Panama to French Poly At Sea - day 30

07 May 2018 | 08 54.93'S:140 05.9'W, Arrived; Nuku Hiva

Bob

Monday April 23, 2018 Land Ho! Actually made that call to Laurie and Shawnda yesterday morning as the Island of Ua Huka loomed up in the distance. Still a ways to go though. We did see our first boat (a sail boat) on the southern horizon yesterday morning as well. The first boat in a couple of weeks! It disappeared over the horizon on a diverging course to ours. As we sailed around the southern side of Ua Huka yesterday, it was apparent we were not going to make Nuku-Hiva in the daylight. The entrance to Taiohae on Nuku-Hiva is deep and straight forward complete with a range but as we rounded the western side of Ua Huka, we decided to anchor for the night and rest up for a daylight arrival in Nuku-Hiva. Late afternoon we pulled into a small but nice and "somewhat" protected bay on the SW corner had a sand bottom although the wind accelerated around the point to give us bursts of wind to 35 knots in the anchorage. We ran the anchor alarm and tracking all night but did not move. Although we were all fairly rested, we thought a full "night" sleep would be good for everyone after 29 days at sea. I took the opportunity to brush off the sides of the boat while it was still wet (thanks Will for the advice on that) as once it dries, it is a real pain to remove. Got to see that on other boats who procrastinated in Nuku-Hiva over the next few days.... It was nice to have dinner together and watch the Manta Rays swim around the boat. They just lazily swam around. This was our first sighting of Manta Rays and they were about 4 feet across. The next morning (Monday April 23) we departed at first light never having left the boat, on our way to Nuku-Hiva. We arrived around noon thereby completing our longest journey ever. Here are some voyage stats: Total distance covered from Panama to Nuku-Hiva - 3672 nautical miles Non-stop days - Les Pearlas Islands, Panama to Ua Huka, Marquesas Islands - 29 days Average Speed - 5.1 knots (ouch!) Average speed once we got to the Trade Winds - 6.8 knots. Average Distance per day for the total trip - 122.4 NM. (ouch again!) - In the Trades - 165 / day Total Fuel consumed: 306 litres / 80.8 US Gallons or less than half of what we had in Hedonism's tanks (they hold 180 US gallons). We had another 15 US gallons in 3 jerry cans. Total engine hours: 112.2 hours - 99% of this was running at low RPM in the doldrums so actual fuel burn was less probably around .5 us gallons per hour. The rest was used by running the generator for an average of about 2 hours per day or 62 hours total; mostly in the middle of the night. A few days it was run twice per day when the cloud limited our solar generation capabilities. What broke? While there were "issues" not too much actually "broke". As mentioned in previous posts, three days out of Nuku-Hiva the water maker motor quit. We had about 150 gallons of water in the tanks so all was good. I did get the motor running again. The brushes were worn. I cleaned and reassembled and it worked for about 2 hours. Removed the motor and it was sent to Papeete (Tahiti) via Shawnda for rework. New pump and an extra set of brushes on order as well. Auto-pilot Tiller Pin sheared. Changed at sea and a new pin set ordered. Also changed out the balance of the Linear Drive as there was 'play" in the pins on the motor side of the drive. Holding on to the removed one as it still works. Will get it serviced down the line somewhere. Probably a machine shop to ream the pin holes and insert a bushing. Not "broke" but needs attention: Chafe on spinnaker halyard, we have since reversed the halyard. Laurie spliced the line and we ran it back up. 3 trips up the mast in the process. We "think" we found the problem so a new "halyard restrainer" is on order. The NEW UV protection on the Genoa and Solent chafed at the reef points. New "information" is that while Sunbrella makes good UV protection, it chafes very quickly. Not good it you reef your sails! We will repair that our selves. On the "to do list". So, all in all, not too much. Of course the broken items were "my fault". I had just said to Laurie about 5 days out how well things were going with no breakage.... I will say though, compared to other boats arriving here, we faired very well. The internet here is very slow but much better than at sea if you use it at 3 am. I will post photos and updates soon.

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