can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

American Spirit II - Day 98; Fish School Under Boat, Arrival in Rangiroa, 4.2 Knot Current in the Pass and Generator Problem; April 11, 2014



From midnight until 1:00 AM or so our depth sounder kept showing depths between 34 feet and 64 feet. Since we were in thousands of feet of water, we knew it wasn't the bottom. We finally figured out that it was a large school of fish under the boat, following the boat; hiding in the shadow cast by our boat with the moon.



From 12:15 AM until 6:00 AM we sailed without the motor, averaging between 3.0 and 4.5 knots. The reason we were content to sail so slow was that we couldn't go into Rangiroa until after 8:00 AM. We were waiting for slack tide. So why motor and get there early just to wait. Out of the 6 boats with us, we were the only one just sailing.



We saw Rangiroa at 5:50 AM. At that same time one of the Rally boats, Flomaida II, indicated that their motor stopped running. At 6:00 AM we turned our motor on. We were still 12 miles from the pass.



Even though we were the last boat to reach the Passe Tiputa, at 7:00 AM; we were the second Rally boat to enter the pass, following Ghost. We were also the only Rally boat with a sail up, our mainsail. This helped stabilize the boat. Ghost, ahead of us, was rocking quite a bit. Once in the pass we lined up on two concrete range markers on a motus (a small island)at the end of the pass. The current against us was gushing out at 4.2 knots. As we headed thru the pass, two dolphins joined us and gave us an escort in. Going thru the pass was like white water rafting. The water was quite turbulent.



By 7:40 AM we were anchored in 34 feet of water, over a small coral head. Unlike at Ahe, this time we also dropped a mooring ball. The mooring ball is over the anchor, floating on the surface; and has a line attached to the anchor. The purpose of the mooring ball is twofold. First, to let other boats know where our anchor and chain are; and second, if our anchor gets stuck on a rock or piece of coral, we can extricate it by pulling up the line that is held up by the mooring ball.



Rangiroa atoll is the second largest atoll in the world; and measures 40 miles long by 17 miles wide. It is formed by 240 motus or islets, with 130 separate channels; and has a circumference of about 100 miles. So says Charlie's Charts of Polynesia. The population of Rangiroa is 2,000. However, the atoll has a hotel, an airstrip, two dive shops, some restaurants and grocery stores.



At 8:44 AM I turned on the 5 KW Onan Generator and after firing up, it immediately quite running. After taking everything out of the port, cockpit storage locker, and once the two access doors to the generator were removed, Joel was able to diagnose the problem. Problem number one, we had a small leak at the raw water flow detector switch. Though this wasn't what caused the generator to not run, it needed fixing anyway. Once the impeller was taken off, it was found to be broken up and in small pieces. Since we had 3 spares on the boat, at least we weren't going to be sidelined for lack of a part. Once the new impeller was put in, the generator fired right up. The leak was sealed with 'rescue' tape. While working on the generator Joel read the meter and it indicated that it had 358 hours on it.



Breakfast was at 9:30 AM and consisted of scrambled eggs and ham steak.



While Joel was working on the generator, Stephen and I assembled the dingy. Then Stephen made a dingy ride to shore to find some French bread and beer. We finally ended up with some very expensive beer - 3,450 franc for 6 bottles. $43 dollars or about $7.00 for a bottle of beer. But no French bread. We'll have to get that tomorrow in the early AM before everyone else buys up what's in the store.



Later in the afternoon, I went ashore and checked out the Kia Ora hotel restaurant. Very French, and quite expensive. The Wednesday buffet that the crew of Follie a Deux went to last week was $100.00 a head.



At 5:00 PM Christoph and Dagmar from Flomaida II hosted a small cocktail hour at their boat. Besides the crew of American Spirit II were the crew of Nexus. The purpose of the cocktail party was a 'thanks' from Christoph and Dagmar for the two boats helping to deal with Flomaida's engine problem. A delicacy, clam muscle, which Dagmar had purchased at a pearl farm, was served and was delicious.



At 6:00 PM we headed to II Audeacious where Tommy and Mary Ann; and Rick and Fran entertained us with spirits, wine and tasty shrimp soup.



We got back to our boat around 9:00 PM and went right to bed. Overnight passages due that to you.



Brian Fox




Previous | Next