Monday 19th May
Sure enough, we’re on anchor watch all night,doing one hour shifts. The wind came as expected, gusting up to 30 knots. We’ve got a good hold but we’re too close to Tallulah Ruby and the wind swings round completely in the night to the opposite direction expected – SE. Due to this, a few of the WARC boats in various locations have to re-anchor in the night . By morning it’s stopped blowing, although still very overcast. We have breakfast then all go back to bed for a couple of hours. By the time we get up it’s flat calm and a lot of the boats that were beside us have gone. The water is clear, we can see the sandy bottom and we watch fish and large rays swimming by the boat. Paul from TR calls over to discuss the forecast and we make a provisional plan to leave for Rarotonga on Tuesday morning, also with Strega. It looks like we’ll have to head West then cut South to avoid the next front that’s coming through. All 4 of us dinghy over to the reef and enjoy another great snorkel – even clearer than yesterday. Afterwards we up anchor and motor back over to the village quay to get a few last minute vittles and more cash! Like many of the fleet, we decide to head down to Bloody Mary’s for a last blast ashore before the next leg. After anchoring, Ian, Stewy and Brian go ashore early so as not to miss any action . Annie takes advantage of a quiet couple of hours aboard enjoying the views and peace and quiet – blissful! By the time Ian comes back to pick her up , it’s clear there’s quite a session going on ashore! The bar is full of Arc crews partying hard before the start of leg 7 tomorrow. A fishing challenge is proposed between Jus Do It and Tallulah Ruby – last to catch a fish buys the drinks in Rarotonga – the rules are agreed and the competition is on! A raucous night – suffice to say Annie drives the dinghy home!
Tuesday 20th May
Ian gets picked up by David, Kealoha at 7.30am as arranged, and the two of them dinghy to the village for bread, which they then deliver to the fleet. It’s very grey and overcast with very little wind. The Arc VHF channel 77 is buzzing with chatter about weather, who’s going where and well wishes. Those going to Suworrow have a start gun at 12 noon, but we leave at 10am in company with Into the Blue and Strega close behind. Tallulah Ruby are 2 hours behind due to a generator problem, and Andante of Mersey also set off around the same time. We hoist the mainsail but it’s very light airs and a big rolling sea. We motor sail most of the day and throughout the night. Early on we can see Into The Blue, Strega and one of the other boats but as the night goes on we lose sight of all but Into the Blue who we keep in contact with by VHF. We’re maintaining contact with the fleet by radioing our position to Into the Blue, who then relay positions by SSB. We’re operating our usual watch system of 3 hours on, 6 off with a ¾ hour overlap each end with someone and the middle 1 1/2 hours alone.
Wednesday 21st May
By morning the wind has picked up from the NW and we goose-wing the sails heading just South of the rumb line. The wind then swings to the North - we adjust our course to 226’ to try and maintain the rumb line and head South. By 11am we’ve jibed and we’re now heading in a more Northerly direction as the wind continues to back. During the course of the day, the wind swings through the N to the NW and gradually increases in strength to 15-20 knots. Alas, we hear from Into the Blue that we have already lost the fishing competition – Tallulah Ruby have caught a wahoo – looks like the beers are on us when we get to Rarotonga! We hear Andante of Mersey have also caught 2 tuna – what are we doing wrong?! By evening the cloud has thickened and the sky looks very ominous. We decide ( Ian is persuaded!) to reef the main at sunset and await the forecasted squalls. Shortly after dusk, with the wind still increasing and as we’re hardening up, we notice the foot of the headsail has broken loose from the roller reefing drum. Stewy and Ian clip on and go up to the forepeak to asses the damage. They come back for the drill and necessary tools then return to carry out a temporary repair by drilling a hole through the webbing on the foot of the sail and shackling it onto the drum. While they’re on the foredeck , Into the Blue call on the VHF to warn us they have just been hit by a squall gusting 50 knots which lasted approximately 3 minutes. We notice erratic wind recordings of 60 -70 knots on our instruments but assume these are faulty readings due to static from the thunder and lightening over-head . Nevertheless, Annie tells Ian and Stewy to get off the forepeak asap in case we get hit! The repair is completed and we adjust the sails, on a close fetch, making good progress throughout the night at a steady 7-8 knots.
Thursday 22nd May
At around 4am Stewy comes on watch and starts having to adjust course to keep sailing and maintain boat-speed, heading further and further South. Soon afterwards, Ian decides to drop the headsail and motorsail in a more northerly direction. The wind has now dropped to 8-9 knots. Stewy’s still up at dawn for ‘the golden hour’, to change the fishing lures and put out the lines. We can still save face! We motorsail all day, heading for Raratonga but decide we may try to stop at one of the smaller islands NE of our destination. We have very little information, however, only what we have on Charlie’s Charts. None of the islands ( which are surrounded by coral reef) have harbours or lagoons and are therefore difficult to anchor off due to the depth of the water. Atui looks like the most promising so we decide to head for there for a day stop if the wind will conditions allow us. If the wind is from the N/NW we will unable to stop. It’s a long, hot day chugging along at 5-6 knots. We don’t see any sign of life, and have also now lost sight of Into the Blue. We remember to email our position to Arc control, unlike yesterday! Still no fish! We’re due to reach Atui by dawn.