Day 7 Bora Bora to Tonga via Niue – the three nicest points of sail…

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Friday 15 August 2014

Day 7 and come dawn the seas had settled and we were sailing upwind ticking along at 4-5 knots. Nothing special but considering we were meant to be in light winds and motoring it was a rather pleasant surprise. Having mentioned our three worst points of sail it seems only fair to mention our three favourite points of sail: 1. Downwind with the parasailor spinnaker up – keeps the boat stable, and Adina powers through the water. Absolutely magical 2. Sailing upwind in flat seas. Adina loves an upwind romp. 3. Beam reaching (that’s wind on the side of the boat). So here we were sailing upwind in calm seas and Adina was enjoying it.

After yesterday’s exertions the Commodore got a nice lie in and surfaced shortly before midday. We then took on the task of filling our fuel tanks from extra cans we carry onboard taking advantage of the calm seas.

Susie then thought about dinner saying we could use what’s left of the Mahi Mahi but she’d appreciate some fresh fish. The towable water generator with it’s 100 feet of cable out the back of the boat is getting a break right now so no threat to a fishing line. A few hours later and the line made it’s happy zinging sound (zingggggggggg…). “Susie – fish!” goes out the cry. Susie’s job is to slow the boat down by getting the sails away and get all the fish catching apparatus ready – alcohol, gaff, knife, gloves. Tom dons gloves and starts the job of bringing it in. Traditional roles on this boat! It shot out and put up a fight and then gave up! We reeled it in thinking it was another Mahi Mahi as we could see Mahi Mahi colours in the water. There were Mahi Mahi in the water, we could see them clearly in the radiant blue of the Pacific Ocean. In fact they were three of them and they were chasing what was a Wahoo on our line. But we needed dinner more than them and in it came. Sadly not much of our favourite lure left – those razor sharp teeth of the Wahoo chomped most of it off!

We spent most of the day enjoying some good upwind sailing and the wind even got up a little to excite us. The moon is rising later in the evening and we were treated to a wonderful display of the Milky way. Into the night and the winds went west and died and we motored and made water.

Just a shout out to John Robbins who has not only helped us diagnose a problem with our outboard but has found the replacement part (where Tahiti failed) and it should be waiting for us in a cafe when we get to Tonga. John and Gareth Wear have both been fabulous supporters in dropping everything to help us out. Very much appreciated.

Friday morning and we’re heading into the dreaded South Pacific Convergence Zone where two weather systems collide. We can already see big cumulonimbus clouds building – it’s might be a messy day!

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