Hi sorry this has taken so long to get out to you all, but I lost the computer with sailmail and all your addresses. Ted from SV Genao was the only one who sent an email and was later able to send me back all the addresses, thanks Ted. Okay the full story. Left Bora Bora on Wednesday 16 July at 4pm local time heading for Rarotonga the weather forecast was for light winds and calm seas for 24 hours building to 15-20 knots with building seas to slight from the SE, perfect weather for the crossing.... Wrong by mid night the first reef went in the mainsail by 1am the second reef and 1.30am the third reef and the head sail was a small triangle wind speed 30-35 knots from the SSW with stronger gusts, seas building and coming from three different directions, at times the boat felt like it was in free fall. I let the main out to try and spill some air but couldn't get below 6 knots, lots of traffic on the
SSB and
VHF radios with boats giving their positions and weather. lots of damage reports. By the second day the main swell had built to 12-15 feet from the south with a smaller SE swell accompanied by a small northerly swell, this made for some interesting sailing if not very wet, about every 15min or half hour sometimes two in five minutes, we would take green water over the bow or port beam and occasionally the port stern. I was trying to put together an email when some drips came through the deck from the staysail track and I decided to put the computer away safe. So I turned it off and sealed it in a zip lock plastic bag. That was the last time it worked, apparently you should not put a warm damp computer in plastic bag as condensation forms. Anyway the computer tech said all will be okay I just need a Toshiba power shearing chip replaced, a few dollars in a major civilized country. so I am now using my back up computer. Third day same as second wet little sleep. the welded joints on the pushpit cracked and separated so I had to move all the self steering blocks to other locations and the
Raymarine tiller pilot that is waterproof, was not, and stopped working sending us into a jibe the only damage was I broke two plastic sail slides at the mains head board and we are still doing 7 knots. Day 4 caught up with and passed a 34 foot catamaran seas have settled into a large SSE swell winds have stayed the same, late afternoon the instrument alarm goes off stating no
GPS data,
GPS is dead, so out with the hand held
GPS and some dead reckoning all the way to Rarotonga using a large scale map. Arrived in Rarotonga at 6pm and as per the Pilot book tied to the main warf. 3am banging on the boat and we are told to move as a cargo ship is coming in. So out to sea as it is such a small Harbour and wait for daylight where after a number of goes we manage to tie up med style, stern to the pier with a bow
anchor out. Rarotonga is great, much cheaper then French Polynesia and they all speak English. It is Friday the 25th and we leave Sunday the 27th for Niue, another good weather report, but I don't know...how bad can it get...
GPS is fixed it was a short in the wires as every thing got thrown around in the cockpit locker, pulpit welded up and sail slides taken from the foot of the mainsail and stitched to the headboard, thank god for Home ec classes.
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