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Nexus - On our way to AHE, Tuamotus



With one last long and admiring look, we left Nuku Hiva yesterday afternoon in company with Vivo, a 60' FP Catamaran, to sail to AHE, a small atoll in the Tuamotus. It is a 495 mile passage which seems like a walk in the park now. We left at 330pm assuming we would average 7.5kt in 15kt trade winds, to arrive at noon high tide to pick our way through the coral heads and tidal flows in the entrance channel with the sun overhead. On leaving the harbor we were promptly greeted by 23-25kt winds on the beam, which had us blasting along at 9-111kts all night with reefs in. So much for our planning! We expect the wind to die off later today, but we're leaving the reefs in to slow down as the prize for getting there early is only to wait for slack tide anyway. We're giving Vivo a chance to close the 18mile gap between us from last night and looking forward to sailing in company with them. We passed Civetta last night around midnight, another World ARC friend, not knowing who they were until they heard our radio chatter letting Vivo know they were out there. I think the ARC should make AIS transponders mandatory as it helps all of us stay safer. Civetta had virtually no radar signature and no AIS, we passed within a mile of them and only saw their navigation lights, which is fine, but would be better with AIS. So we're slowly sailing along with a beautiful day and fishing lines out, looking forward to another day at sea!

Russ and Laurie on NEXUS at 10:11 10 46.8'S;142 09.1'W


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