Trans-Pacific – 2900 nm

May 10, 2021

2900 nautical miles was our goal, the distance from Puerto Villamil to Rikitea in straight line. At the end we did a total of 3100nm.

Up until the last minute, I thought something would happen and I would be able to fly to French Polynesia instead of sailing. I never really thought I would actually embark on this journey. It was so very long! But I can happily said now !!! I did it!!! We arrived to Rikitea, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia on May 10, 2021

On Day 1, we left between rains and grey skies around 2:00 PM. We woke up at 5am to go shopping because Saturday is the market day. Perfect opportunity for stocking up in fresh produce. Eggs, pineapples, oranges, guavas, bananas, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, plantains, chicken, frozen pork, yougour and plenty more. People come from all over the island to sale their products, but it starts early and finish early. By 6am there is almost nothing left.

By the time we got back to the boat we were almost soaking wet. So I took quite sometime to get all the shopping cleaned, dry and stored. Also, I prepared the chicken to have a couple of meals ready to eat for the passage. Cedric took care on the outside of the boat, deflate the dinghy, stored and secured everything in place.

We wanted to leave around 10 am, but the rain just delayed us. No visibility, so we ended up staying a bit longer, having lunch, short siesta and when the sky cleared a bit we set sails and left.

I was only then that I started to realised what was happening. I had not given a serious thought about what was the big crossing, in the back of my mind it was not going to happened.

The start was very nice, as soon as we came out of the bay we had few big manta rays swimming close by. It was a perfect way to leave Galapagos after four great weeks of diving, hiking, cycling in an extremely protected environment and seeing all sorts of flora and fauna, species that we will probably never see again.

On that day we did 117nm. A bit of sailing but mostly engine as there was no wind. Main issue was that only 88 miles of those counted for our goal.

Galapagos is on the Equator where there is usually no wind, in order to find the wind we had to go south. Normally, at this time of the year the Tradewinds are fully established which means 20 to 25 knots of wind blowing continuously 24hr per day with the possibility of some currents, or more wind that can get up to 35 to 40 knots. Happy Days depending on the direction is normally comfortable with 10knots of wind to move at 7knots speed average.

By the end of Day 2 we had enough wind to sail, so full sails up again, 1knot of current in favour, no swell, perfect for breaking our own record 200nm in 24hr. With those conditions the whole trip would take us 2 weeks. But that of course never happened. As we advanced more into the Tradewinds the swell started raising, the current stopped and the seas started to get big and bigger.

From day 3 to day 8 we were pretty consistent 165nm average a day with 155nm for the objective. When we first plot the route it was 2900nm because it was in more or less direct line, but as we started going the path had to be adjusted and in reality it was more like 3100nm. The adjustment had to be done because of the wind conditions, we had to stay a bit north to be able to go south at the end on the arrival. The waves kept increasing and I had two days where I was not feeling good. Seasick most of the day, the boat is moving all the time so everything is more difficult, you need to walk holding yourself with one hand and sometimes with both. The seas were really messy. You can have a swell of 3 meters but if is long and slow, it is not so bad. However, we had only 1 or 2 meters at times, but short, with extra waves, in different directions, it is like a washing machine, it certainly moves a lot. Just doing the basics like eating and going to the toilet becomes a really hard task.

Seasickness can be caused by 4 main factors fear, cold, hunger, fatigue so in theory if you can control those factors you should be able to avoid it. In addition, smells, drinking coffee, reading, concentrating in one activity can also contribute. Everyone is different so you have to try and see what works for you. After 15000nm I have learned a lot and can control some of these factors but sometimes it just goes above me and I get dizzy and start to feel bad. My main therapies are sleep, watch movies with noise canceling headphones and helming. So there I was watching a full season series and sleeping 15 hours a day. It doesn’t sound bad at all, right? However, it can get frustrating not to be able to do whatever you want.

I found that lying on the floor outside on the cockpit helped a bit for the seasickness.

I mentioned helming right? Well so one of those days that I was helming I heard a weird noise, coming out of one of the wheels. Unfortunately, one day later when Cedric helmed the cable broke, so we had no helm. It was not such a big deal as Rafa (our autopilot) kept helming. But we had to wait a couple of days for calmer seas to be able to fix the problem. This type of failure is common so we were prepared, we carried the necessary spare parts for that. The repair took some time of preparation and execution but we had the helm back in good working order. Working on a moving boat with 20knots of wind and waves is less than ideal, but it had to be done.

We keep going with minimum changes from day 9 to day 11 we did 150nm average a day but only 135nm towards de objective. I was feeling a lot better, no more seasickness. Days started to get more similar one to the other. The captain, is very strict on having a routine. So meals are 8am breakfast, 1pm lunch, 6pm apero and 7pm dinner. Even when if I am a sick we still try to keep up with the schedule and it really does help. After dinner, I stay up until midnight and then Cedric takes over until 6am, sometimes I get lucky and he lets me sleep until 7am.

When the boat is moving too much I can’t cook. That’s why I prepared in advance so we had a lot of precooked food. I know where everything is, it’s well organised so basically I prepare the menu and help with what I can, the rest is all the captain.

Day 13 and day 14 came as a small brake during the crossing. We had no wind for some time and it was fantastic. We keep sailing 100nm a day mostly motoring. We had time to do couple of small jobs, fixing a line that broke on the mainsail, damage on the mainsail halyard and opened the helm cables again and re-tide the dynema lines we used to fixed the helm.

As there was no wind it got hotter than all previous days, so we took the opportunity for a swim in the middle of the ocean. At that point the closest piece of land was probably over 1000nm and not really sure how deep, but very deep, probably over 3000 m.

We also changed time by one hour. On board the captain takes the decision when to change time. Remember, a boat is a dictatorship! He likes to have the sunset later and later like summer days. Also it is a nice fit because we have apero waiting for sunset. We saw the green ray one day, what a treat.

From day 15 to Day 18 the wind started picking up but it stayed below the 15knots still. Which was wonderful, we don’t go as fast but the swell is smaller, so it feels a lot more comfortable. Perfect weather for a more elaborated cooking. So I made some arepas for breakfast one day and we had crepes for dinner the following night. In addition, I was very happy because I was able to bake the chocolate cake for the Captain’s birthday. In fact we had a feast on May the 4th!!. I got some foie grass from the secret stash and made pizza for dinner for the birthday boy. Very spoiled captain and a great birthday in a unique location, the END of the world the Pacific Ocean.

And to top it all up, the present from the sea came onboard. A 6kg tuna.

We had been fishing for probably 10 days and got nothing, it was surely reserved for that day. We were probably in a very fishy area as we unfortunately saw 4 big Chinese fishing boats in the vicinity the night before. Also, there was a boat without AIS that came close that night, probably a military one monitoring the others fishing boats? Hard to say. I think that was an indication we were getting closer to French waters. We were less than 500nm at that point.

On Day 16 we had another problem, the cable of the helm broke again. We thought it was a failure of the repaired we had done couple of days before, but in fact it wasn’t. It was the second cable. Probably when we did the repaired, the other cable started to be pulled stronger and as it was old, it started to weakened until it broke. The good thing is we had all the parts and we have more experience then on how to make the repaired. And at least this time we didn’t had to do it with 20knots of wind and big waves

The following days from day 19 to day 21 we had very very light winds, we did 134nm, 110nm, 103nm and the direction changed as well. We were going more south which is more downwind. Therefore, we advance slower. We had to change the sails configuration, pole out, pole in a lot more manoeuvres than all the days before. To adjust to the timeline in Gambier, we changed the last remaining hour.

The last night before arriving we changed the routine a bit to make sure the Captain would be well rested to make the entrance. We always do that, as it is very important to have a clear mind and be ready for any unexpected surprises on the arrival. On the last 24hr we probably changed sails and did more manoeuvres than the other 21 days all together, we had rain as well which we had very little during the rest of the crossing.

It was only until the Day 21 at 2pm when we had only 98nm left that Cedric said, we will make it by tomorrow!!!! I was so happy. Because it could have been as well that at that time he said we won’t have time enough to enter with daylight so we would have to delay a day. We never go into a new port at night, it is a lot more risky.

Knowing that we were going to arrived the next day, I just wanted to see land. But not a glimpse, I couldn’t see anything even though we were less than 40nm away. Finally, when the sunrise started to clear up the sky, there it was …. land… land.. We kept sailing all the way until the entrance of the channel that fortunately is very well mark and quite spacious.

By 11am local time (we had to adjust one more hour) on May 9, 2021 we were anchored in the bay in front of Rikitea, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia. Couple of boats around gave us the welcoming, no matter how long ago they arrived here, I’m sure they understand the feeling when you get to land after such a long crossing!!! If they are here they probably came from far away as us.

A total of 22 days to arrive to a paradisiac atoll that so far looks like a place out of this world.

We certainly had a great weather window, that afternoon after our arrival there were torrential rains and strong winds even inside the atoll, so I could imagine one extra day outside sailing would have been very challenging for me. I felt great to be able to see the rain, heard the strong wind from the comfort of our anchorage.

Now that the Transpac is behind us I could understand a bit more why people actually choose to do this. I don’t think I would be able to see the sunsets, sunrises, the full moon lighting our way, the via lactea so clear that you feel you can almost touch the stars, the feeling of how small we are in the world, the feeling of seeing land after so many days just looking at the sea, the force of the wind that pushes a 12 ton boat, the feeling of achievement when you arrived and a lot more. I hope you guys enjoy this post!! Next post will be on the discovery of Gambier Islands.