A night at sea

our position at 9am: 16deg 59 153 S- 156deg 24 832W

The wind swung just at the end of my first watch which went smoothly. To keep the asymetrical spinnaker working efficiently I had to change the course slightly but after a while we were going too much North. Greg took over at 10pm and I fell asleep in the cockpit, waiting for the skipper's decision to change sail or not. The night started being colder and damper so I woke up cold and went to choose another bed in the salon. After an hour of deep sleep, at 11:50pm, Greg woke me up as it was now time to change spinnaker. We had to go back to our normal course, and sail faster with the right sail. That manoeuvre took about 20 minutes. I had an extra time to sleep and was woken up only at 1:30am. Every thing went well again during that watch.

The moon is nearly full and it is always great to enjoy some light over the sea. Merlin was jumping over the waves at 8-9knt. We were making good progress. I even baked some bread so the rest of the crew could have warm bread for breakfast. Greg took over again. He called me in emergency at 5:50am as the asymetrical spinnaker blew up. So a new manoeuvre, this time under slight rain, we had to catch the 2 pieces of sail (one was having a good swim).

Nights can be exhaustive at sea but it is part of any passages!



Heading West

16deg 46.911S - 154deg 05.999W Course: 251 deg - Speed: 7knt

Greg worked hard yesterday to finish the repairs of the windlass and do 2-3 other little maintenance jobs. We said bye to our beloved mooring ball just before sunset. We are heading to Niue, one of the smallest country in the world with apparently more members at the Yacht Club than inhabitants on the island. The seas were crossed and lumpy. Not great to start. The wind was picking up to 25knt but with one reef Merlin was sailing nicely around 8knt. The waves are now much smaller and the spinnaker is out. So we are back to our easy sailing mood.

We just caught a huge mahi-mahi - and lost it! May be too big for us. We still have 900nm to catch another one. The kids are having a good session of game boys and movies.

L’envers du décor

En general nos envois sur le blog sont la pour faire partager du reve, apporter un peu d’oxygene dans des vies de terriens stresses ou trop preoccupes, faire naitre des envies de voyage ou encore simplement pour donner quelques nouvelles sur la famille.

Nous ne racontons pas les deboires du quotidien, l’organisation de la vie a bord (oh la la que ce chapitre serait long!), les reparations (normales), l’ecole et ses imperatifs, les contraintes financieres …

Il y a des hauts et des bas, comme partout ailleurs, des coups de gueule, des frustrations, des envies de tout laisser tomber et de retrouver une vie qui semble plus simple. On etouffe parfois a vivre dans une telle proximite (pas de sortie cine pour s’aerer l’esprit et quitter ce cocon!). Il y a les mauvaises navigations, les imprevus et les contre-temps. Les amis de longue date nous manquent ainsi que la famille.

Aujourd’hui par exemple nous sommes toujours sur notre corps-mort a Bora a attendre les pieces necessaires a la reparation du guindeau. Peut-etre un jour, deux jours mais sans doute plus alors que la meteo est tres favorable a un depart vers l’ouest. Alors oui, aujourd’hui fait partie de ces mauvais jours, de ces jours ou la tension regne a bord et ou cela explose parfois bien plus vite qu’on ne le souhaite.

Mais il y a surtout les plus de cette vie de nomade : les decouvertes, les nouvelles rencontres, les magnifiques paysages, etre avec ses enfants et avoir le temps de les voir grandir si sereinement.

Ce blog n’est pas la pour faire decouvrir comment, tous a bord, nous sommes de studieux eleves a l’ecole de la patience et de l’humilite mais il est la pour montrer le bleu du ciel au dessus d’un atoll, nos activites a l’autre bout du monde et les sourires des enfants qui decouvrent un monde encore merveilleux.

Waiting time in Bora Bora

Greg wanted to install the new bracket for our windlass. That wasn’t an easy job as it took him 2 days to remove the shaft from the gearbox of the old windlass (yes, boating can be very technical!). Fortunately, a fellow cruiser came to the rescue and helped Greg. However, few other parts were also broken, so we are waiting for the arrival of the new spares. Since Thursday, they are supposed to arrive “tomorrow” with the ferry. As a good working windlass is essential, we are waiting on our mooring ball, patiently, watching lots of our friends leave for some more western destinations.

Our turn will come soon. In the meantime, there are some more maintenance jobs to keep Greg busy, some school for the kids and some deep cleaning for Emmanuelle. We are still enjoying the fresh baguettes every morning. We also went for a nice ride this morning and some reefs are still waiting for the Merlins to come and discover the local fish.

After all, it is really not a bad place to wait!

However Bora Bora (like most of the Society Islands) must have been a much better place 100 years ago – with no tourism, no hotel, no bungalow over the water, no pearl shops every 10 metres, cheaper prices but with loads of pristine and accessible beaches!

Blue sea

After the “Bastille day” parade, we took the speedy ferry going to the airport to have a look at the Motu Mute.

Great views from the lagoon.

The party continue as there is a “pot luck” (= “bring and braai”) at the yacht club tonight.