28 May 2010
The wind blew all night and I was restless in sleep. At 7am there was a lull and we all prepared to leave. But one by one three of the other boats had difficulty getting their anchors up with chain wrapped around coral.. First Tucanon had a spot of bother, then Liza who were well and truly stuck, finally it was Ciao's turn. Tucanon got free first and they set off only to return to assist Liza. Dick donned diving gear to help. Without his help I doubt they would have been able to get free. Finally everyone was on their way with Voyageur first through the pass. It was now 9am and the wind was back up to 20knots. The pilot says that you should not attempt the pass in anything but a calm sea. It was anything but a calm sea! The easterly wind met the outgoing current making our exit lumpy but we all made it safely through. We had to be extremely careful to judge the distance between the reefs as the current can easily set a boat onto either. It is in times like this that you have to hold your nerve. Once clear of the danger, up went the sails and for the first time in quite some time we had the sort of sailing conditions which Voyageur absolutely loves, nice and windy and on a broad reach. On course for Niue which lies in a south westerly orientation from Suwarrow, it is the second half of the overall dogleg passage from Bora Bora.
A squally night
We made great progress throughout that first day and night, Voyageur bounding along reaching 9knots at times. Heavy clouds looming up behind foretold of approaching squall activity. The first squall arrived around late afternoon and just as we finished our evening meal a gust of 40knots saw us over on or ear. We saw the mainsail go slack and feared the outhaul had snapped but thankfully it had merely slid along the track. We now reefed the main as well as the genoa and mizzen and settled down for a wet and windy night. It was horrible. Squall after squall swept over us, giving regular gusts of thirty knots with driving rain including a brief spell of lightning activity for good measure. In spite of that we both slept comfortably in the sea berth. Thinking back it was the same weather we experienced on this passage the last time. Niue is 540nm to the south west and if we can keep up the 178nm day that we have just done then we could with any luck be there in three days instead of the predicted four.
Susan Mackay
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