Category Archives: Passage

Voyage from Kiribati to Tuvalu

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We plan each passage carefully with the hopes of having an “uneventful” passage. However, the voyage from the Marshall Islands to Kiribati to Tuvalu turned into a very “eventful” passages. 

On the first leg of our voyage, we lost our starboard steering gear box in route from the Marshall Islands to Kiribati.  This made our starboard helm, with the throttles, useless. 

On the second leg of our trip from Kiribati to Tuvalu we lost the port rudder arm (or tie rod). 

Let me back up…

The second leg of our voyage from Kiribati to Tuvalu was 702nm.  We anticipated a 6-7 day sail depending on weather. 

We were crossing the international dateline and the ICTZ which are known for strange weather patterns.  Normally, we would estimate a 700nm journey to take 5 days,.

The first 65 hours were beautiful conditions.  We had consistent winds above the beam with 1-2m seas coming at 8-9 second intervals.  We managed a 7.8kt boat speed throughout the first three days.

We had a beautifully bright and full moon to light up our nights.

And we had some delightful sunsets and sunrises

Even a few rainbows.

What Went Wrong?

We were pretty darn happy with our progress on the first half of this voyage.  This despite having one steering helm out of commission. 

However, on day 4 the winds died and shifted directly on our nose.  It was time to drop the sails and turn the iron engine on.  

Matt does a basic engine check prior to starting the engines. 

Starboard engine looked good (minus the steering gear box).  However, the port engine had a NEW problem.

The port rudder arm (tie rod) had disconnected at the attachment point.  This rendered our port rudder completely useless!

Seriously, the odds of having two unique steering issues fail on the same passage are highly unusual.

The good news is that Auto Pilot is working and able to steer the boat by bypassing the starboard gear box and the port rudder arm.  Not ideal by any means.  But we have relatively calm conditions which won’t further stress our “working” systems.

Passage Details

  • Total Time Travelled:  112 hours (5 days)
  • Total Miles Travelled: 760nm
  • Average Boat Speed: 6.5kt
  • Max Boat Speed 13.4kt
  • Total Motoring Hours: 46 (UGH!)

A few more gorgeous shots from our passage.

Voyage Shots

Voyage Shots

Although this was not an ideal passage, we made the best of it.  

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  We sailed from Kiribati to Tuvalu mid-April 2025.

Did you read about the Bloodiest Battle of WWII?

Anchor down in “Fun” town Tuvalu

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All good in Tuvalu 🇹🇻, anchor down, engines off, anchor beer in hand

Anchor beer

Now to find customs and immigration to check in.. 😎

How cool is the name “Funafuti”, even has “fun” right in the name!

Will we be able to walk on solid ground without grabbing for the nearest palm tree?

Looks like we might chill out here for a week or so, looking for a bit better wind forecast. We will be heading south, and the forecasted winds are south east, we will wait for more east than south in the winds.

So time to explore a new place..and of course ponder/investigate the steering repairs.

All well, all good

Cheers!

Nearly there, 50 miles left, all is well to Tuvalu

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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.

Cooked up a big batch of “pot stickers/dumplings”

All good on board, no drama, just chillin.