New Adventures 2026 no 3
After Hiva Oa the first test sail was to Tuaotha island and that was a very pleasant place to be fixing things in exotic places
I met up with Sabine and Jochen on Josa in the bay and we had a few evenings together with great conversation and her fruit breads and other treats. They introduced me to new software to keep track of sailors in the bays you are in so you can keep connecting (No Foreign Land)
After realising I wanted to try my second shakedown sail sooner than later I decided to prepare for it and planning started for the 100mile cruise from there to Nuku hiva because that was where Steve and his son Henry were going to meet up with me to sail to Tahiti on the 4th of April and then fly home to USA on the 20th
Well I set off with Joas taking photos which you can see below I left at 4 pm so it would be a night sail and to be sure I arrived in the morning in daylight
Sailing was going beautifully until around 3am a very serious Squall came out of the night to test me fully
Luckily I had left the bay with a fully reefed main and I was able to reef the Genoa to a handkerchief because the wind was so strong that even with the seriously small sail area up my rails were in the water, something I never allow, and I was speeding along at 9 knots. Then the rain started and the autopilot decided I was abusing it and it gave up so I had to hand steer while the wind lasted
Lucky for us sailors squalls font last too long and by 6am I could see land and the rain and wind was subsiding so it got comfortable being soaked but going in the right direction under autopilot again.
I sailed into Taiohae bay at around 7 am and anchored 100m from the shore in 11m of water and as soon as I felt safe I went to sleep for a couple of hours
Thats what I call a hndkerchief of a headsail
Then I went ashore the next morning because I decided I would start cleaning up the chaos from the storm the night before.
I met up with Kevin Ellis at his shop and he gave me a good welcome back and offered to help me with getting Opela legal in the Polynesian system.
Made new friends again and enjoyed exploring again
I settled into the groove of the local atmosphere in a wonderful town in Nuku Hiva pepping for Steve and Henry's arrival before going to Tahiti.
Well a short time later I got a message from John Sergel saying a guy he knew had been arrested for having his boat in Polynesia too long and had spent 11 days in jail in Tahiti plus he had to pay a fine of twice the value of the boat and still pay the taxes owed so I asked for advice again and was told the risks were quite high of me falling into the same trap
I asked Steve to change his tickets and he agreed to meet me in Fiji initially and I stocked up the boat filled water and diesel and decided to sail out even though the boat wast fully sea ready yet
I made an appointment on Sunday night to clear out under the impression that the border guards wouldn't be scouring through records and times on Sunday night and at 7.00am I was waiting at the office to do the final paperwork.
It went well and by 7,30am I was checked out with all the fully legal stamps and documents and was fully ready to sail.
Kevin Ellis gave me a ride to the chemist to get some painkillers for my gout and I walked back to my dingy and went to Opela, loaded the dinghy and left.
My advisors suggested I disnt switch on AIS until I was out of French waters and I took the good advice and set a course for Fiji.
You can see my course and number days it took because other than one squall I had very little wind averaging 3 to 4 knots of speed and having to motor some days.
One day I took down the sails and dived off the back with a rope tied to me for a swim over 1000 miles from anywhere, it was amazing how warm the truly blue waters were and it felt so good.
When I was in Nuku Hiva John had given me lessons and advice on using my new Starlink so I could get signal on the open ocean and get good weather forecasts and WhatsApp and emails. I could have used it for more but then at 2gbp per GB it would have been costly. As it was I consumed 16gb of at sea data on my crossing.
With Johns daily weather updates I was looked after other than the major squall on the only night I took a decision the leave the full sails up which rattled me because I had to turn the sails into the wind and they were flogging after the jybe preventer snapped and the boom came around and smacked me in the head just above my ear. I was very lucky I had my harness on and was locked onto the boat because if I wasn't I would not be writing this update.
That squall only laster about 2 hrs and I was soon underway again with reefs in the main.
I tidied up all the blood and used the boots spray on plasters to seal the wounds and amazingly no major head trauma was caused. As thick as a brick by Jethro Tull came to mind after the swelling went down a week later. But I was fine and happy
Along the way I saw info on the weather that a hurricane/typhoon was forming I Fiji so I made a decision to change course to Samoa and wait it out there. Steve and Henry agreed to fly to Samoa and meet me there and then sail the last 500 miles to Fiji with me because otherwise we would not have been able to connect and they had loads of things I needed yo get the boat into a safe condition with them. I was very happy they agreed.
I sailed into Apia Western Samoa and Checked is and the papers I got from French Polynesia all worked so I was in the clear of any legal nonsense and man that was a relief
Not ending up with 40000 euros fine and taxes of 3600 and 11 to 30 days in an island prison was such a good moment I took myself out for that evening and spoiled myself to a steak and three beers.
I couldn't drink more because I was at anchor in the main harbour and might not have made it back to the boat
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