S/V Gudrun V

Sunday, 2012-09-09, 11:52 UTC-10, 17:60.000S, 157:18.747W, COG 255, SOG 6.5,
Wind 20kn E

I wake up from a brief light nap. Something is wrong with the parasailor. I
hear a swish-swish sound that shouldn't be there. A quick look at the watch:
1am. I stick my head out of the companionway, turn around and have a look.
It's dark and I can't see anything. Flashlight!. Ah ... interesting, so that
is what half a parasailor looks like. At first I see only the wing and the
top part, but then I notice the rest of the sail dragging in the water.
Well, so much for a boring night.

The wind isn't too strong, but the waves are funny and the boat rolls a lot.
Thinking of Liz in Auckland I don the life vest, click myself in and walk
forward. Up close I see that the fabric is torn all the way down along both
sides, right next to the belt. I wonder how you fix sth like that. Probably
sewing? Well, not on the boat. I'm glad that I ordered that gennaker in
Panama, I had a suspicion that the Parasailor wouldn't last me all the way
to NZ. Not because it's a bad sail, but because it's pretty much the only
sail I'm flying, and we had some rough nights between Europe and here.

I take down the Parasailor and put it into the bag. I'm surprised that it
isn't blowing like crazy or raining. Usually stuff brakes always in the
worst possible weather. I decide that's a good sign and start humming.
Shouldn't I be worried? I guess not, I've plenty of sails with me, and it
can probably be fixed. I unfurl the Genoa and we're going again. Sailing
with the genoa will be a little slower, but a lot more rolly. Well, can't be
helped now.

The rain comes in the morning. Heavy. But too late, hehe, nothing I have to
do outside. So I sit inside and read and smile. The waves feel funny again.
I take a look, and see them coming form the east as well as from the south.
Some are 3m tall. They roll over and under each other and it looks quite
spectacular, but not threatening. The boat bounces along like a rubber duck.
I wonder what I'll have for lunch. Cooking could be a challenge. Feels like
stew-in-the-pressure-cooker weather.

Sunday, 2012-09-09, 0:00 UTC-10, 17:42.593S 156:02.800W, COG 250, SOG 7.0,
Wind 25kn E

A brown booby circled around the boat for hours in the afternoon, and the
wind dropped down to 15kn for a little while. Now the booby's gone and the
wind's back up to 25kn, and that's about all there is to report at the
moment. On a passage like this, the boring the better.

I'm slowly getting back into the routine: reading, sleeping, eating,
watching out, pulling on some lines. But with the wind that steady there
really aren't many lines to pull.

Saturday, 2012-09-08, 12:00 (UTC-10), 17:25.291S, 154:41.784W, COG 250, SOG
6.5kn, 1019mBar, 33C, sunny

Still good going in 20-25 kn of wind from the east. 158nm in the last 24
hours, good for the parasailor. The sea is a little calmer then yesterday,
waves still big but developed and regular. The sky is blue with some
cumulus. I'm staying below decks out of the sun most of the time, just pop
my head up to have a look now and then. Not much to see, some pelagic birds,
mostly boobies. Radar-detector and AIS are helping me to watch out.

I made greek salad for lunch which I'll have with Christine's fantastic
bread. It's too hot to cook a big meal for lunch. But I'm thinking what I
could make for dinner. Maybe a curry? Food really is the only exciting thing
happening on a lengthy offshore trip like this. Apart from big mammals in
the water or bad weather, but I can do very well without the bad weather
thank you very much. It was all so very exciting three years ago when I
started. Now that I've seen it all a few times I'm happiest if the winds are
light and the sea calm.

Richard said that I should definitely stop in Niue because the underwater
visibility is fantastic, there are plenty of sea snakes, the people are
friendly, and there's a chance to see whales although most are somehow in
Tonga this year. Friendly people and great diving sounds like my kind of
place. Only 875nm to go

Saturday, 2012-09-08, 0:00 UTC-10, 17:00.707S, 153:29.678W, Wind 20kn E,

At 1pm I started to feel a little sick with all the crazy rolling and set
the parasailor. It's a lot better now, and since about 6pm, the ocean is
getting a little calmer too, nice. Gisela was worried that I can't cook when
the sea is rough, but that is actually not a problem. I do still cook, it
just takes a little longer and I hit my head more often against the closet
with the dishes.

Had some trouble with the autopilot at first. The idea is to do first a
compass calibration, then a "seatrial calibration". The seatrial calibration
needs lots of empty sea room, and calm seas. Aaaah, right. Not enough sea
room in the lagoon, and no calm seas outside. So instead of the seatrial
calibration I did a good old trial&error calibration.

With the old model that was relatively easy because there were only two
settings: rudder gain and response level. And you could change both while in
autopilot mode, so you could see the effect immediately. Now there are a
four more relevant settings, and you can only change "response level" in
autopilot mode, and for the other you have to go to manual steering, fiddle
with the buttons while holding the boat on course, then turn the autopilot
back on and see what changed. A little tricky. Liz will be proud to hear
that there was no swearing throughout the whole process. Now it seems to be
fine, and I love the remote control. Don't even have to lift my head up from
the bunk anymore to check or change course. yay!

Just received an email from Vulcan Spirit, who arrived in Tonga today. Says
there are lots of whales there, and almost none in Niue. So I'm thinking
that maybe I should not bother stopping in Niue and sail the extra 300nm?
Would also be nice to meet up with Richard & Ali again. But it's too early
to say now, will have to see what the weather does.

Oh, and there's a hole in the parasailor. Not that big hole, which is
supposed to be there, but a new little hole where the fabric is torn. A
triangle about 20cm sides, where the starboard control line of the wing is
attached. The ripstop nylon seems to do it's work though and it's not
getting any bigger, so I decided to leave the sail up while it's rolly and
take it down for repairs when the sea is a little calmer.

Friday, 2012-09-07 12:00 UTC-10, 16:35.281S, 152:09.716W, COG 250, SOG 6.0,
Wind 25kn E, Waves 2m 120D, 29C, 1018mBar

I dropped the mooring line at 7:30 this morning and turned away from the
island. Moyo said good-bye from the, Miepke blew it's horn, and Schuessel
was also on Deck waving and snapping photos. THen they all looked a little
confused while I turned a few circles just south of the mooring field, but I
had to calibrate the autopilot and the manual says to do this in calm
conditions.

No calm conditions outside the pass. Wind is quite gusty around 25kn, waves
are only 2m but short and with no rythm. The boat is rolling a lot. Wind is
from the east, and my destination is pretty much straight to the west. Which
means I have to tack downwind to make life on a monohull bearable. After
looking at the wave forecast I decided to tack south first for a few days,
because it looks like the wave direction will turn further south the closer
I get to Niue. Approaching Niue from the south rather then the north will
allow me to have the waves more from the back than the front.

At the moment only the Genoa is up because the wind is not very steady. It
should settle a little over the next few days and then I'll pull up the
parasailor, which is much more comfortable.

Looks like lunch today will be mostly fruit, and dinner bread, cheese, ham
and eggs.

Matt from Mojomo (www.mailasail.com/mojomo) send a photo of a fish he caught
but can't identify. Judging by size, fins, tail, and stripes it very much
looks like a Barracuda to me. But Matt says the teeth are wrong. Says it
might be a spanish mackerel, but the sp m has dots and no stripes. A King
Mackerell has stripes but is only found in the Atlantic. Mysterious! Any
idea anybody?

Friday, 2012-09-12 06:30, 16:29.435S, 151:45.654W,

Bye bye roosters, you won't wake me again at four in the morning. Today I'm leaving for Niue, 1060nm WSW. Smack in the middle between here and Niue lies Palmerston, which is handy should the weather turn bad. Otherwise I'm not planning to stop there.

Only thing left doing is set up the cameras, drop the mooring line, and then calibrate the new autopilot by driving some circles or so. I better have a look at the manual again. So I should be out of here in an hour or two. And then it's 7 or 8 days at sea. Lots of veges, fruit, bread and cheese on board. And Andreas from Miepke baked a chocolate-cake for me and Christine from Schuessel a german bread. Fanstastic, thanks so much friends. The plus of being a single-hander is that everybody feels like helping you.

Below some more photos from Bora Bora. Yep, it's a nice little island.

Last week was a blur of working and socializing - regular life at the anchorage at a staging point like Bora Bora. During the day people get they're boats ready for the next big trip, and in the evenings everybody meets up for drinks and dinner.

Only for me socializing started with breakfast already, usually on E Capoe. That's one of the nice things about being a single-hander: people invite you over all the time. As Andre said: if there's food for two, there's food for three. After breakfast some working on some boat, then coffee on Contina, then lunch on Gudrun, E Capoe, Miepke, or Moyo, then more working, then dinner again somewhere else, for example S/V Schuessel (Herbert & Christine). Very busy!


getting ready to go out for dinner


The menu at Bloody Mary's, Bora Bora

Good news: all the work is done! The new shrouds are in, the hull is cleaned, even the new autopilot with remote control (haha!) is installed, and a whole bunch of other small things. Only the depth-sounder couldn't be revived although I rewired the whole thing. It always shows 2.1m - the offset from the bottom of my hull to the bottom of the keel. Which means no signal, which means (propably) the sounder is broken. Can't change the sounder while in the water, so the hand-lead will have to do from now on. Just like in the old days. Only in the new days we have pretty good charts and GPS (and GLONASS too). So not at all like in the old days. Phew, lucky break.


picking up the shrouds form the supply ship

I had some reservations about upgrading the autopilot. I bought a new unit, because I needed a new drive unit anyway (looks like they only last one ocean crossing. 1 for the Atlantic, 1 for the pacific), and the new X5 has three big advantages over my old ST-4000:
1.it has a gyro "course computer", which should help a lot with the waves from the back.
2. it has wind-vane mode, which means steering by the wind angle. Helps a lot with small changes in light wind
3. it has a remote control! Fantastic for making small adjustments while working at the mast. No need to walk back.

All three 'new features' a very useful when sailing alone, which is why I did the upgrade after all. But chances are something's going to go wrong on the first passage, so I'm expecting to spend at least half a day somewhere on the ocean with no sails up fixing the autopilot. Or reverting to the old one. I'm keeping it close at hand, just in case.

No more whales, but I went on a hike with E Capoe and that was very nice.


Canon overlooking the bay

Monday they left for Suwarow though, and later today I'm leaving as well. Destination: Niue. Have to run some errands in the city and check the stuff on the mast one last time, then it's bye bye and off to another week at sea.


Andreas from Miepke helping with the anti-fouling

Not happy with my bio-tin antifouling btw. it's only half a year old, but not much use. Andreas asked me whether I'm sure I didn't paint the hull with fertilizer instead. I cleaned the hull only two weeks ago, and had already 10cm long grassy beard all over.

I swam with whales today, very exciting! The fever was forgotten Samo raced passed Gudrun shouting whaaaales! I went quickly after him, jumped into the water from my dinghy and swam about 50m to where I thought the whales would pass.





Unfortunately visibility is only a few meters at the moment inside the lagoon because it's been so windy for over a week. Waiting in the water, I didn't see the whales until they almost swam into me. I got very nervous when that big shape appeared suddenly. Fortunately the whales saw me as well and turned away. I was only able to snap off ten very fast shots before they were out of sight again.

the first backing plate is fitted. Wind gusts of 25kn didn't help with the work, but it's done. The starboard side has to wait however until the little fever I've caught form somewhere is gone. Tomorrow the shrouds are supposed to arrive, and I hope to finish everything over the weekend - health and weather permitting.


First backing plate inside. Vectran rope to measure the required length.

When I left Tahiti one week ago I was certain to be on my way to Niue by now. Until Bora Bora everything went fine, then four strands of the port bottom shroud broke. Then I discovered that the backing plate and of the starboard shroud was cracked as well, and the mast was beginning to crack. I knew boat repairs would catch up with me again, I just hoped it wouldn't be before I got to New Zealand.

Some emails and calls with Christophe from API Yachting (Tahiti) later we had a solution, and yesterday I picked up new backing plates from the supply boat.


Supply boat being unloaded

Russell from Moonwalker pulled me up to the first spreader and I went to work with drill and Dremel. The hole is cut, today I have to file it into shape.



Then I can measure the length for the new shrouds. I hope he can send them out tonight so I can have them tomorrow morning. It looks like Monday would be a good day to leave for Niue weather-wise.


Gudrun in the rain

Staying here a few extra days allowed me to catch up with friends again, and to dive. Honestly, the diving is not worth it, but chats with the crew of E Capoe, Wet Lady, Contina, Lazy Lady, Moonwalker, and La Luz are totally worth the delay.


Giant manta rays, but bad visibility


Lemon shark


On E Capoe


Merlin's Lego Helicopter


BBQ on Wet Lady


Servicing dive gear on Contina with Wip

I'm in touch with Christophe from API Yachting in Tahiti regarding new shrouds. Saturday morning I send the port shroud to him via Air Tahiti (cost: 6$).

Unfortunately Christophe doesn't have the T terminals for 8mm dyform, and I don't want to wait until a new shipment arrives. I discovered that on the starboard side the backing plate is cracked, so I have to replace those as well. In the end we decided to go for standard 10mm shrouds with stem ball terminals and new backing plates. So now I'm waiting for the shipment, and then I'll spend a day or two in the mast drilling, filing, and installing new terminals.



Fortunately for me Wip from M/V Contina gave me a dinghy! I had given mine to E Capoe, because their's falling apart and with three kids and they need it more than I do. Kayak's ok for me. But it's been very windy and rainy the last few days, and because I have to run errands now to the distant city Wip brought me his spare dinghy. Thanks so much Wip. Great to have good friends.

Whales: haven't seen them yesterday, but Samo from S/Y Wet Lady gave me his footage and I made a little movie for him:

My first whale ever! After almost three years at sea. Very, very happy

Great news: there is a whale with her calf in the lagoon. I sat the whole afternoon in the dinghy with my telephoto lens, just waiting and watching out for the whales to breach. They only came up every 20min or so for a few minutes, but with patience I managed to get a few nice shots with my telephotos.


Mother ...


.... and calf. With cleaning symbionts.


Both together.


Whale cresting. In the background M/Y Contina.

I'm thinking about going out with the kayak and snorkeling gear and try to get some underwater shots. But I don't want to bother them. Hmmm ....

Friday, 2012-08-24, 14:30, 16:29.454S, 151:45:769W, Bora Bora Yacht Club

Arrived at Bora Bora Yacht Club after 6h trip from Raiatea. Gerd and Ingrid from S/Y Lazy Lady waited for me in their Dinghy at the last free mooring boy of the Bora Bora Yacht Club. What a service, thanks so much friends!

Unfortunately some damage on the way - four strands of the port bottom shroud broke. Not good, can't sail on with that.



Fortunately INgrid hat contact details of a rigger in Tahiti (yep, the place I just left) and I called him. We discussed the issue over the phone and he says he's got everything in stock to make two new shrouds for me. Andre then helped me to remove the shroud, which I'll send to the rigger by plane and if all goes well I should be able to sail on end of next week.


Andre, thanks mate.

Friday, 2012-08-24, 11:30 UTC-10, 16:35.925S, 151:38.785W, COG 310, SOG
5.5kn, Wind 15kn ESE, sunny with occasional showers

Only 10nm to Bora Bora. Unfortunately I'm approaching from SE, and the pass
is on the west side of the island, so I have to sail about 18nm in total.

I left the quay at Uturoa at 08:30 this morning in 15kn of wind, unfurled
the genoa, and sailed the 7.5nm through the atoll to the north-western pass.
At 10:15 I went through the pass and once safely outside I switched the
genoa for the parasailor. Apart from the occasional sun-shower the weather
is great, and the sea is pretty calm as well. Looks like a day of nice
sailing.

Uturoa seems like a nice place to stop over on the way west. Good snorkeling
nearby, and the super-market and gas-station are just next to the quay. As
is the town-center, but since it's a really small town, there isn't much
there. After some provisioning and a quick check-over of the boat this
morning I had a coffee with Gisela and Uwe, and we said our good-byes. They
are staying in French Polynesia for another season, and we don't know when
or if we'll see each other again. Hopefully they come to New Zealand one
day. All the best my friends, fair winds, following seas, a cool fridge. And
may you never run out of "Eselsmilch" and white-wine.

Friday, 2012-08-24, 07:30 UTC-10, 16:43.765S, 151:26.567W

Forecast for today is 15-20kn of wind from the east, and rain. Right now we have 15kn of wind from the east and rain. So it looks like the forecast is pretty accurate. I'll wait for the rain to stop then leave for Bora Bora. Only 32nm, should be there early afternoon.



Yesterday Uwe and Gisela helped me to tie alongside the quay in Raiatea, and then they invited me for dinner on their boat. We chatted until about ten.



Internet here is very good compared to Tahiti, and back on Gudrun I was able to skype with Liz, even with video. Yay!
This morning I checked the prop, but it's ok. But the cutlass bearing has a little play, maybe half a mmm, and that causes the noise. Have to replace it next time I haul out. Fortunately there isn't a lot of motoring coming up