Rendez-vous

We left Anse Amyot on Toau for a 36 hr passage to Tahiti.  Leaving at sunset, we hoped to have an easy and quick passage.  Unfortunately, what we got was a squally passage with messed up seas.  Wearing foul weather gear for the whole passage, we were happy to peal off the wet clothes when the sun started to rise on our approach to Tahiti.  The heat of the sun had not yet hit the misty hillsides of the islands, and even from a distance we could smell the perfume in the air as all the plants and flowers woke up. It was magical.

Our initial stay in Tahiti was short-lived however.  We had timed our arrival to participate in the annual Tahiti-Moorea Sailing Rendez-vous.  Most of the boats participating in the rally are like us who had arrived in French Polynesia this year and were just now making their way through the Society Islands.

The first day of the rally was a “race” of sorts from Papeete to the island of Moorea, about 15 miles away.  We are not racers and the chaos of the boats jockeying for position at the start was a bit amusing.  The start of the race was delayed a couple of times due to the light winds, which made it even more chaotic. The woman on the radio giving the commands for the start had such a heavy accent and held the microphone so close to her mouth that it was almost impossible to make out what she was saying.  But, eventually the race started, we raised the sails and took off for Moorea.

I said we are not racers, and we definitely don’t have a race boat.  We started out the race just in front of our friends on Kini Popo (who definitely have more of a racing boat), and our only goal in the race was to try and beat them.  And, I know Dan was thinking the same thing about us!

The winds were light, but we had the advantage with the wind being forward of the beam for the first half of crossing the channel.  But, then the winds died down and started to clock aft making it impossible to sail with the jib and staysail.  We couldn’t keep the sails full, and they were flogging like mad.  We started to see the spinnakers going up around the race fleet, and Dan already had his up behind us.  We weren’t anticipating flying the spinnaker and didn’t have it rigged to go up right away. So, we had to furl the jib and staysail, sailing only with the main, while we got the spinnaker ready.  Kini Popo zipped by us as we hollered at each other.

Finally we got the spinnaker up, headed to the outside, and soon passed up Kini Popo.  The winds dropped even more.  I was at the helm steering while Mike was handling the spinnaker lines by hand, constantly pulling in or letting out just trying to keep the sail full and us moving forward.  The race became a snails’ race, and we were happy when we could get 3 kts of speed in 5 kts of wind. At times our speed dropped to below 2 kts and I think the current was all that was taking us to Moorea.  Boats started dropping out of the race one by one as they came on the radio to say they were starting the engine and going for early happy hour.

We were still ahead of most of the race fleet, so we decided to stick with it. But, then we got caught between another boat and the reef.  With very little speed and almost no maneuverability, we couldn’t do anything but squeak along.  We saw Kini Popo go outside of our stuck position and pass us up.  Ugh!  Kini Popo came in 2nd, and we were just behind him in 4th.  (The 3rd place boat was the one that pinned us up against the reef!).  It was all good fun.

That night there was dinner and traditional Polynesian Dancing at the old Bali Hai Hotel.  But, the next day we entered another kind of race.  The boats that participated in the rally could sign up as a team for the traditional outrigger canoe races.  Dan, Dan#2, Mike & I were a team.  The six person canoe had our team of four plus two locals who would guide us in the race in the #1 and #6 positions.  I was in #5 just in front of one of the local boys who would call out to us when we were to switch sides paddling, when to paddle harder, etc.  The race was a short out and back course in Cook’s Bay, and we paddled like our lives depended on it! The locals make it look easy, but it’s not. We somehow won our first heat and made it to the semi-finals. Drenched and a bit tired, we were wondering whether or not this was a good thing when we saw the losing boats head to the bar for a cold Hinano.  But, we entered the semi-finals with enthusiasm.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your outlook) we lost that race and could sit on the sidelines watching the final boats race for the trophy.

We had a fun day meeting with other boats, some we had run into earlier in our travels and some we met for the first time.  There were more dance performances and good Polynesian food.  By the end of the day, we were exhausted.  We had been running non-stop for days and were looking for a bit of downtime.

Moorea was the perfect place to relax after all the recent activity.  The island is beautiful.  You can drive around the island in about an hour, there are scenic hikes in the hillside, and plenty of gorgeous anchorages.  Pictures and words don’t really capture the allure and beauty of the island.  If you are looking for a picturesque island where you can unwind, Moorea is your place.

We’re currently back in Tahiti getting our boat cleaned up and ready for our friends to arrive.  We’re hoping for good weather so that we can explore some other islands with them here in the Societies.

~Katie