1) Rarotonga, Cook Islands

July 2008: South Pacific

Avatiu Harbour, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

S 21.12 W 159.14

I have yet again taken advantage of an opportunity that presented itself in early 2007.  Bob Briggs contacted me through the Latitude 38 crew list inquiring if I was interested cruising the South Pacific on his 2001 Hallberg-Rassy 46.  I of course caved in and moved forward.   The interview process included phone conversations, e/m exchanges, meetings and an offshore round-trip from Emeryville to Monterey in October 2007.  Everything went well and I was offered a crew position with a March 2008 departure.  

There are many legs of the proposed route from San Francisco Bay to Australia and several interested available crew.  The most difficult leg, meaning sometimes cold and miserable was from San Francisco Bay to San Diego.  I’ve done it enough and passed on it.  The run from San Diego to The Marquesas is potentially an 18-21 day trip and I have done enough long passages and decided to pass on that, too.  I knew the boat was going to be in the So Pac in early summer and that is where I planned to get on.  According to the planned schedule the boat would arrive in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in July and let off (2) of the (4) on-board.  My journey on S/V Present Moment begins in Rarotonga with Bob and Dave Smith.

Cupertino, CA

The weeks and days leading up to my flight out were filled with planning/packing, house issues and work issues.  I worked the morning of the day before I left and ended up taking my fatigue with me.

   Los Gatos, CA

               On July 20^th I flew out of SFO at 6pm headed to an LAX layover and an 11pm direct flight to Rarotonga.  Dinner, (2) movies that I slept thru and then breakfast had us landing in Rarotonga about 10 hours after leaving LAX.  Unfortunately, it was still dark and I was unable to get pictures of the airport.  But, there was a guy in the lobby playing his Ukulele and singing away….  A very short taxi ride to the harbor and…                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

I was a bit startled when I arrived in that I thought I had researched this location but somehow overlooked that it was winter in the southern hemisphere.  I generally tried to stay near the beach.  As you can see in the picture above, it was slightly warmer near the water.  But, when I saw the boat in the slip I knew there would be a lot of pre-departure work to get it ready.

OK, seriously, this is Present Moment in the harbor at Rarotonga.  

Since it was before sunrise no one was up and about at the marina.  I stood by the edge and talked to the taxi driver for several minutes.  Bob must’ve heard us and popped up.  I managed to get the luggage and boat parts here and now I had to navigate the little issue of getting them on the boat.  In this marina the boats are Med-tied as there are no slips or docks.  A dinghy is used to get back and forth to land.  If you look beyond the bow of the boat you can see a ship broken in half on the rocks at the entrance of the harbor.  They are in the process of cutting it up and removing it after it came upon the reef during a failed attempt to leave and ride out a storm at sea.  

Rarotonga is a fairly unknown jewel in the Pacific and it shows.  It is lightly populated, safe and clean.  New Zealanders come here for vacation since it is a NZ territory and close.  It appears the main mode of transportation for tourists as well as locals is the scooter.  But, you must go to the police station and get a driver’s license in order to rent one.  Dave Smith, the other crewmember (we’ve made it easy for the skipper), already had a scooter and had been around the island and offered to loan me his or go together.  I chose to sit on the back and in a couple hours got dozens of pictures going around the entire island.  If you look at Google maps it looks like the trip can be done in less than an hour.  It really is that small.

                          

           

                The interior of this island is so rugged that there are only hiking trails and no roads through it.  So, most of the action happens along the shore.  There is not much of a downtown or main strip, but rather many simple buildings, an airport, a golf course, grocery stores, etc.  And oh yes, the elixir of life, the new snake oil, the next best tonic of life…. The internet café!

                    

Cook Islands Police

    Bob, exhibiting patience.

Internet cafe'

                                                            

                               

        In the short time on this island I was able to see the entire perimeter and lots of stuff within walking distance of the marina.  There really isn’t a defined downtown and houses and businesses seem to run together.  And what to expect in the South Pacific, lots of churches. Everyone seems to obey the speed limit including the lone Harley.  Littering seems to be minimal to non-existent. I had hoped to take a hike up one of the trails but time ran out.  If we were to get offshore we needed to take on fuel and get some groceries.  We got the staples from the store, (i.e.: cookies, bread, candy, beer) and the fresh stuff from the roadside markets.  The quality of the fresh fruit and vegetables is outstanding.

  I kept an eye on the label of ingredients just in case.

         Taking on fuel became an issue all its own wherein the phone helped immensely.  In the So Pac you can buy a cell phone that works in every country except the U.S.  You simply purchase a simm (sp?) card in each country to activate it. There is no fuel dock to pull up to and only two ways to take on fuel.  One, go to the gas station and fill 5-gallon jugs, put them in the dinghy, load on the boat, etc.  Or, two, call the local truck service.  “…the truck is on its way…” was spread over two days.  Bob kept calling and they finally asked when we were leaving so as to accommodate us.  Really, it’s an island.  A really small island.  We were at the mercy of the truck as it had a long hose to reach out to mid-ships for the fuel inlet.  My job was to get in the dinghy and carry the hose across the water to the boat.  Bob filled and I went below and watched it fill the tank.  There is no fuel counter on the truck so we had no way to measure other than fill a tank with a known volume. 

    

        The first few days of settling in are quite an adjustment.  Stepping out of my daily routine into something completely different is expected, though.  Bob and Dave are very easy going and laid back;  Mostly because that is their respective personalities and also as they have been at this since the departure from Emeryville.  Dave signed on from the start all the way to Australia.  It appears Bob will ship the boat home instead of sailing it since that is either going around the long way, slowly back-tracking or clockwise around the Pacific going into the cold northern latitudes.

With food, water and fuel on board we are ready to head offshore for the 5-day passage to Pago Pago (pah-ngo pah-ngo), American Samoa.

                                                                         

3.13.07

March 8, 2007 

I went to Waikiki to meet the crew, sail the boat and close the deal.  Some work had been done prior to all of us arriving such as food, water, etc., and there was not much to do other than put the bags on and go.  Everything was in order for us to depart Waikiki on time with all the expected crew. 

I was picked up at the airport by Gib and we made the short trip to the boat to unload my gear and some other stuff he had in the back.  But, he now had two cars at the marina and needed to get one of them back home.  I am familiar with the area and followed him to his house in Kaneohe Bay to drop off the car.

S/V Chasch Mer SC50 #1  

Ti leaves from the blessing must be removed by the sea.

Here were nine guys, most meeting for the first time, letting loose the dock lines and overnight sailing to Maui.  There wasn’t much of a harbor ride and we were in the ocean within minutes with all the sails up.  For some reason it didn't seem odd to fly in and quickly set sail.  We left the Waikiki Yacht Club in the late afternoon and within a couple miles of the breakwater were already seeing whales and using avoidance techniques.

Gib, the owner, at the wheel.

   

March 9, 2007

(You Tube clip) S/V Chasch Mer dawn, west of Lanai, HI 3.9.07  

The wind angle was not ideal and caused us to tack many times on this run and increased the distance substantially.  We left the dock around 6pm and by mid-night it was a rough ride.  We were heading into the wind and the waves and ended up pounding pretty hard into waves.  It felt like we fell off the back of some of the waves and the impact was impressive.  Unfortunately, this ride did not allow any sound sleep for off-watch crew.  The combination of rough seas and a true racing style boat (i.e.: Spartan accommodations) makes for a less than wine-and-cheese sunset cruise. 

It’s actually warm and we were wearing rain gear.  

Ray and I worked the foredeck.

No luck catching fish with the hand line.  

Constant lookout to avoid hitting whales.

It is nearly impossible to sail in this area and not take in the sites.

  

(You Tube clip) 

Lahaina shipwreck April 2005

You can see the mast of the sunken sailboat in the distance just off the breakwater. 

   

Lahaina, Maui, HI at the guest dock.

Kea & Keali’s house up the hill overlooking Lahaina, Maui

Friday evening we went up the hill above Lahaina to the home of Gib’s daughter and her family.  We had a great time just hanging out, drinking beer and wine topped off with a great BBQ.  Gib took this opportunity to let us all know about the sponsor he was able to get for the race.  

Apparently he had been working on it for some time and managed to get Stags Leap Winery as our official sponsor and that explains all the Stags Leap wine at the BBQ.  There will be graphics on the boat and the boat is already listed as Stag’s Leap Chasch Mer on the Transpac website.  I can only assume they are betting on the chance that the boat will be in the Disney movie garnering some advertising.

 

   

We will be wearing custom made clothing for this event so as to present a unified, professional looking crew.  Stag’s Leap has already reserved the boat for VIP functions in Long Beach prior to the event as well as in Waikiki.  As soon as the copyright issues are worked out for the collage shirts/dresses they will be produced as well as released by the clothing manufacturer for their own line.  

March 10, 2007


 

Saturday, the planned day of practice, was different to say the least.  We could not start the engine but that was no deterrent.  We sailed off the dock and figured we’d sail in somehow.  I must give credit where due to Gib and Kea, his son in law, who worked this out perfect.  We kicked the bow off the dock, let it drift parallel to the breakwater wall, raised the jib, got underway, and after turning left past the edge of the wall we raised the main and were off.  We were plagued with rain, heavy at times.  When the rain settled over us the wind stopped.  Uh, no engine, no wind, no go.  We sat and waited it out.

 

Kea and Ray

The plan was to sail back and forth and do spinnaker hoists/drops and gybes (dip the pole on the inside and move it to the other side of the headstay).  On one of the maneuvers the sail got caught in the jaws on the end of the pole and subsequently was torn.  There were many spinnakers below and we just grabbed another one.  My position was at the mast and I managed jumping the halyards for hoisting (pulling the line here is faster than at the winch), setting up the pole, raising and lowering the pole for gybes, capturing the chute on drops keeping it out of the water (and from going under the boat), etc.  We all have designated jobs and that is why there will be 10 of us.  Included in our specific tasks is manning the helm.  Since we want this boat to go as fast as we can make it we will be hand steering allowing each of us lots of wheel time.  I get the impression that since it is downhill all the way to Hawaii we will fly spinnakers 24 hours a day. 

I officially got the coveted position on this boat for the 2007 Trans Pac and am very much looking forward.  I leave on July 6 for Long Beach to participate in a few days of events and offshore practice, etc.  The boat crosses the start line on July 12 and arrives in Waikiki about 10-12 days later.  This ‘vacation’ will be different than all my other times in Hawaii as there are several days of yacht club parties/events and an awards ceremony.  

David  

 

It is a challenge for those who do and a dream for those who don’t.