Every time we get ready to give away our copy of “The Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew”  I decide to give it another read and end up learning something from it that I didn’t learn the last time I read it.

In that book is one of my all time favorite cruising photos: Larry Pardey posing on deck with his kingfish.

This one is for you Larry and Lin:

If you’ve never read the book, it is worth a read because it tells the day-by-day story of one of their longest passages interspersed with recipes and useful reference facts such as how much bleach to add to water in your tanks if you feel the need, good references on the longevity and best storage of fruits and veg, and life-without-refrigeration tips.

I've been delaying writing about our multi-leg trip back from the Cook Islands to French Polynesia in part because I prefer to post entries in the order they occurred even though they are delayed. We haven't even finished our logs of French Polynesia and so far we've written nothing about our adventures in the Cooks.

The other reason we haven't blogged about our plans was because, frankly, we weren't sure we would make it.

Not that we thought something bad would happen but we thought there were at least even odds that we would have to turn back. We had never set out on a windward ocean passage and as we asked around for advice we were mostly met with wide eyed looks and statements like "but that's the wrong way". A few French boats gave more specific, but so very Frenchie advice such as "just don't put the rail in the water" (um, not even a possibility) and "it will probably take two weeks, but you'll make it" and "I have a friend doing that route but not until the November" (in the hurricane season).

As we slowly close on Bora Bora, on our second and final leg, we begin to allow ourselves feel that we are actually going to get there. We fell in love with French Polynesia and it looks like we are going to get a chance to savor it again.

There are a number of factors working against sailing SE in this part of the world:
1) The winds are primarily from the SE quadrant (i.e., noserly).
2) The swells are primarily from the SE quadrant.
3) There is a light west setting current which widens tacking angles.
4) The distances for our legs are too large to complete an entire leg while taking advantage of an unusual wind direction (e.g., NE) which is, alas, always too brief.

Still, there are a number of factors we have working for us:
1) Estrellita is a Wauquiez Pretorien. Some cruising boats go to windward. Some don't. Pretoriens do.
2) One of her crew was called "Ti-Fou" (lil'crazy) in a former life. The other has been known to commit to other grueling, senseless endeavors such as dissertations and marathons.
3) We have a lot of free time. While limited by the impending hurricane season, if a windward passage takes twice as long as a downwind passage, so be it. We are not Moitissier. Passage making isn't as fun as exploring islands, but neither is it so painful that we will change our cruising desires to minimize it.

Back to my night watch...

One of our favorite things to do so far in the South Pacific is to walk the reefs in atolls and from these pictures I think you can see why.

We pack up a lunch and some handy supplies (hatchet for coconuts, lunch, spear, lots of water, ziplocs for any food we gather), and head out for walk that usually ends up taking most of the day.

 

It’s not that we walk far; it is that the reefs suggest interesting things to do. We might catch a fish and make a beach fire to cook it, find a swimming hole, open some coconuts, or just poke through the stuff that has washed up on the windward side of the atoll.

   

The very healthy reefs have beautiful life even on the top of the reef on the ocean side.

I (heart) atolls.