Half Way to Hiva Oa!

Date: 26th April, 2024

Where am I? 

Latitude: 08°25.4 S

Longitude: 119°06.6 W

How is the weather?

We now have solid perfect trade wind sailing conditions with wind from around 110° at 12-20 knots. Waves are 1 to 3 metres and we don’t see the great, rolling ocean swell we experienced in the Atlantic. Blue skies with scattered, short rain showers – although none the last 2 days.

What am I feeling?

Very happy with the performance of the yacht and her crew. Problems are being spotted before they become major issues and we are fixing what needs to be fixed as we go along. Our navigation choices on route have been solid so far, meaning that our miles sailed should not be too far off the shortest possible distance (ie the rhumb line).

What has happened this week?

We’ve had the usual thrills and spills we expect on a long passage.

We are now well over half way to Hiva Oa, with fewer than 1,200 miles to go to our waypoint just to the south of the island. Having sailed initially on port tack on a deep reach, we switched to wing-on-wing once south of our rhumb line and have been sailing with that set up now for 5 days. 3 of those days saw us cover 600 nautical miles, a record sustained speed for Fujin. Our top speed has been 13.5 knots, surfing down a wave – quite exciting!

We found some major chafe on the port side genoa sheet, from rubbing on the fitting at the end of our spinnaker pole. We only spotted the issue because we had to reef in the sail while we battled a large wahoo on our starboard fishing rod. Sadly, the wahoo go away just as we were lifting it out of the water – its weight bent the hook and our gaff sadly is barely fit for purpose. Anyway, although disappointed with the loss of the fish, we were happy that we spotted the chafing before the sheet parted – that would have been a bit of a drama, especially if it happened at night. The chafing is right at the clew of the sail, so we will be able to cut off the last two feet and reuse the sheet.

We did catch another fish too – a a nice mahi-mahi which was duly served up for dinner the same day, pan fried in butter with a lemon, caper and butter sauce – delicious!

We’ve had an intermittent issue with our Raymarine P70 autopilot control head, sometimes showing a “No Pilot” error message and being inoperable, even though the autopilot itself is working normally and can be controlled from the chart plotter. The issue resurfaced on Wednesday, so we dug out our wiring diagrams to troubleshoot the problem. Having removed the P70 from the binnacle and reset its connections to the SeaTalk network, it is now working normally. Hopefully, we’ve finally sorted out this issue.

I find it interesting that all through our working life, we spend much of our time trying to control our environment. Whether that be within the family, in the office, relationships in general, the weather, time, distance, etc. But when sailing on a long passage, one has to put aside all of that and, if not surrender to them, at least accept that natural forces reign supreme. The vagaries of the wind, currents and waves determine our progress and there is very little we can do to change that. We cannot use our engine if the wind fails because we do not carry enough fuel to motor to Hiva Oa. We have to play with the cards nature has dealt us and use our ingenuity and experience to further our progress. 

Isn’t it paradoxical that the secret of feeling truly liberated lies in accepting nature’s control over us?

This all puts me in mind of Byron’s words in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, which many will recognise:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society where none intrudes

By the deep sea, and music in its roar:

I love not Man the less, but Nature more,

From these our interviews, from which I steal

From all I may be or have been before,

To mingle with the universe and feel

What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.

All well aboard.

Fujin out!