Tag 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?

Kiribati is the Center of the World

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Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas) is an independent Republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.  It gained its independence in July of 1979.  Kiribati is located 360nm from the Marshall Islands, 1100nm from Fiji, and 900nm from the Solomon Islands.

This country has 33 coral atolls divided among three island groups: the Gilbert Islands, the Phoenix Islands, and the Line Islands.

Kiribati is the only country in the world that is located in all four hemispheres.  It crosses the international dateline and the equator.

Approximately, 110,000 people call Kiribati home with more than half of those people living on Tarawa.  21 of the 33 islands are inhabited and are mostly located in the Gilbert group.  

These 33 atolls are spread out over 1 million square miles of ocean.  The average height for the islands is a mere 4m tall.

We only planned to stay in Kiribati for a few days.  Afterward headed to Funafuti, Tuvalu and then on to Fiji.

Passage to Kiribati

Sugar Shack departed from the Majuro anchorage at 1600 on a nice sunny day.  We anticipated a 3.5 day passage covering 363nm.  What we did not really consider was the 2.5 hour sail inside the Majuro lagoon to get to the pass.  We also did not really consider the fact that we had to go all the way around the Majuro atoll to get to the rum line.  So the overall trip was a little longer in miles but shorter in time.

  • Total time travelled:  63 hours
  • Total miles travelled: 415nm
  • Average Speed: 6.5kts and max speed 11.6kts
  • Motoring / Motorsailing time: 18 hours

The first 45 hours provided great wind and boat speed.  However, the wind died down to 5-6kts forcing us to motor the last 18 hours.  But, overall a decent passage.

What broke?

It is not unusual for something to tear or break during passage.  On this trip, we lost the steering gear box on Starboard.  Yikes!  Lucky for us, auto pilot was still working and we have use of the port steering.  We will have to wait to be at anchor to evaluate the damage.

We also noticed that the bearings in the roller furler will need to be replaced (we just did this in NZ 1.5 years ago).  It is still functional but will have to be babied.

Formalities

Upon entry into Kiribati waters, we hoisted our “Q” flag and hailed Tarawa Radio on VHF 16.  The official who took our call organized Customs, Immigration, and Bio Security to come onboard.  It took us about 45 minutes to complete the paperwork and show them around the boat before we became welcomed into their country.

Short Stay

We had a very short stay in Kiribati.  However, we were able to sail over to Bikenbeu where we cleaned the waterline and enjoyed the pretty scenery.  We then headed back to Tarawa so we could do a WWII tour (see next blog) and clear out of the country.

All in all we stayed for 2.5 days.  Short time, but enlightening.

Interesting sites on Kiribati:

  • Visit Kiribati: www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/kiribati-experiences/culture-island-explore/
  • Kiribati Tourism: www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/kiribati-experiences/culture-island-explore/
  • No Foreign Land: https://www.noforeignland.com/place/6053031575552000

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We sailed to Kiribati from 4/8-4/11.

Be sure to read about our last days in Majuro.

Resuming Our Scheduled Blog Posts

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Hi Everyone!  We are resuming our previously scheduled blog posts.  Starting tomorrow, we will pick back up in the Marshall Islands.

Since our last blog post, Matt and I made a quick trip back to the States, visited Kiribati, and Tuvalu and made it to Fiji with some challenges. 

Be sure to stay connected with us as we share the highs and lows of our journey.

We enjoyed visiting Kiribati, the 2nd smallest country in the world.  We then visited Tuvalu and celebrated the day the WWII bomb dropped on this small country. 

Along the way we had significant boat failures including:

  • Port Engine
  • Port Engine Rudder Arm
  • Port water pump
  • Starboard Steering Gear Box
  • Washdown Pump
  • Dive Regulators

But we made it safely to Fiji where we are today!  Now on to lots of boat projects and repairs.

Our blog posts are scheduled to be released every Tuesday and Thursday around 0700 PST.  So please be sure to follows sv Sugar Shack on Facebook or check in our blog to follow our adventures!

Our last post in the Marshall Islands had us at Eneko where we snorkeled some cool reefs.