So after waiting weeks to get away from Raiatea as a huge area of poor weather had been blocking our planned route, we finally left yesterday morning at 6am, and not before time.
French Polynesia is a beautiful spot but prohibitively expensive. And why are the French so rude? I seldom left the boat as I had nowhere to go or do, but on one memorable occasion I was in the supermarket and the assistant swiped what appeared to be the last of my items and then just stood there staring down the aisle. I thought she was waiting for a price check or something, as she didn't acknowledge that she was finished. And then she said, “Why are you staring at me? The price isn't written on my 'ed', it's on ze machine.” So that was quite amusing.
It's been very calm since we left, with less than 10 knots of apparent wind directly behind for most of the time, which actually suits me as I like to ease into a new boat. You have to identify noises and squeaks: should I adjust the autopilot damping? Is that noise usual? Check the bilge. Are all of the things I flagged on my inspection still looking good? Everything is fastened down, no pumps running that shouldn't be, and things that should be running are.
With no watermaker, conserving fresh water is always an issue, and I am always aware of how much water goes down the galley sink. The boat has a normal faucet, and I noticed that when you push it up for water to come out, it's quite powerful, and then pushing it down, too little comes out. So while you are adjusting it to get slightly more than a drip and less than a torrent, it's pouring away. I have regulated the faucet with a few cable ties so it can only go to halfway.
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| Simple but effective |