We flew into Tahiti and arrived at the boat at 4am on the 30th, and we left yesterday, on the 2nd.
It was a bit hectic getting everything ready. We have to go through all the cupboards, check the spares, tools and equipment, read the manuals and understand how all the systems operate, as well as go shopping to provision for the passage. Then there are the authorities to deal with, getting cleared out and getting all the paperwork sorted and of course the French invented bureaucracy.
And now, entering New Zealand means complying with the new biosecurity regulations, which essentially mean the boat should never have been within three miles of any water ever, as that seems to be the only way to meet the standards they have set.
First impressions of the Lagoon 450S: Its awesome.
It’s a huge step up from the 440. The living areas are very comfortable, but more importantly for me, it’s a very solid platform for working and feels very stable underfoot even in the larger waves by Moorea. The cockpit is laid out well and it’s pretty easy to sail short-handed.
We left with clear blue sky and flat water, which changed to gusts of up to 31 knots a few miles from the marina and some big waves as we approached Moorea. The breeze eased off to around 25 knots during the evening, but would continue to gust to 30 and then drop back to below 20.
We cleared Moorea and bore away, unwound some headsail to power us along in the gusts, but had to run one engine as there wasn’t enough sail out to keep the speed up when the breeze dropped to 20 knots.
It slowly settled down towards dawn and we now have around 20 knots apparent, with two reefs in the main and a couple of rolls in the headsail, making around 7–8 knots. Every now and again we pick up to 9knts on a wave which is a nice little bonus.
I’m expecting the wind to pick up over the next few days, so I’ll probably drop down to the third reef tonight, depending on how things look.
So, we’re on the way. The boat is behaving itself, the weather is doing what the weather does, and we have a long way to go. And hopefully no animals decide to hitch a ride on the bottom.