Happy hour

At the Bora Bora Lounge Pape'ete Tahiti. Daytime draft beer $7. Nighttime draft beer $14. Happy hour draft beer $2.50
Why we are here now!
Fair winds and following seas :)

Reboot in Tahiti

The better picture I promised.

Those far away places with the strange sounding names...

In Marina Pape'ete, Pape'ete, Tahiti, Society Islands, (French) Polynesia. (Our dock master tells us we are in Polynesia and the heck with the French!)

This has been the port where "Pacific Crossing 2016" has really sunk in. We did it. Yes, thousands of nautical miles behind us, thousands more to go but here we are.

Three days and two nights from Rangiora babying the rig as it is still not all replaced. Had to motor (I know, I know) the last sixty miles as the wind was below 3 knots. Got in in the middle of the night but Passage Pape'ete is open and easy.

Reboot is the little thing in the back of the huge boats. Better picture tomorrow when the sun is the other way.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Morning visitors

As we sip out morning coffee...

Fair winds and following seas :)

Underway

We have ben underway for several days from Nuku-Hiva. The winds have been very light and midday it has been very hot. With the cap shrouds and the forestay not yet replaced we have been babying the rig. This has been frustrating as some days we have only made 59 NM. But as Davyd always reminds us: Err on the side of caution.

We have gotten much better at light air sailing. In only 8 or 9 knots of wind we are able to get Reboot up to 4 knots SOG. Not bad.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Winklink for the Society Islabnds

Currently there is a "black hole" of Winlink coverage for boats cruising in the Central Pacific. This is both a safety and convenience concern. It is frequently difficult for boats to connect to the Winlink network and download weather information and email.

I have created a "Kickstarter" project at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1041824013/winlink-for-the-society-islands. The purpose is to raise the necessary funds to build a Winlink station on Nuju-Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia. This will greatly expand the Winlink coverage area..

Please take a look at the link and if possible support our effort. I would also appreciate reposting this message in as many marine oriented web sites as possible.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Planned Departure Nuku-Hiva

The rig is on. Fuel is full. We will put the sails back on this afternoon. After a long, frustrating, fun stay it is time to go. We will be off Rangiroa tomorrow morning if all works out.

The New Backstay

We rigged a two running backstays, took down the backstay and brought it to shore. We measured, installed the last insulator connector, and headed back out to  Reboot. The new backstay is on. Mike Keohane did all the climbing today. Fortunately he works for beer!

Fair winds and following seas :)

The Morning Dove Story from the skipper

https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2016-05-06

It Runs!

It turns out that another boat in the anchorage had a spare starter motor that was a perfect fit for the Yanmar. We are back in the engine business - 10 days before we expected to have a new starter motor. Yea1

Reduction of stress

It has been about 6 weeks since we lost the lower shrouds on the way to the Marquesas. First the 12 days of getting to a safe port. Then the knowledge we were making no progress in Hiva-Oa. The trip to Nuka-Hiva arriving to find that our temporary fix had almost failed. Days of swapping blueprints and photographs while negotiating with the riggers in the US. Then having the two boxes of rigging get separated on their trip to Nuka-Hiva. All of that I dealt with pretty much OK. What drove me crazy was the sound of the temporary shrouds stretching and loosening as Reboot rocked in the anchorage. Tonight is the first night that I will be able to sleep without listening and imagining the mast is going to come down any minute.

Fair winds and following seas :)

The lowers are on

The waves in the anchorage are averaging 18 to 24 inches on the beam. This means that Reboot is rocking about 20 degrees each side, or through a 40 degree arc. Nevertheless, we did get the new lowers installed. All of the creeking of the lines getting tight and slack have gone away.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Very high tide

It is a very high tide. The water is coming up the boat ramps and 30 feet on shore

The Lower Shroud Erector Set

The starter motor

What is left of the brush assembly of the starter motor. There were originally 4 brush assemblies. Two were totally destroyed, the remaining two are ripped off the mount.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Sailing Yacht Morning Dove Lost

Morning Dove

I heard this morning that the Sailing Yacht Morning Dove (Bruce and Diana Moroney) was lost 200 miles (15 18 South 146 42 West near Arutua Atoll) from the Marquesas Islands. The boat was lost but all 4 POB on board were rescued. The original Mayday call was received by the Maritime Mobile Service Net. They were only able to get the longitude of the vessel. Subsequently Morning Dove activated their EPIRB and PLB. MMRC Papeete responded and they were all given the "vertical elevator." My information was that they were also on the roll call of the Pacific Seafairer's Net.

They were part of the Pacific Puddle Jump rally. (Note, there is another Morning Dove with 7 POB currently 200 miles off the Yucatan. That boat is not (to our knowledge) in trouble.)

Our wishes go out to them It is also a reminder of just how lucky Reboot and crew were making it to Hive-Oa after our problem with our rigging.

Fair winds and following seas :)

It never rains but it pours

This morning we moved Reboot from its previous location at the far side of the anchorage (I am never happy unless the nearest boat is 100 yards away very close in to the dinghy dock in preparation for installing the new rigging tomorrow. The engine started without a problem and we motored over and set anchor. After a few minutes we all agreed that we didn't like the spot so we started the engine a second time and headed to a new spot. We dropped again. As the chain settled down we were a little closer than we prefered to a trimaran. So we went to haul the anchor and move again. Turned the switch. NOTHING!

Long story short the third time we tried to start the starter motor self destructed. The rotor decided to eat all of the brushes. At the moment we are without the ability to sail, and without the ability to motor. For those of you who intend to take the Captain's exam is is called "not under command."

Our hope is we can get the starter motor parts from Papeete and reinstall the motor (see rule "7" in the pages to your right") so that it will not delay us further.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Its here!

Looking a bit worse for wear. We peeked and there is rigging in the boxes! Every three our four days it is rain day. Of course it is raining like mad.
Fair winds and following seas :)