ABORT, ABORT, WHERE'S THE WIND? (RE-POST)

OK, we're not aborting this departure, but we did leave Bora Bora a week ago, then turned around due to not enough wind. I'm guessing from some comments we've rec'd from folks that the posting below never made it... so here it is. Please insert it mentally between "Case of the Missing Dinghies" and "Leaving Bora Bora (again)" * * ******** The situation lay in front of us as follows. Although we all feel perfectly content to stay in one place, it is time to move on to the Cooks. We were waiting, with our friends, for good enough wind to make the 500 mile trip. The forecast called for steady trade winds starting Saturday and lasting several days. So, we went go into preparation mode. Fresh produce needed to be bought, water tanks filled, laundry done and the boat cleaned up for sea. Pete planned his mountain climb on Friday, while I prepped the boat. Then on Saturday morning we'd get groceries, water and go. However, the real story ended up a bit different....

In preparation for our proposed departure from Bora Bora, we moved the boat back near the pass on Thursday afternoon. The trip back through the slalom course didn't seem so difficult the second time around. On Friday morning, Pete met up with a group of 5 other cruisers and a schnauzer dog named Tommy, to climb the 660 meter peak. The wind piped up, building all afternoon until a steady 20 knots blasted through the lagoon. The wind had arrived a day early. I chose to stay on the boat all day getting ready for a Saturday departure. I like to have some bread and cookies baked and dinner prepped before we set off. I also cleaned the bathrooms, and stowed all the things that might fly around at sea. Pete had a nice time and they arrived back just in time for dinner. The wind continued to howl all night and into Saturday. Unbeknownst to me, Pete had been promising all kinds of assistance to other boats with broken bits, so we didn't make it to the grocery store until after noon. Because of the wind and waves, we sailed Imagine to the town instead of driving the dinghy and it took three tries to set the anchor in 75 feet. It takes a long time to put out and retrieve 250 feet of chain three times. Then we went to get water, and the day was over. We did redeem the day by going out to dinner though. Another family even kept the kids so we could enjoy our last night in Bora Bora, even if it was a day later than we had planned. Then Sunday morning, Omaze's computer packed it in so Pete helped work on that. Then we went to Dolphins because Rob had blown out his spinnaker and Pete can't pass up something in need of repair. We have been avidly looking for a spinnaker for 6 months to no avail. If he fixes it and it works on Imagine, it's ours for a good price. Pete is making a name for himself as Mr. Fixit, which is no surprise. He is very generous with his time and talents, which is great, unless we are trying to leave, when I get a bit impatient. Oh yeah, and an other hour to deflate and stow the dinghy and one more to put away all the loose bits around the deck... We finally left the pass around 2.

Since getting ready for a passage is a lot of work for me and I dread sailing overnight, I tend to psyche myself up and when it's time to go, I'm chomping at the bit to just get on with it. So it was a minor miracle that when an hour out of the pass, I did not blow a gasket when we decided to abort the trip. The wind that so steadily blew for the last 2 days, had dropped to 12 knots and came from dead astern. We can only do about 3 knots and we roll like crazy in that condition, so again Pete was wishing for a functional spinnaker. Mopelier Atoll is the last Polynesian island on the way to the Cooks and we thought we'd catch the last 24 hours of this weather system and get there by Monday afternoon. Since the wind died down before the forecast predicted, we wouldn't have made it in daylight and there is nothing else for another 300 miles. No wind is predicted for Monday afternoon through Wednesday, so we'd be stuck out at sea in light air. Motoring 500 miles when diesel is $3/gallon is not in the cards (Imagine gets around 6 miles/gallon). Both of us thought about turning around, but Pete didn't want to suggest it, knowing how I might possibly react. I asked if he wanted to turn around and after radioing several boats ahead of us to verify wind speed and direction, we took down the pole, sheeted in the sails and headed back, dead upwind, of course. The kids cheered, since they never want to sail and their friends are still here.

On the bright side, I got some great pics coming out the pass and we were escorted by a lively pod of dolphins. Pete fished with a new set up and is still hoping to catch a nice mahi mahi. I didn't feel that I'd really had much of a Bora Bora experience, so tomorrow we will snorkel and try to just have some fun. We went for drinks and snacks on Dolphins with 2 other families and watched a video of Hurricane Ivan in Grenada 2004. Dolphins and Ocean Breezes both tied up their boats in the mangroves and rode it out. Their boats had no damage but the pictures of the wreckage of hundreds of boats and nearly all the houses amazed us. Just as the movie ended, fire works lit up the sky across the lagoon. Tomorrow is a holiday, so we got to appreciate the show for ourselves.

Nothing is predictable in mother nature, so we live in island time at the mercy of the wind, getting joy where we can. -cheers from Bora Bora again Kellie