PACIFIC CROSSING: WEEK THREE

Seats, Please… Part III Begins!

Tue Apr 29 2025 14:45:00 GMT-0500 (Colombia Standard Time)

We picked up the southern trade winds just before dawn of day 15, and as the sun rose I set our next waypoint at the approach to Hiva Oa, in that moment 790 nm away to our southwest. Not that we’ll follow the rhumb line, we’ll arc below it to find stronger trades, as some weakening in the trade winds is forecast to the north. Still, the act of entering that waypoint really made it feel like we’re in the third and final act of this show.

And we’re Shellbacks! In US Navy tradition sailors transform from a lowly Pollywog (aka Tadpole) into a salty Shellback when they sail across the equator for the first time. Most navies have some sort of “Crossing of the Line” ceremony, I believe it originated in the French navy, and was soon taken up by the Royal navy and others as a way to boost morale. It certainly boosted ours! Navy traditions usually involve hazing, dress up, and toasts and/or sacrifices to Neptune. Ours involved a toast to Neptune and Poseidon, pouring a measure of champagne overboard for each of them, toasting ourselves and Tino Pai for a big milestone with the rest of the champagne, and swapping out our Pollywog T-shirts for Shellback ones, while listening to an appropriate mix of yacht rock. Only one thing was missed, we sailed across the line at 5 knots in moderate swell, which sadly meant we had to forgo a swim.

I’ll admit to hedging our bets on the Neptune and/or Poseidon thing; it seems to be generally accepted that they are the Roman and Greek versions of the same god, but there are differences. Being Greek, Poseidon is the OG here, with the Romans later adopting many of the traditions of the Greek pantheon. In Greek mythology Poseidon is also the god of horses and earthquakes, so not a bloke to mess with. We poured a tot for both, just to be safe.

There is, of course, a third Shellback on board. Given his expertise at bumming rides on boats, it is likely that Boris was already a Shellback, but if not he earned it yesterday, crossing with us while relaxing on deck at our starboard beam. So yes, Boris the Booby is back. Despite having his bus pass et al revoked, he’s seemingly trumped me with a residency permit. He has given up on landing on spreaders, the masthead and the solar panels - keeping his distance from Morris - and has adopted deck-top living, usually near the beam where the Jerry cans provide some shelter. So we’ve a truce. He’s quite won over Shan, and I’m damned if he isn’t working on me too. He has been quick to learn that flying fish and the occasional squid end up on deck most nights, and it’s quite something to watch him waddle around cleaning them up each morning. If you don’t know how cute a Booby’s walk is, find a video. It’s hilarious. He even waddles up to the cockpit to look in at us occasionally. So Boris gets to stay, four days now and he shows no sign of leaving. Ah, Boris.

Oh - and in yesterday’s excitement, we had another milestone… at 16:05 local we passed 2000 nm, so we’re 2/3 the way to Hiva Oa! Soon we can start playing the “guess arrival time” game, but right now it’s looking like late on Sunday, or early on Monday.

Day: 15
Hemispheres sailed: 2
Boobies paroled: 1
Times CS&N “Southern Cross” sung: many
Crew of the week: Morris (yes, again. What can I say? He’s a 24-hour helming machine!)
Miles noon-noon: 133 nm
Total miles: 2112 nm
Miles to Hiva Oa: ~780 nm

On This Heading Lie the Marquesas

Wed Apr 30 2025 10:43:00 GMT-0900 (GMT-09:00)

Day 16 dawned with a delightful dolphin visit, these welcome guests spent about 15 minutes circling Tino Pai and taking turns riding her bow wave. We were making 8 knots at the time, hopefully providing decent surf. They were small, possibly Pacific White Sided Dolphins though it was hard to be sure in the dawn light. We’ve not had many sightings of large sea life on the passage so far, making it a welcome interlude.

Dawn also illuminated a line of squalls on the horizon to our southeast. None very close so far, but clear warning that we’re not far from the southern hemisphere’s version of Squallyworld. Duly noted!

At 16:50 UTC - 09:50 local, though we’re close to a time zone change - we turned slightly to starboard and a heading of 236T which is our rhumb line to Hiva Oa, bringing to life the lyric “off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas”. Play it again, Sam! We should be on this heading for the rest of the passage, save final maneuvers and dodging squalls. And weather permitting… always weather permitting, may the trades continue to blow our way. Even as we made the turn we were brushed by a light squall, more rain than wind. For a few minutes we wallowed in the wind shadow they leave as they pass, before the trades picked up again and filled our sails.

I’ll admit that small twinges of a feeling of getting close are creeping in, the beginning of the end. These need to be stamped out! It’s a joy to be out here, and with 630 nm still to go, there’s plenty of sailing to be done yet.

Oh, and I’ve converted. Or converted back, more accurately. After 24 years of living in and around the USA, I’m going back to spelling words the New Zealand way. Fewer z’s and way more u’s, and aluminum, I won’t miss you! We’re already moving to metric - more challenging for Shan though surprisingly I’m struggling with kilometres too - however we’re going to leave our depth sounder set to feet as that’s how our ground tackle is set up. Yes, lads, the tackle is measured in feet.

We needed to let Gene out of the lazarette yesterday for a few hours to top up the batteries. It seems to be every 4 days the generator is required, even with sunnier days and more solar. This leads to interesting conversations about what we may do in the future to boost power production in less sunny places, and few will be as sunny as Mexico. The nice thing about having to use Gene is that it means we’ve not had to motor. And we’re having another lovely day of sailing out here!

And, with mixed feelings I must report that Boris did not return yesterday after departing for one of his trips from the boat. We imagine he’s headed back north to find another boat to escort over the equator. He left without saying “so long” or thanking us for all the fish.

Day: 16
Dolphin visits: 1
Squalls sailed through: 1
Boris’: 0
Miles noon-noon: 181
Miles total: 2293
Miles to Hiva Oa: 609

The Fine Dining Edition

Thu May 01 2025 14:29:00 GMT-0500 (Colombia Standard Time)

I’ve only myself to blame. Yesterday’s update now reads as just a mite smug, with a touch too much satisfaction in the progress we’d made sailing the day before. Of course - of course! - that led to the wind dropping away, and Day 17 will be remembered as the one with the engine on. And we have no sails up at all! The wind softened and backed north, dead astern, so our effective wind dropped to nothing. The main was flogging from side to side in the roll from the swell, so down it came. And we’ve been motoring since, looking for the wind to fill, or move more to the beam for better apparent wind. It’s frustrating, but soft patches of wind are typical in these waters. In search of more puff, we’re angling more steeply south off the rhumb line where the trades are likely to be stronger. The Southern Tropical Convergence Zone (SCTZ) has blown up south of us, so we’re also going to be in a particularly squally patch here for a while. I can see a squall line ahead as I write this… there’s no coasting to the finish line in the Pacific!

At some time in the past week we ate our last avocado, and I can’t believe we didn’t mark the occasion. We love avocados, obviously a huge part of Mexican cuisine, and who knows when we’ll see the abundance (avocadalanch? Avopalooza?) of the green delight again. I’m sure they’ll be scarce and expensive if we find them at all in coming months. I’m glad we ate our fill in Mexico. Burp.

So, food. Eating under way, comestibles for the crew. Sustenance among the swells; how have we fared? The first thing to know is that I cook like a cat sings opera; rarely, and badly. Luckily for me - and her - Shan is an excellent cook and has kept us very well fed. She’s prepared meals that have impressed me no end, as if by magic! With style and variety, hot and tasty (especially welcome in rain), every meal hits the spot. And the treats squirreled around the boat have been welcome too. We’re doing rather well out here on the food front, and it’s all down to my wonderful crew mate. Thank you, sweetheart!

And we’ve just found wind! We’re now sailing again, easing along with just the Genoa out. Although the 17 hours we spent motoring grinds, one thing it did do for us is keep up our progress, and we’re now 460 nm out from Hiva Oa. If we can maintain pace - not certain as we’ll sail as much as we can, even if slowly - we could arrive on Sunday!

Day: 17
Avocados: 0
Squalls: several
Engine hours noon-noon: 17
Batteries: full!
Hangry crew: 0
Miles noon-noon: 161 nm*
Total miles: 2454 nm
Miles to Hiva Oa: 451 nm

*Asterisked result due to use of the engine. Like a sprinter with a tail wind!

In the Lap of The Gods

Fri May 02 2025 10:11:00 GMT-0900 (GMT-09:00)

Here’s a question for you, as you sip your cup of coffee/tea/chai/whisky and catch up on day 18 of Tino Pai’s Pacific crossing; if Boreas and Eurus arm wrestle, who wins? Where do you place your bet? Of the two wind gods, which has more huff, more puff, more, well, blow? We do know who figuratively blows, it’s (with respect!) Boreas, the north wind. And he’s blowing literally as well.

We’ve been chasing wind for a couple of days now, among light and fickle winds that swing from N to ESE and back again. We’re trying to make way slightly W of SW which means we’ve been either running or reaching on a port tack. Winds have been in the range of 9-13 knots, fine when on a reach but no good if we’re running. We need 10 knots to fill the sails when running down wind, more if there is a swell that empties the sails as we roll. And that’s been the case with Boreas ahead in points over his brother Eurus, the east wind. It’s a featherweight bout, too, with neither bringing much heft to the fight.

Raising canvas and sailing when Eurus - the east wind - puts his shoulder into it, we’ve been dousing the sails and motoring when Boreas gets ahead. Our whites have been up and down more often than a bride’s nightie! The east wind was the favorite going into the match, with ESE winds forecast over the past couple of days, but the north is having none of it. For those of us in the arena, it’s been frustrating, to say the least. We set up this morning for a predicted SE change, but have had to gybe over into a broad reach with NE wind on our starboard quarter. Boreas, those of us who had to gybe salute you! Although Eurus, mate, we’ll be happy to gybe for you as needed. As sailors, we’ll set our sails for the wind we have and not the one we want.

Oh, and Morris hasn’t had a mention for a few days, but he’s in again today as I’d omitted the origin of his name. Apparently he’d been named by Tino Pai’s previous owners after a famously finicky celebrity cat from the 80’s USA. That Morris even ran for President, and I have no comment about how he’d measure up against any more recent Presidents, none at all.

Day: 18
Cats on board: 0
Cat namesakes on board: 1
Squalls encountered: 0 (in last 24 hrs)
Hours of rain: ~6
Engine hours: 4 (4 too many!)
Sail changes: 5
Miles noon-noon: 137 nm
Total miles: 2591 nm
Miles to Hiva Oa: 335 nm

On Tempting Fate

Sat May 03 2025 10:44:00 GMT-0900 (GMT-09:00)

It’s been an eventful 24 hours here on Tino Pai, as we close in on the islands here on day 19. Once again I tempted the fates yesterday, and they duly responded!

On reflection perhaps I was a bit of a squeaky wheel about light winds - with fair reason, I maintain! - and of course I noted zero squall encounters in our stats, and yes, I probably inferred that the East Wind is a lightweight. Fate duly tempted, and a lesson followed on just why sailors are a superstitious lot.

Wind had filled in from the east and we were making great progress of 7-8 knots on a broad, almost beam reach in up to 20 knots of wind under grey skies. Morris was happy, and while there were squalls about none were close enough to worry about; we keep a close eye on the Doppler radar in squally conditions. I’d popped below to chat with Shan when the boat rounded up, and Morris struggled to bring her back on course. I returned to the helm and relieved him as, seemingly from nowhere, a squall had appeared! Perhaps it propagated on top of us? Wherever it came from, the next hour plus was spent hand steering in winds of 25-30 knots as we ran in driving rain. With sails set for a broad reach we had little choice but to run, though we further furled the already partly-reefed Genoa. As each big blob of rain passed us on the radar, another lined up in its place; it was a squall train, and we were the damsel on the tracks! And, of course, the train came from where else but the east, like an angry and tempestuous Orient Express. East Wind, you have our respect! As if to add injury to insult, it hit just as dinner was ready.

Having gone through that, around 9pm the wind dropped and the main started slatting; whipping back and forth and shaking the rigging. It kept me awake - it was my off-watch - and as well as being hard on the boat it’s one of those noises that drive sailors bonkers (more so than usual). We set to douse the main so we could run on the more easily furled Genoa, already poled out to catch the wind. We’d just centered the boom in readiness to drop the main, when BANG! Something broke, and loudly. We both started at the noise - Shan’s description later was that it “scared the holy smokes bejeezus out of me” - and quickly realised that the center u-bolt on the boom, attaching one of the mainsheet blocks, had broken. With darkness gathering that was it for the main until we could jury rig a repair in daylight.

Happily we carry strops for just this sort of problem, and we were able to use one to reconnect the block to the boom.

Our decision to divert to Fatu Hiva means we’re adding a few more hours to the voyage, and it looks like we’ll get in there very early Monday morning. We’ll need to slow down to ensure a daylight arrival, and it does mean that my secret hope of a sub-21 day transit will be dashed. Still, with some of the light winds we’ve had in the last week, 21 days and change won’t be too dusty! Dammit… there I go tempting fate again.

Day: 19
Holy bejeezus what was that!’s: 1
Squalls encountered: One? Several? Eurus’ devil-spawn!
Repairs underway: 1 (in last 24-hrs)
Fresh pineapples left: 0
Cabbages left: 2
Prepared meals left: 2
Miles noon-noon: 131 nm
Total miles: 2722 nm
Miles to Fatu Hiva: 236 nm

It Takes a… Flotilla

Sun May 04 2025 10:19:00 GMT-0900 (GMT-09:00)

Today, day 20, a score of days out from La Cruz, the day after which we start counting toes, will be our last full day before arrival! We have a hard policy not to enter new anchorages in the dark, so we’ve been actively slowing the boat for the last 24 hours to ensure we arrive at Fatu Hiva after dawn tomorrow. That’s involved sailing on just half the Genoa, poled out to starboard, and Tino Pai didn’t like it! She’s tried very hard to stay above 5 knots SOG, despite our need to stay under about 4.5 knots. One shouldn’t hobble a thoroughbred, it’s true, but we’ve needed her at more of a trot than a canter. We’d have had to average about 6.5 knots to make a Sunday evening arrival, and as tempting as it was to go for it, with time lost to the mainsheet block repair and the possibility of fickle winds, we went the prudent route and slowed her down, steadily reducing her canvas. As it turned out, with steady trades kicking in we could have made Sunday before dusk. Oh, well. It is, after all, a journey, not a time trial.

On repairs, as I’ve written our passage has not been without them, as few are. We’ve heard from buddy boats of sheared pins, torn sails, broken shackles, inverter issues, and more. The constant sail plans, pressure and rolling motion in swells can be - is - hard on boats on passage. We’ve had the u-bolt break on the boom (more correctly a pad eye), a pin go awol from a batten car attachment to the mast track, missing washers on the pin attaching the vang to its mast bracket, loose screws on that mast bracket, and the engine stalling and surging due to air getting in through the secondary fuel filter bleed nut. Oh, and of course a clogged head. All of these were worked on and/or inspected as part of our departure preparation, so weren’t a result of our inattention. Some, frustratingly, were worked on by professionals, but nevertheless we’ve been able to fix or at least jury rig a repair or workaround for everything. We have felt good about the overall condition of the boat - and our ability to address problems - throughout the passage.

Much of our competency and preparedness has come through help from our community. We’ve been open about our challenges and have always had friends and neighbours ready and willing to assist. Too many to mention individually, these kind and generous folk have loaned tools, leaned in with muscle, freely given time, expertise, advice, sometimes parts and sometimes sympathy, and never laughed or scoffed at our occasionally silly questions. Often in person though sometimes via text and phone calls, they’ve provided encouragement, understanding, humour, enthusiasm and perspective when at times our well had run dry. It may have been simply sharing a time-out and a cocktail when one was sorely needed. If you’re reading this and can think back to a time when you helped us and, knowingly or not, saved the day, this is to you: our heartfelt thanks. Sincerely. We’ve learned a lot, greatly enjoyed your help and company, and we’d not be here without you.

Oh, and incidentally we’ve kept the ships clock at UTC -7 during the voyage for consistency in the watch schedule and our logs. We’ll adjust to local time (UTC -9.5) on arrival. Which is… just one day away! The next update will be from anchor. There will be a lot to unpack in that one, so with less than 100 nm to go, “the feels” can wait until then!

Day: 20
Squalls encountered (last 24 hr): 0
Morale: High!
Fish caught: 0
Bags of “Crujiente” chips left: 3!
Champagne bottles chilling: 1
Sails out: 3/4
(Reined-in) Miles noon-noon: 115nm
Total miles: 2837 nm
Miles to Fatu Hiva: 99nm

Bonjour, îles Marquises!

Mon May 05 2025 11:01:00 GMT-0900 (GMT-09:00)

Wow. We’re here! After 20 days, 15 hours and 30 minutes under way, we anchored in Baie Tahauku, Hiva Oa, îles Marquises at 7:10am local time this morning (UTC -9.5). It feels… good. It might take a little time to sink in! If brevity is the soul of wit, today’s update will be particularly witty. We promise a fuller update once we’re settled in.

Briefly though, we continued to slow Tino Pai through the rest of yesterday and last night, dawn breaking with Hiva Oa looming over us, a spectacular end to a wonderful passage.

More to come, for now…. au revoir!