Day 4 Bora Bora to Tonga via the Cooks – lumpy custard seas

Day 4 the winds didn’t last that long and we yet again had to do our procedure of dropping the parasailor and bringing in the water generator and getting the engine on. Mornings are quieter now as more sleep is taken to compensate for sleep lost.

Onboard we have a long range radio (technically called an SSB radio) and we belong to what is known as a radio net. This is a group of sailors who check in each morning to report where they are. It serves a purpose of monitoring vessels at sea but it also a fabulous social forum. We belong to the Isabela net formed back in the Galapagos islands. For each day of the week there is a set net controller who runs the show. Fortunately we know them all. First call by the net controller is for “priority traffic or any vessels in distress” – thank goodness this is almost always silent. Then ‘vessels underway’ are asked to check in and that’s what we are right now. You start off by giving your position “This is Tom and Susie onboard Adina. Our position is one seven degrees, four five minutes south, one five six degrees, six seven minutes west, over”. This is repeated by the net controller and you confirm it. Then it’s current conditions “We have seven knots of wind from the east and one and a half meter waves, over”. Again repeated by the controller this time with a “and is all well onboard?” which provides you with a little air time “Yes, all well onboard thank you, we had a lovely moonlit evening flying the spinnaker”. After ‘vessels underway’, ‘vessels anywhere’ can check in and this is usually people at anchor or in a marina with a more free flow conversation “Yes, this is Richard and Ros and we’re in Moorea, it’s a beautiful sunny day, and we’re heading off to see the stingrays”. All is wrapped up with an ‘information’ section where people can ask for information from other sailors “Does anybody know if Bora Bora has a laundry?”.

As for the social aspect, whenever you’re at anchor and you see a boat you recognise from the net, you pop over and introduce yourself, and usually sun downers follow and many new friends are made. All very splendid and we love it!

Back to reality, we try and eat breakfast together around 9.30am and then study the weather we’ve downloaded for the day. The parasailor went back up sometime around midday, and the towable generator went back in the water! As the day went on we got into more winds but with it came a very lumpy sea that started to throw Adina around. The impact was the spinnaker was starting to slam and shake the whole rigging – not a good thing. So we dropped it and put up our main sail and rolled out the big genoa (sail at the front of the boat but by gum I hope those who follow our wanderings know what a genoa is by now). Into the night the seas got even more confused and soon our white sails (new one for the day – a generic term for non-downwind spinnaker sails) were banging and the whole boat was jarring. No choice but to roll the sails away and motor. Out with the water generator (and you are asking why do they keep taking it in and out). Not a comfortable night but as dawn breaks it’s settled down and we are sailing again.

We’re starting to eye out Thursday afternoon local time as our arrival into Palmerston subject to the winds but winds still looking a little light. This is Adina, some white sails, a towable generator in the water, and some lumpy custard seas.