Below, lies a link which is the gateway to pictures from the begging of our voyage in July until Easter Island on November 15th. Just click on the link below and it will connect you to a picturesque recap of our journey.
http://picasaweb.google.com/giovannisaarman/
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Rapa Nui, Easter Island -- December 3, 2007
So we ended up buying tickets to visit Rapanui (Easter Island). We thought that when we re-entered French Polynesia our visas would be renewed but that was old informationg. Never the less it was a wonderful experience. We stayed there for a week and the weather was much colder that what we had experienced in French Polynesia. The biggest relief for us all was that finally we could get by on our mediocre Spanish rather than our non-existent French. For me it just felt so much more like home. It is a spectacular island and learning about the history was also really interesting. My dad went there on his first year-long sailing trip, when they raced in the Trans-Pac to Tahiti, but a lot more archaeological work has been done since then. Looking at an island that was completely deforested on behalf of human interests was enlighting as to how much influence we can have as a people on our environment. When we were there, the Esmeralda, which is a Chilean navy ship came into the harbor so we got to watch the soccer game between the locals and the military. The island is the most isolated in the world. When you are there you can feel this sense that this is the only spit of land for a long way. It is just in the Pacific ocean without anything nearby. We went on tours of the archaeological sites on the island and we spent one day riding horses which was a lot of fun. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the culture there is that the population was reduced to only 111 people at one point. From those the people have recovered tremendously, and have restored a great deal of their original culture. The population was decimated by disease and slavery. Now with the influence of the modern world, drugs post a horrible threat to the serene island life. Like many of the South Pacific islands, the importation of drugs destroys the culture. Overall the trip was a great experience, and the Chilean government has done a good job of maintaining the island.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Toau -- November 1, 2007
Halloween sort of passed us by. It's hard to keep track of the date and the day of the week, but we were on an overnight passage on Halloween. We were sailing from Toau to Rangiroa. Toau is one of the smaller atolls that we have visited and very few people live there. Near the pass into the lagoon is a village that has inhabitants only during copra season, which is when the coconuts are harvested and dried so that they can be sent to Papeete to be turned into oil. We did not however enter the inner lagoon because it is uncharted. There is a family that lives on another one of the motus. But they have a small bay with moorings for boats that is directly accessible from the ocean. It is a well protected harbour and could almost be used to wait out a tropical storm. The mooring are better for the coral ecosystem because anchors tend to damage the coral. The two sisters of the family each have their own working life cut out for them with their husbands and children. One sister has a small pearl operation and sends fish to nearby Apataki for export, and the other sends fish to Fakarava, raises pigs and chicken, and has a small pension. For us is was astonishing how many fish they caught each week; we were sceptical about how long they will be able to continue this until they have overfished. They mostly set up fish traps, but in the process of trapping the parrot fish, many of the other fish are killed as well. For them they simply supply the fish to meet the high demand for poisson cru which is a specialty of French Polynesia.
Toau is one of those islands where cruisers tend to loose track of time and a proposed week stay soon turns into a month. This however could not happen to us because my grandparents are leaving soon on a plane from Rangiroa, but we stayed as long as we could. When we first arrived there were nine boats in total, but by the end we were the only ones for the last few days of our stay. They cooked food for us and it was spectacular. The sister who has the pension had three close to us in age so it was nice to meet them. We have had so little contact with people our age because the majority go to the Society islands, especially Tahiti for school. Leaving Toau was quite hard because all of us enjoyed the island.
The sail to Rangiroa was a typical Tuamotu sail for us; we always seem to leave when there is barely any wind. Such is life! Rangiroa is the biggest atoll of the Tuamotus and it has three passes but they are only on one end of the lagoon, which is 45 nautical miles long. When we came in the pass there was some wave action and we were greeted by a pod of bottlenose dolphins who had come to play in tidal swells of the pass. They were overjoyed to ride on our bow wave. There were some small boats from the hotel with passengers who had come to see the dolphins and they got a great show because of our boat. The dolphins were jumping out of the water and then quickly slapping there tails on the surface of the water, something we had never seen before. The highlight was when three or four of them did this simultaneously. Dolphins are always overjoyed to see a boat in the water. They suddenly show up near your bow, give a show, and then leave as quickly as they came. Some pods stay longer than others, often depending on if they have turned out of their way to meet you or not. It's unthinkable how someone could want to hunt them because they are always so happy to come into contact with humans.
Toau is one of those islands where cruisers tend to loose track of time and a proposed week stay soon turns into a month. This however could not happen to us because my grandparents are leaving soon on a plane from Rangiroa, but we stayed as long as we could. When we first arrived there were nine boats in total, but by the end we were the only ones for the last few days of our stay. They cooked food for us and it was spectacular. The sister who has the pension had three close to us in age so it was nice to meet them. We have had so little contact with people our age because the majority go to the Society islands, especially Tahiti for school. Leaving Toau was quite hard because all of us enjoyed the island.
The sail to Rangiroa was a typical Tuamotu sail for us; we always seem to leave when there is barely any wind. Such is life! Rangiroa is the biggest atoll of the Tuamotus and it has three passes but they are only on one end of the lagoon, which is 45 nautical miles long. When we came in the pass there was some wave action and we were greeted by a pod of bottlenose dolphins who had come to play in tidal swells of the pass. They were overjoyed to ride on our bow wave. There were some small boats from the hotel with passengers who had come to see the dolphins and they got a great show because of our boat. The dolphins were jumping out of the water and then quickly slapping there tails on the surface of the water, something we had never seen before. The highlight was when three or four of them did this simultaneously. Dolphins are always overjoyed to see a boat in the water. They suddenly show up near your bow, give a show, and then leave as quickly as they came. Some pods stay longer than others, often depending on if they have turned out of their way to meet you or not. It's unthinkable how someone could want to hunt them because they are always so happy to come into contact with humans.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A Fiasco in Papeete - October 16, 2007
So we had along, unplanned stay on the island of Makemo. We met an extremely nice family there, and I also had some medical issues, but I'll explain that later. Right now we are in Tahanea, but we have had rainy and stormy weather for a good five days; an occluded front is passing through. My mom's 51st birthday was the on the 13th, my grandmother's 84 was on the 4th, today is my grandparent's 59 anniversary, and tomorrow is by brother's 22nd birthday. October is a full month. Makemo is a beautiful island but we had to keep going.
During our stay my brother and I decided to get SCUBA certified in Makemo. The instructor spoke broken English so most of it was watch and learn experience rather that aural explanations. Anyways, our first day of diving was fine, only in about 15 feet of water. I got a headache underwater and when the class was over and we had surfaced it really began to pound. I usually do not get headaches, but it subsided after about 45 minutes. The next day as soon as I went into the water my head started to pound again. It was started again later on by simply putting my head underwater. Then I went to snorkel and dove down, but when I surfaced I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I could swim back to the boat. Nobody was in the cockpit and the engine was on, but I managed to swim to the kayak tied to the stern. That was the worst pain I have ever been in, much more painful that breaking a bone, and I have had plenty of that. That night, I finally slept after 5 melatonin and 10 vikodin in 8 hours. The next day we went into the tiny clinic on the island and later took the flight to Papeete, Tahiti. There I went to the emergency room. After a long wait I was finally seen, but the state of the hospital facility was not encouraging. I had a CT scan, which came back negative. The doctor was not satisfied so she performed a Lumbar puncture; she drew spinal fluid from between two lower back vertebrae. The fluid was clear, no sign of blood which ruled out hemorrhaging or meningitis. After that procedure I had to lie horizontal for twelve hours so I spent the night in the hospital. I had a MRI the next day that was a weird experience. It is this huge machine that basically makes all kinds of loud noises at you. That was also negative, so the neurologists were left with the diagnosis of a migraine. It was the first of my life and hopefully the last. It was reassuring however run down the building was, the hospital in Papeete was first rate care, because it is the only place in the middle of the Pacific for medical emergencies. The strangest part of my migrain was that it would get incredibly intense and then lessen but not go away. Even after leaving the hospital, I got the sharp pain a few more times. I saw a homeopath/acupuncturist in Papeete before we flew back, and he told me that I needed to drink more. At that point I had taken a beta-blocker because my mom wanted to see if my headache had anything to do with the fact that I had recently taken some for my fast heart. Since I didn't need it, my heart rate was down to 38 or 40 so it only made my headache worse, but the beta-blockers wore off.
When we got back to Makemo we found out that Lee Wood, my mom's friend and my former pre-school teacher had decided that life on a boat was not suited for her. Titou also went home so no it is only seven of us and my grandparents leave in early November.
We moved anchorage to the old village on the other end of the island and spent a few days there. We decided to do a drift dive in the pass one day because we had been told that it was spectacular. My parents, my grandfather and I went to go snorkel and we completed two drifts. Then my dad wanted to go check out the other side of the pass in the dinghy, so my grandfather went with him and my mom and I stayed to snorkel. We had seen some sharks in the pass but they were all they way on the bottom in forty-feet of water. We swam into the shallower areas into less that ten feet. We saw some black tip reef sharks, but we have become used to those. Then something caught my eye, I called to my mom to alert her; there was a 12 foot lemon shark swimming in about 4 feet of water. Lemons are known to be aggressive and our whole philosophy had been that we would be safe in shallow water. That shark turned over everything. There we were stuck without a dinghy, but the shark moved on and my dad ended up coming back soon thereafter.
After the storm set in, we decided to leave our relatively unprotected anchorage for Tahanea. It was a short six-hour sail because we were doing a consistent eight or nine knots. Now we have been stuck with rain for a while but we plan on continuing to Fakarava shortly.
Now we have a new way of updating the blog so I should be more reliable and consistent.
Best wishes,
Giovanni
During our stay my brother and I decided to get SCUBA certified in Makemo. The instructor spoke broken English so most of it was watch and learn experience rather that aural explanations. Anyways, our first day of diving was fine, only in about 15 feet of water. I got a headache underwater and when the class was over and we had surfaced it really began to pound. I usually do not get headaches, but it subsided after about 45 minutes. The next day as soon as I went into the water my head started to pound again. It was started again later on by simply putting my head underwater. Then I went to snorkel and dove down, but when I surfaced I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I could swim back to the boat. Nobody was in the cockpit and the engine was on, but I managed to swim to the kayak tied to the stern. That was the worst pain I have ever been in, much more painful that breaking a bone, and I have had plenty of that. That night, I finally slept after 5 melatonin and 10 vikodin in 8 hours. The next day we went into the tiny clinic on the island and later took the flight to Papeete, Tahiti. There I went to the emergency room. After a long wait I was finally seen, but the state of the hospital facility was not encouraging. I had a CT scan, which came back negative. The doctor was not satisfied so she performed a Lumbar puncture; she drew spinal fluid from between two lower back vertebrae. The fluid was clear, no sign of blood which ruled out hemorrhaging or meningitis. After that procedure I had to lie horizontal for twelve hours so I spent the night in the hospital. I had a MRI the next day that was a weird experience. It is this huge machine that basically makes all kinds of loud noises at you. That was also negative, so the neurologists were left with the diagnosis of a migraine. It was the first of my life and hopefully the last. It was reassuring however run down the building was, the hospital in Papeete was first rate care, because it is the only place in the middle of the Pacific for medical emergencies. The strangest part of my migrain was that it would get incredibly intense and then lessen but not go away. Even after leaving the hospital, I got the sharp pain a few more times. I saw a homeopath/acupuncturist in Papeete before we flew back, and he told me that I needed to drink more. At that point I had taken a beta-blocker because my mom wanted to see if my headache had anything to do with the fact that I had recently taken some for my fast heart. Since I didn't need it, my heart rate was down to 38 or 40 so it only made my headache worse, but the beta-blockers wore off.
When we got back to Makemo we found out that Lee Wood, my mom's friend and my former pre-school teacher had decided that life on a boat was not suited for her. Titou also went home so no it is only seven of us and my grandparents leave in early November.
We moved anchorage to the old village on the other end of the island and spent a few days there. We decided to do a drift dive in the pass one day because we had been told that it was spectacular. My parents, my grandfather and I went to go snorkel and we completed two drifts. Then my dad wanted to go check out the other side of the pass in the dinghy, so my grandfather went with him and my mom and I stayed to snorkel. We had seen some sharks in the pass but they were all they way on the bottom in forty-feet of water. We swam into the shallower areas into less that ten feet. We saw some black tip reef sharks, but we have become used to those. Then something caught my eye, I called to my mom to alert her; there was a 12 foot lemon shark swimming in about 4 feet of water. Lemons are known to be aggressive and our whole philosophy had been that we would be safe in shallow water. That shark turned over everything. There we were stuck without a dinghy, but the shark moved on and my dad ended up coming back soon thereafter.
After the storm set in, we decided to leave our relatively unprotected anchorage for Tahanea. It was a short six-hour sail because we were doing a consistent eight or nine knots. Now we have been stuck with rain for a while but we plan on continuing to Fakarava shortly.
Now we have a new way of updating the blog so I should be more reliable and consistent.
Best wishes,
Giovanni
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
A Long-Awaited Update - September 24, 2007
We spent a little more than a month in the Marquesas Islands. On the North side of Nuku Hiva we stayed in the spectacular place called Anaho Bay. In the next bay over, Hatiheu, we met really warm people and we got to visit some of the old archaeological sites of the island. We returned to Taiohae after Nico and Steve left from Hatiheu and re-provisioned. After a few days there, we left for the island of Ua Pou. It was only a day sail to the South with beautiful weather.
On Ua Pou we anchored in two different bays, Hakahetau and Hakamaii. The people in the second town were very nice. We were pressed for time because we have to be in Tahiti before hurricane season comes in mid-November, so we left for Tahuata, again heading farther South. On account of winds, we continued beating to the most Southern Marquesas Island, Fatu Hiva. There we stayed in the beautiful Hanavave Bay. It was originally called the Bay of Penises because of phallic rock spires that adorn the hillsides but the name was changed to bay of virgins by adding an e to the French name. We hiked to a waterfall there, which was about 120 feet tall and swam in its deep pool. We saw a whole bunch of waterfalls on Nuku Hiva but we didn't hike to any; this was our first. We then sailed over to the town of Omoa where we were able to buy some tapas, which are pounded tree bark that has been painted with traditional designs using natural ink. There we met a woman who my dad had taken a picture of on his last trip. He and his brother had been hiking over the hill from Hanavave to Omoa and crossed paths with a group of four women about their own age. The woman we met was the only one of the four still living on the island and she could hardly believe it. In Omoa we also met a dentist who lives on Hiva Oa and a schoolteacher from Papeete.
We left for Hiva Oa after a few days. We visited the main town of Atuona mainly for supplies. The dentist we had met, Alex, and his wife Linnea were welcoming and took us around the island. Linnea is part Finnish so it was great for her to meet my grandfather who is Estonian.
Our next stop was in Tahuata, which is a small island only about five miles from Hiva Oa. We had heard that it is exceptionally beautiful and furthermore we had the names of two bone carvers who live there. We anchored in three different bays and restocked on fruit before we set sail again. The last of the three bays was Hapatoni where we met the bone carver Cyril. He had stunning pieces, the best we had seen, and the neighboring bay was home to dolphins so we stayed for a few days. We saw the dolphins but never got a chance to swim with them. The one time we went over the water was filled with jellyfish so we got in and right back out quickly. We then left for the Tuamotu Archipelago.
The Tuamotu islands are South of the Marquesas and East of Tahiti. French Polynesia is essentially split up into five groups of islands: the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, the Society Islands, Gambier, and the Australs. We only plan on visiting the first three groups however. The Marquesas are steep and volcanic, much like Hawaii, while the Tuamotus are low atolls, only small, palm covered, sandy islands. Each atoll consists of many motus, or small islands, surrounding an inner lagoon, protected from the ocean by a reef. The Society Islands, which include Tahiti, are a mixture of the two, they are tall and mountainous, but have an inner lagoon that is protected by a large reef.
Our first stop was the island of Raroia. We arrived on September 17th and stayed for a few days. The snorkeling was beautiful but the multitude of sharks was a little off putting. The town there was small but we did get ice cream one day at the little store, but when we went back it was all gone, along with the wine on the shelf that we were going to buy. We left on the 21st for Makemo. It was an overnight sail, but the wind was completely dead so we motored the whole way; we had to be in Makemo by the 23rd because my grandmother was arriving. Coming in was the first time I was on the helm for a pass and it was not so easy. We always have someone stationed up at the first set of spreaders for a better vantage point. The town here is a bit bigger than Raroia and there is a dive shop so hopefully I can get scuba certified. My grandmother arrived along with Titou, a family friend who was on Rapture for part of the trip 30 years ago. My grandmother brought a lot of stuff from home, books, sheets, rope, a ham radio, just to name a few.
We have all read a ton of books, so if you're looking for a good book just ask. It is truly amazing how time gets eaten away on a boat, especially when you are cooking, cleaning, reading, going to buy groceries, and constantly fixing things on the boat. Small tasks become much larger ones. It's surprising that you never really get bored. I hope everyone back home is doing well, to those who have already started school, I wish you the best.
Giovanni
On Ua Pou we anchored in two different bays, Hakahetau and Hakamaii. The people in the second town were very nice. We were pressed for time because we have to be in Tahiti before hurricane season comes in mid-November, so we left for Tahuata, again heading farther South. On account of winds, we continued beating to the most Southern Marquesas Island, Fatu Hiva. There we stayed in the beautiful Hanavave Bay. It was originally called the Bay of Penises because of phallic rock spires that adorn the hillsides but the name was changed to bay of virgins by adding an e to the French name. We hiked to a waterfall there, which was about 120 feet tall and swam in its deep pool. We saw a whole bunch of waterfalls on Nuku Hiva but we didn't hike to any; this was our first. We then sailed over to the town of Omoa where we were able to buy some tapas, which are pounded tree bark that has been painted with traditional designs using natural ink. There we met a woman who my dad had taken a picture of on his last trip. He and his brother had been hiking over the hill from Hanavave to Omoa and crossed paths with a group of four women about their own age. The woman we met was the only one of the four still living on the island and she could hardly believe it. In Omoa we also met a dentist who lives on Hiva Oa and a schoolteacher from Papeete.
We left for Hiva Oa after a few days. We visited the main town of Atuona mainly for supplies. The dentist we had met, Alex, and his wife Linnea were welcoming and took us around the island. Linnea is part Finnish so it was great for her to meet my grandfather who is Estonian.
Our next stop was in Tahuata, which is a small island only about five miles from Hiva Oa. We had heard that it is exceptionally beautiful and furthermore we had the names of two bone carvers who live there. We anchored in three different bays and restocked on fruit before we set sail again. The last of the three bays was Hapatoni where we met the bone carver Cyril. He had stunning pieces, the best we had seen, and the neighboring bay was home to dolphins so we stayed for a few days. We saw the dolphins but never got a chance to swim with them. The one time we went over the water was filled with jellyfish so we got in and right back out quickly. We then left for the Tuamotu Archipelago.
The Tuamotu islands are South of the Marquesas and East of Tahiti. French Polynesia is essentially split up into five groups of islands: the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, the Society Islands, Gambier, and the Australs. We only plan on visiting the first three groups however. The Marquesas are steep and volcanic, much like Hawaii, while the Tuamotus are low atolls, only small, palm covered, sandy islands. Each atoll consists of many motus, or small islands, surrounding an inner lagoon, protected from the ocean by a reef. The Society Islands, which include Tahiti, are a mixture of the two, they are tall and mountainous, but have an inner lagoon that is protected by a large reef.
Our first stop was the island of Raroia. We arrived on September 17th and stayed for a few days. The snorkeling was beautiful but the multitude of sharks was a little off putting. The town there was small but we did get ice cream one day at the little store, but when we went back it was all gone, along with the wine on the shelf that we were going to buy. We left on the 21st for Makemo. It was an overnight sail, but the wind was completely dead so we motored the whole way; we had to be in Makemo by the 23rd because my grandmother was arriving. Coming in was the first time I was on the helm for a pass and it was not so easy. We always have someone stationed up at the first set of spreaders for a better vantage point. The town here is a bit bigger than Raroia and there is a dive shop so hopefully I can get scuba certified. My grandmother arrived along with Titou, a family friend who was on Rapture for part of the trip 30 years ago. My grandmother brought a lot of stuff from home, books, sheets, rope, a ham radio, just to name a few.
We have all read a ton of books, so if you're looking for a good book just ask. It is truly amazing how time gets eaten away on a boat, especially when you are cooking, cleaning, reading, going to buy groceries, and constantly fixing things on the boat. Small tasks become much larger ones. It's surprising that you never really get bored. I hope everyone back home is doing well, to those who have already started school, I wish you the best.
Giovanni
Friday, August 10, 2007
We made it!
Our voyage began on July 16th. We hesitated to depart because we could not find our great circle chart of our trip from San Francisco to the Marquesas, but we ended up making do without it. We took off at around 5:30 am and caught the ebb tide. By the time I was fully awake we were already out the gate; it was a quick farewell. We had a beautiful first day at sea, marked by many encounters with sea life. We saw humpback whales breaching and slapping their pectoral fins on the surface of the water and a pod of dolphins came to play in our bow wave.
We headed off the coast of California, but pretty quickly started South. The winds were light as soon as we left the San Francisco Bay and remained so until just above the equator. This made for a much longer trip than we had intended. We arrived in the Marquesas early on August 8th after 24 days at Sea.
The experience of being on a boat with no land, only water in sight is quite revealing. I got used to it, but when we decided to swim for the first time, even though the winds were almost dead and the boat was going around 1 to 3 knots as soon as I jumped in the water from midship, my only focus was on the rope dragging behind the boat. The speed of the boat is deceiving. The water is so crystalline blue it is absolutely beautiful. Nevertheless it is scary. With our nighttime watches your sleep schedules were not so regular but we got used to it after a while. Nine people, trapped on a boat for three weeks breeds tension. The last few days were far from archetypal examples of cultured compromise. It was palpable that for everyone's well being, we needed land. It came.
It was truly amazing how much life is visible in the middle of the ocean. We were visited by dolphins numerous times, many of which occurred during my nighttime watches. We almost always saw bird life, and flying fish never ceased coming out of the water, frightened by the vibrations of our boat. We caught about six or seven fish on the trip. The ocean is certainly not dead, no matter how far from land you are.
We experienced some difficulties aboard. The inverter for the refrigerator draws so much power that we finally figured out that we would have to periodically turn it on throughout the course of the day because otherwise it drained our batteries. Our electronic charts on the computer took time for us to get them working, but we succeeded. We tore the head of our jib because we had a lightweight drifter up in the main track and we wanted to put up a double head rig, so we hoisted our main jib. However, the luff on the drifter was much shorter than the other jib, but we weren't aware of that, so we kept raising the sail and tore off the track tape as we pulled it past the head of the other sail. We could only blame ourselves. After a night of restitching the sail is was back in commission. Throughout the trip we ate extremely well, so that was a big plus. We anticipated a 15 day trip, but despite the extension due to light winds we had plenty of food. When we finally spotted land it was early in the morning and the islands were so picturesque. The Marquesas are volcanic islands with dramatic rocky cliffs and mountains contrasted by lush green foliage. We came into Taiohae Bay on the island of Nuku Hiva. We were so excited to see land. As soon as we went ashore, we pigged out on fresh fruit. We now have internet access so now I am updating the blog.
Giovanni
We headed off the coast of California, but pretty quickly started South. The winds were light as soon as we left the San Francisco Bay and remained so until just above the equator. This made for a much longer trip than we had intended. We arrived in the Marquesas early on August 8th after 24 days at Sea.
The experience of being on a boat with no land, only water in sight is quite revealing. I got used to it, but when we decided to swim for the first time, even though the winds were almost dead and the boat was going around 1 to 3 knots as soon as I jumped in the water from midship, my only focus was on the rope dragging behind the boat. The speed of the boat is deceiving. The water is so crystalline blue it is absolutely beautiful. Nevertheless it is scary. With our nighttime watches your sleep schedules were not so regular but we got used to it after a while. Nine people, trapped on a boat for three weeks breeds tension. The last few days were far from archetypal examples of cultured compromise. It was palpable that for everyone's well being, we needed land. It came.
It was truly amazing how much life is visible in the middle of the ocean. We were visited by dolphins numerous times, many of which occurred during my nighttime watches. We almost always saw bird life, and flying fish never ceased coming out of the water, frightened by the vibrations of our boat. We caught about six or seven fish on the trip. The ocean is certainly not dead, no matter how far from land you are.
We experienced some difficulties aboard. The inverter for the refrigerator draws so much power that we finally figured out that we would have to periodically turn it on throughout the course of the day because otherwise it drained our batteries. Our electronic charts on the computer took time for us to get them working, but we succeeded. We tore the head of our jib because we had a lightweight drifter up in the main track and we wanted to put up a double head rig, so we hoisted our main jib. However, the luff on the drifter was much shorter than the other jib, but we weren't aware of that, so we kept raising the sail and tore off the track tape as we pulled it past the head of the other sail. We could only blame ourselves. After a night of restitching the sail is was back in commission. Throughout the trip we ate extremely well, so that was a big plus. We anticipated a 15 day trip, but despite the extension due to light winds we had plenty of food. When we finally spotted land it was early in the morning and the islands were so picturesque. The Marquesas are volcanic islands with dramatic rocky cliffs and mountains contrasted by lush green foliage. We came into Taiohae Bay on the island of Nuku Hiva. We were so excited to see land. As soon as we went ashore, we pigged out on fresh fruit. We now have internet access so now I am updating the blog.
Giovanni
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Preparing for a Journey
My family purchased our boat Haapsalu last October and ever since then we have been retrofitting her for an ocean crossing and a year of cruising. We have reconfigured some of the interior, installed electronics for navigation, taken the mast off and put it back on for rigging, and redesigned the dogger and bimini, among many other things. Finally, after posponig our departure date a few times, we are running headlong for the end of our preparations. It has been intense. Right now most of our personal belongings are on the boat stowed away, but the fresh food and well as some other things remain to be packed in.
Just yesterday the whole crew was interviewed by the Maring Independent Journal and our story appeared on the front page today http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_6363931. It was reported that we are leaving this weekend so we better make the deadline; we plan to leave Sunday morning.
We will cross from San Fancisco to the Marquesas. (photo is courtesy of the Marin Independent Journal)
Giovanni
Midlife Musings
I am fifty years old and about to embark on the first real adventure of my life. This voyage by sailboat across the Pacific Ocean truly brings me face to face with the unknown, also with my truest self. My husband gifted me with a massage yesterday and when Brian (he with the gift of healing in his hands) asked me what I hoped to gain on this journey, I sighed heavily, remembering the cross words that had just passed from me to my sons. The ache of the memory cleared my vision, and I answered, "When you are sailing, the superficial details of life are left in your wake, the sun sets on the horizon and you come face to face with yourself. When that mirror is held before my gaze, I want to improve the view, get a reflection I can live with."
This sailing adventure began 24 years ago at my friend Catherine's wedding. From my very first gaze, when he was playing with a child on the church steps, until the moment of our introduction, he captivated and intrigued me. When we began the simple conversation born of a desire to know another, I discovered that he either told a totally convincing lie filled with countless exciting details or truly he had circumnavigated the globe by sail boat. As I kept firing definitive piercing questions about his journey he continued to sail beyond me with a truth I could only be in awe of. As we continued our courtship, I knew that this man would both become my husband and one day return to his first love, the sea. When I spoke my wedding vows, hidden between the carefully written lines was my vow to be my captain's first mate. My watch as first mate begins tomorrow, 5:16 am, on a strongly ebbing tide of 5.5 knots.
Our vessel Haapsalu will sail beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on that ebbing tide. She has been ours since October and during these past nine months, we have scoured her from stem to stern and keel bottom to masthead windvane. She has undergone a major transformation, yet we have not sailed her with the kind of frequency we dreamt about. Then again, whenever we do sail, we are so completely steady and safe on whatever tack we find ourselves, we feel good to go. Haapsalu is a fine sailing boat and our shake-down cruise to Drakes Bay informed us that our vessel is fittingly named and deserving of her strong heritage. Haapsalu, Estonia, is the town where my husband's father spent his youthful summers sailing on the Baltic Sea. Eventually my father-in-law utilized his seafaring knowledge to sail his way to freedom from the Communist occupation of the Soviet Union, first to Sweden and then to the USA. His family however was not so blessed, and thus became the concept that sailing is a means to becoming a free human being. Paul Saarman is as free of the human constraints of being born into a physical body as anyone I have ever met. He joins us on this voyage and we dedicate our ability to say "YES!" to such an adventure to him.
Our crew of consists of Paul Saarman, our elder and wiser, my husband Jeff Saarman, the admiral I admire, our two sons, David and Giovanni, Jeff's brother, Steve, together with his two children, Stephanie and Nicolas, as well as our good friend and the pre-school teacher of our two sons, Lee Wood. Each of us has chosen this voyage and we are in the final frantic steps of preparation. The closer we get to embarking the less I am enjoying that "view" of myself, although I had become decently enthralled with the reflection during earlier phases of preparation.
It MUST be time to cast off the lines and set sail. But first I must give a kiss to Chuck who sold us this fine vessel, Ari who makes her buzz with the information a modern sailor is blessed to be able to utilize, and Jason, man of all our dreams, who fine-tuned our rig for the best of all possible sails. We also awknowledge Smitty who made Haapsalu stand out in paint, Richard, our guy Friday, engine Chet, David of the striped awning and ceiling carpet, refrigerator Carl as well as info-tec Karl, electric Ryan, which way is North Hal, wind in your Monitor Tim, Clay of all trades, Metal John, Chris and everyone else at Svendson's, all the folks at McGrath Yachts, and Frank.
Teresa
This sailing adventure began 24 years ago at my friend Catherine's wedding. From my very first gaze, when he was playing with a child on the church steps, until the moment of our introduction, he captivated and intrigued me. When we began the simple conversation born of a desire to know another, I discovered that he either told a totally convincing lie filled with countless exciting details or truly he had circumnavigated the globe by sail boat. As I kept firing definitive piercing questions about his journey he continued to sail beyond me with a truth I could only be in awe of. As we continued our courtship, I knew that this man would both become my husband and one day return to his first love, the sea. When I spoke my wedding vows, hidden between the carefully written lines was my vow to be my captain's first mate. My watch as first mate begins tomorrow, 5:16 am, on a strongly ebbing tide of 5.5 knots.
Our vessel Haapsalu will sail beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on that ebbing tide. She has been ours since October and during these past nine months, we have scoured her from stem to stern and keel bottom to masthead windvane. She has undergone a major transformation, yet we have not sailed her with the kind of frequency we dreamt about. Then again, whenever we do sail, we are so completely steady and safe on whatever tack we find ourselves, we feel good to go. Haapsalu is a fine sailing boat and our shake-down cruise to Drakes Bay informed us that our vessel is fittingly named and deserving of her strong heritage. Haapsalu, Estonia, is the town where my husband's father spent his youthful summers sailing on the Baltic Sea. Eventually my father-in-law utilized his seafaring knowledge to sail his way to freedom from the Communist occupation of the Soviet Union, first to Sweden and then to the USA. His family however was not so blessed, and thus became the concept that sailing is a means to becoming a free human being. Paul Saarman is as free of the human constraints of being born into a physical body as anyone I have ever met. He joins us on this voyage and we dedicate our ability to say "YES!" to such an adventure to him.
Our crew of consists of Paul Saarman, our elder and wiser, my husband Jeff Saarman, the admiral I admire, our two sons, David and Giovanni, Jeff's brother, Steve, together with his two children, Stephanie and Nicolas, as well as our good friend and the pre-school teacher of our two sons, Lee Wood. Each of us has chosen this voyage and we are in the final frantic steps of preparation. The closer we get to embarking the less I am enjoying that "view" of myself, although I had become decently enthralled with the reflection during earlier phases of preparation.
It MUST be time to cast off the lines and set sail. But first I must give a kiss to Chuck who sold us this fine vessel, Ari who makes her buzz with the information a modern sailor is blessed to be able to utilize, and Jason, man of all our dreams, who fine-tuned our rig for the best of all possible sails. We also awknowledge Smitty who made Haapsalu stand out in paint, Richard, our guy Friday, engine Chet, David of the striped awning and ceiling carpet, refrigerator Carl as well as info-tec Karl, electric Ryan, which way is North Hal, wind in your Monitor Tim, Clay of all trades, Metal John, Chris and everyone else at Svendson's, all the folks at McGrath Yachts, and Frank.
Teresa
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
