Pitufa.at

The convergence zone is still getting on our nerves… Impossible to plan protected, calm anchorages inside an atoll, but also impossible to find sailing windows…
Last night we were pitching miserably in winds from the SE. We thought we could as well be pitching underway, so we sailed out through the pass of Tahanea at 4 in the morning. First we had great sailing, then the wind shift (not in our favour of course) and then it died down. Argh. Still 15 nm short of the next atoll pass… We motored the last miles to Makemo and are now anchored just north of the W pass, hoping for a good night, but ready to sail out again in case some wind shows up.

When we got back to the false pass of Motutunga in the early morning just in time for the slack tide, we had to find out that the small cargo ship had indeed left as they told us, but they forgot to tell us that they left some workers there for the week to work at a pearlfarm in the lagoon. Their workboat still blocked the dock…

We were so frustrated. The wind was just dying down to nothing, so we ended up motoring 20 nm back to Tahanea–a senseless waste of diesel and precious miles eastwards. The best plans don’t work out as soon as somebody else is involved…

Now we are back in our favourite spot in Tahanea, enjoying some calm and sunny weather.

We spent a few nice, calm days in Tahanea enjoying the beautiful pass and the many, curious sharkies hanging out around Pitufa (cleaning fish helps making friends )

This morning we saw an opportunity to sail to the neighbouring atoll. Motutunga is uninhabited, with only a few motus and a false pass on the northern side. Studying satellite images we thought we could take Pitufa in and go alongside at a tiny dock. We planned to do this many times, but as the narrow pass requires calm conditions, no swell and ideal pass timing (we want to enter at the end of an outgoing current to tie up at slack water), it never worked out.

Today everything seemed perfect, light NE winds to sail there and then no wind towards the arrival and slack water at 1.30 in the afternoon. Of course the wind was blowing much harder than predicted, but arriving at the pass it looked doable. While we lowered the mainsail and contemplated the little dock waiting for slack water, a local motorboat approached, determinedly steamed into the pass and tied up to the only spot there. Hmpf.
We hailed the Hotu Nui (from Apataki) and were told that they had come to ‘do some work’ and stay only for 5 hours. What could a local boat visiting an uninhabited atoll from a different commune be possibly up to? We suspect nothing good, like poaching giant clams, sea cucumbers, coconut crabs or something similar…

We went around to the western side where we anchored on the outer reef. Now we’re rolling, slightly miserable and peed off. Tomorrow morning we’ll try again to tie up to the dock in the false pass.

We had a an unexpectedly sporty sailing day yesterday. The weather forecast predicted NE wind, so we thought it was a good opportunity to sail SE down to Tahanea. We woke up at 5 with a NE squall, so we quickly went out through the pass into a glowing sunrise, trying to use the favourable wind. Of course the wind turned E as soon as we were out and we ended up tacking twice, just to avoid hitting the neighbouring atoll Faaite, which kept hopping into our path… Then the wind died down and we were mostly riding squalls to make some more miles and some more tacks.

It took us 17 hours to sail 43nm (as the tropic bird flies) with all the extra miles and times of drifting in between squalls. Now we’re anchored next to the western pass of Tahanea with sunny skies

Ever since we’ve arrived in the Tuamotus a persistent convergence zone has been sitting across the area. Actually it’s not just one, but rather a cluster of them… This means the wind shifts around unpredictably–the weatherforecasts are overwhelmed, contradict each other and get it completely wrong. Yesterday the American GFS model predicted strong southerlies, while the European model insisted on light northerlies. What to do and where to go with such forecasts in an atoll in order to have a protected anchorage?? In the end both were wrong and we got southeasterly wind.

Today both models agree that we’re having a nice northerly breeze to sail down to Tahanea, unfortunately it’s blowing from the South. Somebody should tell them

Of course all this unsettled weather comes with grey skies and torrential rainfalls. Yuck.

We arrived in Toau after a very slow, short sail using our gennaker for the first time in ages. Of course it got tangled up and twisted and took a long time to figure out again
The pass is tricky as it’s very shallow and open to the east (prevailing winds), but our timing was good.
Just after arriving we snorkeled between the passes, a real aquarium with lots of grey reef sharks.

Yesterday we’ve sailed down to the south of the lagoon for the more SE-erly wind and are anchored off a bird motu–only a few people live on Toau or visit from neighbouring Fakarava.

We’ve just arrived in Fakarava with northerly winds, anchored next to the pass in the N and will hop over to the neighbouring atoll Toau tomorrow morning when the wind switches to the east (it’s a tricky pass and in the morning we’ll have wind and current in the same direction).

The sail up here was quite boisterous with many squalls and a little front we had to cross with torrential rainfall and gusty wind, but fast sailing and we caught a big skipjack tuna (no sushi material, but great steaks–the cat had sashimi anyway and acknowledged the quality was at Leeloo-standards). Today we’re just resting, relaxing, catching up with emails and some cleaning–it’s incredibly minty all around ).

Its a bit squally, but today we’ve had a fast sailing day and caught a fish! 90 nm to go.

When I say ‘we bought a new fridge’ landlubbers think we got a new box and put it into its place. On a boat things work differently: we had to get out the old tubes and evaporator, drill new holes into the stainless fridge compartment, install the compressor, evaporator and install the tubes. After that we bent some plexiglass and screwed it in to keep things from sliding under the evaporator.

After 3 days of hectic working we managed to get Pitufa ready to set out again with today’s weather window: two days of NE, then N and NW winds should blow us to the Tuamotus!