Raro here we come! (Update 36)
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Date: Wednesday 26th May
Time: 1700 hours Tahiti Time (GMT – 10 hours)
Position: 19*22..8’ South/154*29.6’ West

Bula Viti kei Rotuma

We continue to make good time towards Rarotonga and have now covered 235 nautical miles with 315 nautical miles to go.

The wind is Easterly at 25 knots and has stayed steady between 20 to 25 knots since we departed Raiatea.

This morning we raised the Genoa and dropped the Staysail for a couple of hours until we heard that the other canoes were changing back to their staysails. We then switched back to the Staysail and we are still averaging over 9 knots.

In the cloudy conditions, we can just make out four canoes on our stern plus the high mast of the support boat Foftein. This morning was nice and sunny but by mid morning it was beginning to get cloudy.

The swell is starting to build and the chop is getting more disorganised so the ride is a lot more bumpy this afternoon than it was this morning. The deck is continuously wet now and most of the crew have resorted to wet weather gear even though it is quite humid.

We have received the programme for our arrival in Raro and it looks pretty full on. The welcome is shaping up to be bigger than expected and will involve the local Fijian community.

Even the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands will be present to make a speech.

It is planned for us to make landfall at Avana (Muri Beach) but this will depend on the weather as Avana has a very small pass and it gets very rough along this coastline. I have done some great downwind paddles from Avana on a OC1 canoe so I know the pass well.

If the weather does not permit us to enter the Avana Pass, we will head to Avatiu Harbour where the cargo and fishing boats dock. The welcome ceremony will then be moved to Avatiu.

We continue to get messages of support through the website and received kind messages from Ratu Manoa’s daughter Litiana in London and Randy Thaman who was just in Tuvalu.

We also received a very nice message from Teamio Tuarau who sat at the Kava Bowl during our Kava Ceremony at Taputapuatea Marae. Teamio said he looked forward to our visit next year and to us spending more time sharing cultures.

It made everyone laugh when I read them the message as it was signed ‘Teamio Tuarau who sits like a Chinaman for the Kava Ceremony’, which is what I wrote in my report for the welcome on Raiatea.

It looks like being a rough night ahead.

Moce

Colin/Uto ni Yalo

Report by Satellite Phone courtesy of DIGICEL