PICTON TO THE MARSHALL ISLANDS, PACIFIC PASSAGE, LEG 1
|
As
is usual we were kind of ready to go, but the lists are never finished. We certainly were ready to go
mentally. We were back on board Sunstone
and it was just as if we had been away for a few weeks (actually 14 months in
the house) and were back 'at home'. A
cruisers life has three components.
Once on the go, repairing, fixing and jury-rigging become
important. Sailing is there of course. The third component is about management -
lists, planning and deadlines. One
must ensure that every one of over 1,000 items are on board: food stores, spares for all the moving
parts, medicines, clothes for the tropics and for the glaciers, sail repair
kit, reading glasses, electrical wire, spare bulbs, plastic piping, water
catcher, rags, plastic bags, gaffer tape, toothpaste, paper towels and
more. There are an amazing range of
'bits' that every cruising boat should carry. At Day 13 we came up with one forgotten item. Sunstone does not sport a shower so
we wash in salt and used a garden weed-spray bottle to rinse off with fresh
water. The 'spritzer' was not on
board! We'll just have to use a small
plastic bottle or a flannel. Leaving
on an extended trip is stressful in the last few weeks. Drop the shore lines and you drop all the
tension. There is a glorious sense of
relief in getting going. It is too
late for what's not done; you will have to make do with what you've got. Now it is two people, one boat and a big
ocean. We
settled into our watch routines very quickly having sailed so many ocean
miles together. At last count we have
sailed 175,000 miles on board Sunstone. A
cruisers life is also about change.
Picton was the best departure point for our intended route. First stop was to be Rarotonga, then
Hawaii before the start of our Alaskan cruising from Kodiak Island. As we ticked off the last few jobs in
Waikawa Marina and worked on a few new ones the new inverter failed as we
sailed over from Nelson the weather patterns in the south Pacific were not
looking promising. The wind
predictions for a passage east then north-east to Raro showed fresh
easterlies for days with little lows dropping down from Rarotonga. Going to windward is one thing when
racing, it is not that desirable when cruising! We are definitely getting 'wimpish' in our older age. So
we changed our minds. There are many
different routes to find our way to Alaska.
We cleared out from Picton on 4 April and headed north. Our change of plan was to head up the west
coast of the North Island and then keep going north with stops in Funafuti,
Tuvalu (2,000 miles), Majuro, Marshall Islands (1,000 miles) and Dutch Harbor
(3,000 miles), somewhat to the west of Kodiak Island. Tom did have to return to the house in
Nelson to pick up some additional charts.
In any new harbour locals always seem to help. Aaron, manager of Oddies Chandlery, drives
over to Nelson every Wednesday to sail with Kevin in the Wednesday night series;
Tom accompanied him in the ute. Each
day, moves to evening, moves to night over and over. By Day 12 the water temperature had risen
from 20'C to 30'C. Most people
probably like that on Sunstone we prefer the cooler conditions of
the 30-30 latitudes that is south and north of 30'. Tropical sailing is not our thing sweaty
and hot with all the chocolate and cheese melting! We have a very small fridge where immediate use food is
kept. The chocolate bar taken out for
lunch has taken on some odd contortions after its melting antics. |
|
|
|
Daily highlights, or lowlights, are interruptions to the routines or it maybe just beautiful sailing. On Day 5, Tom said after his one beer and supper swishing along at 6 knots on a beam reach in 10 knots of wind, "This is just gorgeous; amazing sailing." That was before it got too hot. On Day 7 we caught a big Mahi-Mahi. It was over 1 metre long and fed us for days. Vicky had to ring the changes after a bit, to cook a non-mahi supper. But the fish was delicious. |
|
|
|
The night sky on Day 12 provided an awesome exhibit - a full eclipse of the full moon. We had a 'blood red moon' for 85 minutes. The whole decline and re-appearance of the very bright moon took over an hour. This was an amazing phenomenon to witness. On the ocean the view is large, no hills, trees or buildings to interrupt the expanse of the big night sky. It is quite understandable that our early ancestors gave some mystical story to such a special sight. |
|
|
|
The
change of plans continued. Together
we took the decision not to stop at Funafuti. We have been there before (2010). It is a very small crowded atoll only 2m above sea level. The stop would have taken at least five
days and we are on a mission to make the most of the short summer season in
the far north. We had enough of
everything on board, including diesel for some motoring in light airs so we
decided to keep going. We kept going, but the sailing was not quite so
amazing. Unusually we had 10 days in
the ITZC (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone).
This gave us buckets of rain, short-lived squalls, lighter head winds
and a foul current. That made for
some slow daily runs and frustration on board Sunstone! |
|
|
|
|
At
last after 24 days, 2,970 miles, we arrived at Majuro in the Marshall
Islands, at 07'N/171'E. This is a
small atoll supporting around 30,000 people.
Although it is an independent nation, the Marshalls have many links
with the USA using American dollars as their currency. There are twenty and more US cruisers
'hanging out' here; it is usually typhoon-free. We
are topping up the food and beer supplies, diesel, water and propane. And of course fixing all those little
things that require maintenance or renewal. The
best part of the end of a long passage is a long, uninterrupted sleep. We did NOT get that on the first night; it
rained. We have no water maker so we
were up on deck collecting rain-water to top up the tanks. With no shower it was also an opportunity
to wash our very grimey bodies. On Sunstone
it is back to basics. The second part
of the sleep was very 'clean'! The
second leg is another 3,000 miles into the North Pacific to Dutch Harbor,
Alaska. It will get much colder and
the sailing will be more challenging.
It's all about change. Vicky
and Tom Jackson, Sunstone, 3 May 2014 |
Next |