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

Menu

Mischief - Up to Mischief Log 39 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Friday, 18 May 2018 - en route to Suwarrow still

A quiet night in terms of squalls, in fact we were by-passed by a couple and from 2400 there was nothing but clear skies and stars with a 15-20 knot breeze from the NE, with one reef in just in case. We were still doing 7 knots though.

At the radio net this morning we were addressed as "Shark Catcher", better than the previous 'Miscreants'; 'Misfits'; or 'Mischievious', accurate though they may be. Should we be the only boat to catch one maybe we will be the 'Lone Shark', who knows? But the position reports put us furthest west of the fleet, not by much, but it does mean we are leading at this point in time.

Spinnaker up at 9am, no problems, as we aim to reach Suwarrow in the early hours of Sunday for slack water is at 6am or 12 noon. Interestingly, it is always at 6am and noon as it has a 'Solar' tide effected by the rise of the sun rather than the movements of the moon. I did say it was interesting, just don't ask me why!

As the wind increased to 22 knots after a lunch of sushimi (fresh raw tuna as caught only yesterday), we had to drop the spinnaker again and sail under poled out genoa. It's just a safer rig and we don't want to blow the kite again and be without for another few weeks. Besides, Wendy has spent the sail repair budget on pearls.

Around 4pm at the time of the SSB radio net the airwaves suddenly livened up as Mad Monkey issued a 'Pan Pan' message to the fleet as Mark thought he had hit a submerged object and had lost his rudder with a danger of water ingress should it drop off completely. Everyone did a roll call as to distance off the casualty: we were 107 miles away so too far to be of any direct assistance whereas Amara was 31 miles off and Pretext 60 miles and both were heading for their position, with others bringing up the rear and rendering expert assistance over the radio. I was very impressed with the professionalism displayed by the fleet in the circumstances and the organization of the assistance on the radio where John off Madrigal took charge and delegated jobs and ordered priorities. It transpired to be a rudder bearing that had failed causing the rudder to drop six inches and slop about in its housing. A halyard to the top of the rudder stock secured it in place and she is ultimately making her way under sail to Suwarrow to effect a better temporary repair before heading off to American Samoa where there is a boat lifting facility and full service boat yard.

With the Mad Monkey situation still bubbling away in the background I made some risotto for tea which we ae whilst watching deep black clouds gather all around us and lightning flashes start up. It was soon dark and we were sailing into a thunder storm of truly biblical proportions which we got up on radar which gives a picture overlay of the storm on the chart. The storm was closing in on us on all sides seemingly other than from directly behind in a horseshoe shape. The fork lightning you could almost hear hitting the water, quite spectacular, and the thunder was deafening as it came right overhead. The only way forwards was backwards, out of the opening in the horseshoe under engine as it was dead upwind in pitch black. The lightning was blinding as it was so close. We were most of the way out watching the lightning strikes around where we would have been, when the radar packed up and we could no longer see where the worst of the storm was but knowing there was another somewhere in front of us. So there was no real option but to turn back into it, as it was moving away and trust to luck - nothing acts like a better lightning conductor like an aluminum mast with a VHF aerial on top! Luckily, we could see moon light beyond the edge of the cloud so headed for that and escaped unscathed. However, the wind patterns were disturbed, and it came at us from all over the place meaning a gybe or two to get back onto course so both Dave and I stayed on deck until midnight when all was back to normal.

Phew, quite a day!


Saturday 19 May 2018- En route to Suwarrow, Cook Islands

Thank goodness for that! After an eventful afternoon and evening yesterday, the latter part of the night was relatively uneventful and so was the rest of today with the wind and sea state constant. Our ETA Suwarrow is around 2100 this evening although we are not able to enter the lagoon until daylight, after 0630 in the morning.

The 0800 SSB net confirmed that Mad Monkey were making good progress, and all was as well as could be expected on board which is excellent news.

Suwarrow is a large atoll, around 11 miles across. The pilotage book states that the southern part is submerged and dangerous, so we won't be going anywhere near that end of it! There is a conspicuous wreck there off the entrance and many vessels have been lost here and several sunk within the lagoon where the wreckage can be seen on the bottom. It is a part of the Cook Islands which consist of 15 such small islands spread over a large area of 750,000 sq miles, flanked to the west by Tonga and Samoa and to the east, French Polynesia from whence we have come. Many of the islands were explored by Captain Cook and hence the name funnily enough - we Brits get everywhere, a bit like the Irish but still no Irish bar to be seen here though.

One of the reasons for visiting Suwarrow (it is a long way out of the way to Nuie and Tonga) is the diving and snorkeling here are supposed to be excellent. We were made aware that there is a large shark population here and divers are often accompanied by Rangers armed with spear guns by all accounts. Lets hope that shark we irritated the other day doesn't recognize us.

At 1700 we nearly caught another fish, two in fact at the same time but both managed to leap out of the water and escape before we could reel them in, that event being the most exciting event of the day so far, apart from me getting a particularly difficult clue in my cryptic crossword book. Other than that, I made a spag bog for tea as I was bored, and I even had a shave after four days for something to do.

Finally, at 2208 we crossed the virtual finish line taken at 45 degs from the point off Anchorage Island, 2 miles off. We have taken line honours which is great although some of the faster boats were hanging back escorting Mad Monkey. However, we still had to await daylight, so we spent the rest of the night sailing up and down the lee of the island under reefed mainsail and no genoa a mile off the coast dodging other boats arriving and doing the same thing.

Sunday, 20 May 2018 - Suwarrow, Cook Islands

I went down below at 0600 after a four hour shift but was up again at 0730 as the boat was slamming into waves as we motored towards the entrance into the wind. The wind was blowing quite hard kicking up a bit of a chop as we entered the lagoon with a vicious reef either side of us and seemingly in front too! You could see why they say a night entrance is inadvisable, but other than that it was fairly straight forwards and once inside headed to the designated anchorage area where we dropped anchor over sand, I hope as there are numerous large bommies about, so we will dive on it later to check.

Most of the other ARC boats then followed in one after the other almost in procession and immediately we set about preparing to receive Mad Monkey escorted by Amara, Ice Bear and Pretext, due in around 10am. There followed a text book example of why sailing in a rally such as this is so beneficial.

We put three of the more powerful ribs into the water and I jumped into one with John from Madrigal, Dave into another with Gary from Solitude and Bones had Steve with him from Emily Morgan and once organized and armed with a hand held VHF each we set off for the entrance into the chop at some speed to greet Mad Monkey as she tentatively approached the shallows. We were positioned so as to assist should she not be maneuverable enough in the turns so she would not end up on the reefs. Fortunately, we were not needed and escorted her to the anchorage where John and I found a suitable spot for her to drop anchor with the rest of us. And there she was, safe! It was like a naval procession as we passed the fleet at anchor with cheers and fog horns going off and a running commentary ongoing on a loudspeaker, with Mad Monkey flanked by the ribs and escorting yachts bringing up the rear.

Mark of Mad Monkey showed his appreciation by inviting all to a party aboard at 1330 at which he gave a short and moving speech about the efforts and support offered by all concerned.

This truly is a lovely anchorage. We are hundreds of miles from anywhere in a huge atoll filled with sharks in crystal clear water. There is a small islet near to us with palm trees and a sandy beach which we explored this afternoon - it took all of two minutes. What there is there though is a small accommodation shed where two park rangers live for seven months of the year - John and Harry. They are visiting each boat in turn and charging NZ$50 to be here.

A very nice dinner of grilled steak on the portable barbeque and roast potatoes was had and an early night, half of which was spent in the cockpit as I had fallen sound asleep at the table!

Previous | Next