Steve said that will have to be remedied.

After the squall Steve wanted to continued charging up the house bank. Since we were running the generator and the sea was pretty calm he asked if I wanted to do a wash. Oh Yes! Once the washing machine was going, Steve decided he might as well make some water. This was when we discovered there was something wrong with the water maker. Something seriously wrong. Soon after Steve noticed that the batteries weren’t charging. This was when we discovered there was something wrong with the house bank charger. This was getting serious. Then it seemed as if the solar panels weren’t charging either.

During all these unwanted discoveries, the clouds and mist cleared and suddenly I saw the faint outline of land. My stomach did a funny turn. Land ahoy! Land, land, land! It was exciting. But I must admit our excitement was subdued by all the problems starting to pop up on the boat. For me not having a water maker was the worse.

It was about eight hours from land sight to reaching landfall. We watched as the island grew nearer and nearer and the landscape became clearer and clearer. Entering our anchorage was amazing. It was quite beautiful. Stunning really. Almost Jurassic Park. Can’t quite describe it. The only negative things was that there was a lot of other boats here too. Still we saw a couple of old friends who had made it here as well.

After anchoring, zipping up the sail bag, putting away the lines, we cracked open the beer. That first sip was nectar. For dinner we treated ourselves to a BBQ. Ribs and chicken. And of course I had my bottle of wine. By the end of the evening, that three week crossing seemed so long ago!