When trying to sail eastwards we usually wait for some disturbance to unsettle the usual prevailing wind (a little trough, a low), because then the wind shifts from the easterly direction to the north. A good opportunity to make easy miles to the east, but quite often not exactly fine-weather sailing.
Yesterday we set out with sunny skies, but shortly after we sailed towards squall clouds (still good sailing), but we knew we had an uncomfy night ahead of us. When I took over my watch at 8 p.m. I could see lighting all around and during the following hours we passed through a series of thunderstorms. Strong rain, gusts, unpredicted strange wind directions and spots with no wind at all follow those clouds. We call them ‘windsuckers’…
Early in the morning a steady breeze from the North was back and we arrived in the anchorage of Marina Taina at noon.
We saw a little water spout just south of Huahine:
