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Merlyn of Poole - Tuesday, 8th April -14° 31'S; 148° 46'W'



I am very bananas’ (Wendy Cope)

Today we have had a debate about watches. I’m for the four-hour watches at night, with two dog watches either side. That one four-hour sleep really does it for me. The skipper prefers four three-hour watches – he finds four hours too long to be up at night. To me it feels as if I’m up and down all night if I only get three hours sleep at a time. On the four-hour system I have been frisking about, full of the joys of spring, whereas the skipper has been sleepy and a little on the grumpy side. Now it’s me who’s yawning all the time, while the skipper is back to his usual bouncy self. How do we resolve this? Perhaps one night of three-hour watches, followed by night of the four-hour pattern?

We have been busy with bananas – with varying degrees of success. The banana bread, made in the breadmaker, was on the heavy side. As it’s the first time we’ve used the breadmaker for this purpose, we’re not sure where the fault lies. I suspect a combination of the flour we’ve bought, and the baking powder. Neither of these seems to perform as well as our usual varieties. The skipper is dutifully working his way through it, nonetheless – he says it helps him get through the night watches! I’m not sure whether he’s eating it or throwing it into the sea to pass the time.

Said skipper, Jonathan, has made a huge quantity of banana smoothie. It tastes very good, but it’s so rich that it’s difficult to drink very much of it. I also experimented with a banoffee. It worked well, in spite of a lack of mascarpone, but it’s very sweet, and we haven’t managed more than a couple of portions. So, we may just eat the rest of the bananas in the usual way, or perhaps baked in the oven with just a little sugar and butter….

Progress today has been mixed. We had a very quiet night with not much wind, and that continued right through the day. In the morning, we gave in and hoisted the ‘iron topsail’. We motored for most of the day, and we were caught a little bit on the hop when the wind suddenly zoomed up to around sixteen knots. The genoa came back out again, and we were back to sailing. Then our speed shot up rather alarmingly to over eight knots, and we heeled right over just as we were trying to eat our dinner. Oh great Neptune, this behaviour is not cricket!

After we’d eaten, we reefed both sails which brought our speed back down again. The sea was very confused, and we were being tossed about by waves, striking the boat from different directions. If all of this wasn’t enough, the wind then dwindled almost to nothing and we had to go back to motoring. Now we’re sailing yet again, just a few hours later, and we’re making around seven knots.

The picture of confusion has been intensified by the behaviour of the wind. It is varying through about sixty degrees, and we find ourselves close hauled, only to be back on a broad reach a little while later. We wondered if some of this is because we’re close to the Tuamotus now  - the islands are known for their changeable winds. We’re about ten miles away from our waypoint – a watery, virtual roundabout (the one where we change course for Papeete). Once we reach it, we need to turn to windward, at least fifteen degrees. Whether we can do that or not will depend on what the wind’s doing at the time. If we’re not able to, we’ll have to set a different course which will bring us down the western side of the tiny island of Tetiaroa.

We’re not too far away from Tahiti now – about 180 miles. That will take us about thirty hours, depending on the wind, which puts us in at about ten am on Thursday. It’s exciting to think that we’re nearly there! We’re also very close to Bora Bora, which will be our next port of call, after Tahiti. The photos of the island look spectacular. The island is surrounded by a coral reef, inside of which is a lagoon with water of the deepest shade of blue. Bora Bora has the reputation of being the most beautiful island in the South Pacific – we shall see! We’ve now seen so many things that are the most beautiful of their kind, whether it’s bay, valley, mountain – we’re wallowing, deliciously, in natural beauty.

Later

We’ve turned the corner to Tahiti, and we’re sailing ‘full and bye’, directly on our course to Papeete. It’s a bit bouncy, and we’ve had a few waves over the deck, but we’re going along very nicely at six to seven knots. We were unsure what course we’d be able to lay once we were round the corner, but everything fell into place, thanks to the skipper’s seamanship (his words!).

The skipper also allowed the Chief (and only) Blogger the luxury of another hour asleep – it has made all the difference, and I’ve woken up ready for anything. It’s a beautiful sunny day, and all is well.

By the time the next blog post arrives, we should be close to arrival in Papeete. It’ll be good to be back on land and, for the first time in ages, in a marina. What luxury to be able to just step onto a pontoon, without having to use dinghy! We’ll also have shore power, which means no generator use for a while. How will we cope with life being so easy?

Watch this space for our first sighting of Tahiti!

 

 

 




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