In the doldrums of the ITCZ, light winds, small seas, gray and mostly overcast. Luckily not much in the way of rain, lots of rain on the horizon in every direction, but we managed to stay dry. Just hot and sticky.
We should arrive Tuvalu shortly after sunrise, which is should help in navigating the reef and make our way across the atoll to the main town to do the formalities of clearing customs and immigration.
We kept the engine pushing us forward to make a Friday arrival as the “word on the streets (internet)” is the official offices are closed on the weekend. So technically we would be confined to the boat till Monday till we could go through the process of clearing in. A stretch of the legs dictated the drone of the diesel we have been enjoying. “Get there, get cleared in!” sounded so much better than arrive and then wait around in quarantine till Monday
On the bright side, batteries and water tanks are topped to the max, but the diesel tank did suffer some loss all in the name of getting there. 🙂
Christine worked magic and has lined up a few options for getting our pieces put back together once we arrive Fiji. Will also ask around Tuvalu if there is any welders equipped for stainless work to see if we can get the drag link sorted and return the port rudder to service.
First and foremost everything is fine on board, we are continuing on toward Fiji as planned still with a stop in Tuvalu.
We left Majuro bound for Fiji with 2 stops along the way, Kiribati and Tuvalu. Its the end of cyclone season, Yippie, except for the one that just popped up between Vanuatu and is heading toward New Zealand. We are heading to “Bula” country, home of friendly people and kava ceremonies.
When we left the Marshall Islands we had 2 steering helms, 2 rudders, 1 auto pilot and 2 souls capable of steering the boat with any of those. And we have an emergency tiller too, in case everything goes pear shaped. Let me say, we have had some “challenges” on this passage south.
First arriving Kiribati, one of the steering boxes on the starboard side decided 24 years was enough, and demanded attention. One its bearings on the inside the steering gears rusted through and burst into pieces. One steering station down. Now we can no longer steer the boat from the starboard helm, and that is also where the gas pedal is. So picture a clown car with the clowns carrying around the steering wheel, yet the car won’t turn. Turn as you might the steering wheel, helm, just spins indefinitely. To actually turn, you have to run to the other side of the drivers end clown car to steer and run back to give it gas or slow down. What can go wrong? 🙂 The clowns always make it work, right? I actually removed the steering gear (red below) where the bearings disintegrated, so that the pieces and wobbly gear wouldn’t lock up the steering completely. So whew, order bearings to repair and head off to Tuvalu. Not ideal but we have 2 of everything, part of being a catamaran.
Left Kiribati bound for Tuvalu.
The sail started out as champagne sailing doing great speeds and making short work of 700 miles we were making toward Tuvalu. It devolved a bit into prosecco sailing when the speeds dropped a bit, but still great fun. Day 3 the squalls of the ITCZ (convergence zone between north and south hemispheres), quick wind shifts and gusts made for some exciting times. Nothing out of the normal for this part of the pacific crossing the equator and the convergence zones. When the wind went too light and on the nose, it was time to check the engine fluids before starting and to spot any potential issues. I found the port rudder “control arm” broke at some point, probably during one of those pesky 30kt squalls. The ones that steel your perfect wind and force you off course. Thinking back, the broken bit might explain why it took longer than normal to turn downwind to run in the storm. So the port rudder is down till we find a stainless welder. Its lashed to the central position now, its just not wobbling too and fro willy nilly, and getting a free ride.
So for those keeping count, we have 1 working steering helm station (port), 1 working rudder (starboard), 1 auto pilot(starboard), and 2 less than pleased souls on board. And of course the emergency tiller when all else fails. So now we still use the gas pedal on the starboard side, run to port side to steer, the steering rudder is actually on the starboard side. Got it? A bit complicated but we are still trucking along, albeit a bit more conservatively till we arrive Fiji and work on getting cold beer to tackle fixing the steering project.
Is it Fiji that doesn’t like our steering? 2 years ago, one of our rudders vanished on the way to Fiji. This year, other steering components are making their voices heard.
275nm to Tuvalu, then another 500ish to Fiji.. we will get there!
After a nice siesta out in the middle of nowhere. It was time to finish this journey. Seems I was so hard a sleep Christine couldn’t wake me. Well she did wake me, and I’m not sure what was said, but it was surely something I didn’t understand since she let me go back to sleep, and sleep 2 hours past original time to get going. So if you see me today, thank Christine for my beauty sleep, I obviously needed it.
Final passage sunset
Made contact on SSB in the morning to notify of our position and a time to meet at the mooring with another boater to give us the lay of the land.
We got to follow 2 container ships in the pass this morning, Looks like a busy little place, lots of lights along the shore and quite a few commercial boats inside the lagoon.
Just like the Houston ship channel. Lots of traffic this morning
Over all a comfortable passage, weather wise it was spectacular. Would have been better if there was more (or any sailing) involved, but that might have changed the sea state. I’m sure Christine will have a different opinion, but with the drugs she seemed pretty normal, if that is possible.
Noteworthy: • SPC and ITCZ: I guess it’s possible that you can make it through without too much drama with the right amount of diesel and super slack weather window. Not sure if that’s true or not, but somehow worked in our favor, albeit a longer / slower trip that our normal. • Lost : Tan lines, I’ve looked everywhere they are no where to be found. Something you’ve had for fifty something years and to have lost it. All is not lost, I have it on good authority that civilization brings them back. • Diet : While the boat lost hundreds of pounds along the way, I’m sure I ate everything in sight. Any thing to keep awake, it’s the lack of exercise that isn’t good. A long HOT walk on shore will do wonders for the psyche, after clearing customs of course. • Lost : SSB & Ham radios have been dying for a few years, but the once entertainment and safety at sea is still tapering off. Hardly any boats checking to PacSea net. We did use ours to keep up with a friend that is on his way to Japan. • Lost : A little blood from a drone catch, count your fingers lucky, we we should have practiced that on flat ground before trying it in ocean swell. • Learned : You can motor a long way when you need to, nearly 130 miles per gallon of diesel, by rough calculation. • Lost : More of my sanity not sure how much I have left to loose, seems to be being replaced by senility, or is that just my bad spelling? • Learned : Its frigging HOT this side of the equator, should have installed air conditioning instead of the diesel heaters.
Anchor down (mooring retrieved) and cold beer in hand! Yippie. Off to find the authorities and clear into customs and immigration.
