New Watch Captains (Update 35)
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Date: Tuesday 25th May
Time: 1800 hours Tahiti Time (GMT – 10 hours)
Position: 17*05.7’ South/151*55.4’ West

Bula Viti kei Rotuma

At the 8am skippers meeting this morning it was decided that we would depart at 1300 hours today. So Rupeni and I hitched a ride to Uturoa Township to buy fresh fruit and vegetables and fill the esky with fisherman’s ice.

Prior to leaving to do our shopping, a pod of dolphins came through the passage and started swimming up the coast towards Tahaa. As we rode the tender to shore, a rainbow formed over the Rautoanui Passage.

It was as if we were being given the sign that it was time to leave for Rarotonga.

In Uturoa, the esky full of ice cost FJD$20 and we spent around FJD$300 on a few vegetables and a little fruit that will probably only last us three days. I am not sure how people survive here, as everything is so expensive.

The crew from Faafaite gave us some fish this morning and a lovely lady from Hawaii, Summer dropped by with some fish for us as well. Summer is married to a Tahitian and has been on Raiatea for fifteen years.

Once we got back to the canoe, we started preparing to leave. Johnathan and the rest of the crew already had the mainsail up. We left the awning up till we had lunch as the morning rain had cleared and the mid day sun was burning hnot.

After lunch, we dropped the awning and gathered around for a short briefing and prayer before we set sail. We wished our three new Watch Captains good luck for this short voyage.

Our Watch Captains are, Salome, Steven and Tukana. This is a major achievement for Salome as she is the first female to be a Watch Captain on this voyage.

At 1300 hours, we hauled anchor and opened our traditional sails while we waited for Te Matau a Maui who had radioed in that they were having problems with a halyard on the mizzen mast. We could see someone up the mast in a bosuns chair working to fix the problem.

Just before 1400 hours, we followed Marumaru Atua out through Rautoanui Passage and hoisted our Genoa before we had left the pass. Then we lifted our outboard pod up out of the water as we would no longer need the outboard.

The outboard pod can be raised approximately 50cm which brings it clear of the water and therefore causes less drag through the water.

We sailed through a large school of tuna just outside the passage but we were moving too slow to catch anything as the wind was still light close to the land.

As we moved away from the land, the wind freshened to around 25knots and within two hours of leaving, we were dropping the Genoa and switching over to the smaller Staysail.

Marc radioed from Hine Moana that they had broken two thimbles on their windward shrouds. We noticed one of ours had also shattered.

We are making very good time under the traditional rig. The skippers and traditional navigators from the Cook Islands decided this morning we would try and sail all the way to Raro with the traditional sails.

We are averaging over 9knots and at this rate we will arrive in Raro on Friday. Lets hope the wind stays steady for the next few days.

Moce

Colin/Uto ni Yalo

Report by Satellite Phone courtesy of DIGICEL