I arrived in Tahiti a few days ago and stepped aboard the Nautitech 46 Open to begin preparing for the passage west to Fiji.
I was lucky enough to meet the previous owner, who came aboard and saved me a load of time. He answered some questions, sorted out a few issues, and explained how various systems worked. Some of them would have been extremely tricky to figure out on my own, so that was a very useful start to the trip.
Once we had everything shipshape, we began the clearance process with the authorities. There are often extra complications when taking a boat out of a country after it has changed hands, particularly when it has a new owner, a new name, a different country of registration and various other details to update. Sure enough, our first application was rejected. Nothing is ever quite as straightforward as it should be! However, we’re well on the way now, and Tahiti is behind us.
We motored for the first few hours while we were in the wind shadow of the big islands, then gradually picked up the breeze as we moved away. The wind is currently a little further east than I’d like, and it has been up and down between around 16 and 26 knots.
I suspect this passage could be a repeat of the previous ones, with the large high-pressure system east of New Zealand bringing strong easterlies and plenty of cloud. I just hope it doesn’t get as cold as it did last time when the wind swung round to the south. I’m quite happy to do without another round of freezing, damp sailing!
On a completely different note, I experienced something in Tahiti that I’d never seen before. In the space of around 40 minutes, I spotted eight satellites moving across the sky. I’ve seen the occasional satellite before, and of course the ISS, but never more than two in an entire night.
So this evening, just after sunset, I lay on my back on the deck and waited. Sure enough, I spotted around five satellites in 20 minutes. It was quite something to watch.
We’re now on our way west, settling into the passage and seeing what the weather has in store for us. Hopefully, this one will be a little warmer than the last!