First Week in Tahiti!

 

A view from Pahto looking at the marina office/restaurant and the hillside of Punaauia.

 

Hello and Merry Christmas from Tahiti!  We’ve been stationed in Punaauia (the actual town that Marina Taina is in) for a little over a week now and yep, still loving it!  Our days basically consist of waking up with the sun, usually around 6:30am (don’t ask me how this happens.  It must be like some island time or my body just knows it doesn’t have to go to work so waking up early is okay, because normally I’m sleeping until the last minute and that is never 6:30.)  We do some reading or guitar playing, then eventually make our way to shore to get some stores for the day and ice cream and possibly, okay probably beer, then head back to the boat where we go swimming or snorkeling or do some boat work.  It is a pretty strenuous situation really.  Very stressful!  We have gone into Papeete a few times.  It is about a 15 minute bus ride that picks us up right outside of the marine and drops us off right in downtown on the waterfront.  I don’t know if it is like this year round because it is Christmas right now, but there are lots of street venders selling goods plus the big market that sells the daily produce and fish.  We like to check that out every time that we head to town.  Kevin especially likes to take a look at the fish.  It is a little difficult to get to good places to go hiking or sight seeing without either hiring a guide or renting a car so we haven’t been able to do much of that.  Which is a bummer because we both love to hike and I know the island is beautiful.  Kevin’s dad, Dave, is coming on the 27th for 2 weeks so we plan on renting a car when he is here and doing a little more of the sight seeing then.

To update our boat situation.  We are batting about 500 with regards to the repairs that needed to be fixed.  Good news is we finally have some power.  We were able to fix the solar panels.  Kevin took the electrical boxed apart and two of the three had water in them and corrosion.  After we got them dried out and new connections/fuses in place we can finally do things like turn on the lights at night without having to run the motor or worry about draining the batteries.  We, and by we I of course mean Kevin because I have no idea about these sorts of things, are pretty sure we got the tiller/rudder problem figured out.  We can now successfully go in reverse without having to throw up sails or break out the oars!  And our final and arguably, depending on who you ask, most exciting news is that Kevin fixed his bear clippers!!  We thought that we had the single sideband working and tuning property but a few days later it was giving us fits again, so not sure about that, and our wind generator still isn’t working.  We know what part of the problem is, but the other part is hiding within the casing and we haven’t been able to get that open yet. 

A few Pictures from our passage from Napier to Tahiti.

Pahto crew right before setting sail.
Looking back at Napier as we sail into the sunset, or as the case may be the afternoon sun!
Pete, a friend we met at the Napier sailing club, sailed out of the harbor with us for the first few hours!
Another shot of Pete and his boat.
Cape Kidnappers, the last piece of land we would see until we reached the South Pacific.
The first fish, an albacore tuna, we caught on our passage.  Perfect size for a small crew and a boat with no refrigeration. 
Shower Day!
Kevin enjoying his shower!! 
Kevin enjoying one of the few nice days we had at sea.
Our friend, Wild Captain Ron, who spent a few days with us resting his feathers.
One of the few days we were able to actually do some cooking.  Pretty sure this was pancake day!
a beautiful sunset at sea just a few hundred miles south of Tahiti.
A storm system off the starboard provided us with a really gorgeous rainbow. 

Bonjour from Tahiti!

Bonjour from Tahiti!  So we got a little off course from our original plans of heading to Chile, but here we are!  And personally I’m enjoying every minute of the sunshine and crystal clear warm water!  We arrived on Sunday just after dark, spent that whole night pulling watches until daylight so we could motor into the lagoon.  We dropped anchor in front of Marina Taina around 6:30am, met with the agent who is helping us check in and out of the country and were eating ice cream by 11am!  The first time in many years I was thankful and excited for a McDonalds, yummm  McFlurry! Marine Taina is about 7 miles down the coast from the city of Papeete.  The marina conveniently boasts TWO bars (well restaurants really, but all we noticed was the tap behind the bar) which we made good use of,  and laundry services (equally as important!) It is also within walking distance of the Mcdonalds and grocery stores.  Since all of French Polynesia speaks well, French I have gotten to put my extremely rusty French speaking skills to the test.  Really not working out as well as I would like, but much better than expected. We plan on taking the next few days to get the boat sorted out and cleaned from our passage before we really start exploring the island.  The only real damper on spending so much time in the tropics is no amount of sunscreen can save me from the sunburn I’m currently sporting.  Kevin tans, I turn red, okay REALLY red.

Although not everything that could have gone wrong on our passage did, but it sure felt like it.  Note: Mom if you are reading this you might want to scroll through this paragraph. 

Passage notes: I will start with the reason we aborted our mission to Chile. After leaving New Zealand, we had great sailing for 2 days I think, then we got gales, one direction then a 12 hour break, and then from another direction. After about 10 days of this a significant amount of free-play began to develop between the rudder and tiller. About all we could really do was monitor the situation, which after every gale was a little bit worse.  Knowing the long passage to Chile would be gales as often as not, and because the situation was deteriorating during every gale we decided it would be best to search out lighter air, and a port where we can make any repairs that may be necessary.  That is the big issue, we are currently working on that problem and hoping it doesn’t cost too much! Now the rest of the casualty list: solar panels, wind generator, freshwater pump, single sideband radio,  even my hair clippers quit! The fridge quit, oh wait, we didn’t have one of those when we left new Zealand, damn. While drifting around waiting for daylight and contemplating the list of things that broke in a few short weeks I was thankful to be somewhere that would have all the items necessary to make repairs, and was happy to know that nothing more should break in the mile between the pass and where we anchored. That is until we dropped the anchor, shift into reverse, pay out rode…oh wait, reverse? What happened, we’re not going backwards, Shit. Launch dinghy, tow boat backwards to set anchor, done. Our electrical problems were all caused by corrosion, which has to happen eventually on a small boat, it just happened all at once to us, but everything can be fixed. We will be working on those items, and enjoying Tahiti since we are here. We will not be sailing for Chile this season, by the time we make all our repairs, we will be too late in the season to actually get to Chile and have any time to cruise. The good news is that I don’t think it is going anywhere, so we will be able to sail there another time.

It might sound like the passage from hell, and in some regards it was, but overall we had a good time. We had a few days of nice weather that we could enjoy being outside, and were going in the right direction. We even caught a few fish, on all 4 days I was able to even attempt fishing! The first one was a nice Albacore. We had been becalmed overnight, and in the morning there was a school of baitfish under the boat, which soon became a school of albacore. Next fish was a nice mahimahi that hit late in the evening, and while it was fun to catch, and it was a beautiful fish we couldn’t be bothered to clean a fish in the dark, and try and preserve it somehow. We prefer to keep only meal sized fish! The third and last fish was also a mahimahi, but this one was really big, and we quick-released him to save having a monster fish thrashing around the cockpit. So given the conditions we had we were happy to catch a few fish, which was more than we expected. The new wind vane performed as well as we had hoped for, but as the free-play problem increased the wind vane performance decreased, but there wasn’t anything we could do about that. We saw and heard no other traffic during our passage, but we passed the island of Rurutu in the Austral group, and while we didn’t get too close we did enjoy the view of a beautiful tropical island for the day.  Another couple of thousand miles have now passed under our keel, and we are happy to have arrived safely somewhere!(Tahiti isn’t the worst place in the world to be stuck in)

The most amazing thing happened during Tom and Liz's trip to California!

On a clear day, you can see.....

amazing things!

Big Day for the Staffords!

This is Liz- reporting in for Kevin and Katie...
Today, December 4, was a huge day on board the Pahto.  First of all, the winds finally died down.  Second, they dined on chicken (OK, it was out of a can) and  corn and peas (OK they had to be rehydrated) for dinner.  And, finally, and best of all- they both TOOK SHOWERS!!!!  Life doesn't get much better than that- at least from their current perspective out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!
The past 3-4 days have slowed their forward progress quite a bit.  The winds were generally coming out of the east- not at all what they needed or wanted.  All they could do was to lower the sails and put out the sea anchor- and ride it out.  But at least they were able to catch up on some sleep!
Getting those calls when the weather is rough is not easy.  We are just so thankful for the SAT phone- so that we can talk to them even in those "not great" sailing times.  They still are happy to be out there- even when the weather and sailing gets challenging.  And knowing that Kevin is so solid in his sailing knowledge and skills and confidence helps a lot!
Catch you at the next latitude and longitude.

Liz's Post Thanksgiving post

We got a "Happy Thanksgiving" call from Katie and Kevin just before sitting down for our turkey dinner.  So good to hear from them.  They had gone through a period of relative calm- which was good for getting out on deck, cooking some food, and, most importantly- taking a shower!  However, not much wind= not much progress. 

Yesterday, November 26, we got another call.  Tom answered the phone.  "I have to talk to Mom," Katie proclaimed.  Tom handed me the phone.  Katie began the conversation with "Mom, I have a question."  With those 5 words, my heart always skips a beat.  (My mind races, expecting the question to be something like:  "What should I do if I cannot find Kevin?" or "How should I treat a severe sunburn?" or maybe  "How do you cook a 400 lb tuna?")  I take a deep breath and respond, "OK, what is your question?"  Here it is.  This is what she called to ask from the middle of the Pacific Ocean........."Can you give me the recipe for chocolate chip cookies?"  After I let out a sigh of relief and rattled off the recipe, I asked her how she planned to bake those cookies.  As it turns out, she did not plan to bake them at all.  They were going to celebrate the holiday with a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough!

Then, with another gale starting to hit the boat, we hung up.  Here is hoping that they did not get sick!

Catch you at another lat/long coordinate....

K & K's Pre-Thanksgiving post

To all those who might be wondering about the fate of your seagoing friends:

   As you know, we departed Napier with a strong northerly, which soon shifted south, then back to the north the following day, and became somewhat of a small gale. We ran with it for several hours before it eased off and we were able to put the boat back on track. We were on track for about 12 hours before a southerly gale found us. The weather hasn't been terrible, but it leaves us with only two choices: 

1. run with it, or 2. stop all together.  With the crazy weather at these latitudes, we have decided to run north with this system to try and find more westerly winds.

 

We are hoping that we run out of the gale activity in the near future as it is getting pretty old! We have both fallen victims to “rack back” and are getting bored of reading and watching movies and occasionally risking a soaking to peek out of the hatch for a look around. Our diet in these conditions is also less than exciting. Mostly made up of bread rolls, fresh fruit, and some pepparoni sticks. Actually cooking something does not sound appealing at the moment! But, with all of that going on-all is well on board; we are healthy and happy for the most part (slight seasickness aside!).

First "underway" update- by guest blogger

The Captain (Kevin)and Crew (Katie) of the SV Pahto have graciously invited me, Liz Burck (Katie’s Mom) to contribute as a guest blogger to the “Escapades of the Pahto” blog site.  My pleasure. (As long as I can write about their experiences vicariously from my dry, inert couch with a cup of hot coffee in my hand, I’m in!)

As you know, the Pahto, with two souls aboard, sailed from Napier, New Zealand on Monday, November 14 (U.S.).  They hoisted sail on a beautiful afternoon and headed east at about 40 degrees south latitude. 

They had spent the prior few weeks in Napier preparing the boat.  They repaired and/or replaced instruments, tested and retested equipment, and gave her a fresh coat of both paint and varnish. Fresh water and food items were the two packing priorities – and filled every available nook and cranny. The laptop computer had been downloaded with 416 movies and books (give or take!!).  The Captain and Crew got in one final hot shower and, with that, the Pahto- and her crew- were ready for the next sailing adventure!

They said good-bye to the friends they knew- and those they had met while there- from the dock.  But another friend (an older gentleman sailor) jumped into his sailboat and escorted them out to sea.  What a great way to start the trip!

But, within 24 hours, they encountered weather that was less than ideal.  Staying below deck afforded them dry quarters- but no relief from the rolling seas. I am sure that Kevin hardly noticed; but Katie admitted to getting sick those first few days.  Movie watching helped pass the time.  By the time we talked to them- she had acclimated and Kevin still hadn’t noticed.  HA!

We got our first SAT phone call from them on Friday evening, Nov. 18 (U.S.).  I was in the atrium of a large building when I heard my phone ring, glanced at the caller ID window (thinking it was Tom) and realized it was coming in from the Pahto!  I may have vocalized a bit loudly (OK, I screamed like a million-dollar lottery winner) ran outside the building and jumped up and down while I talked to my daughter.  I was actually talking to her on my cell phone from a crowded sidewalk in Virginia while she was 326 miles out in the Pacific Ocean on a small sailboat!  How techno-terrific is THAT!??!!?!?   Sounded like she was just down the street!

We talked again last night (Sunday in U.S.).  Weather had improved enough that they could see the sun.  Katie was even top-side when she called, instead of hanging out of the hatch to get direct line-of-sight to the communications satellite!  The forecast still calls for winds and rain….but not to worry- they still have a few more movies to watch, books to read- and plenty of potatoes and onions to eat!

So, bottom line update- weather could be better, but considering…. all is well.  They are just excited to be out there interacting with the world on a level and from a perspective that few others ever experience.  Kevin is in his niche!

Before I walk the long 33' to my kitchen to refill my coffee cup, Tom and I, along with Kevin’s parents, Dave and Jeannie, wanted to say thank you for sending your love, your “good luck” messages, and your “be safe/have fun” thoughts to the kids. K and K also asked me to say a special thank-you to all of you who sent personal emails to them before they left-they read every one of them!  And to once again repeat the big heart-felt “thank you” to the people in Australia and New Zealand who opened their homes and offered their help and support to them.  (Their parents (us) extend that same huge thanks!  They always talked about how nice everyone was while they were there……)

Catch you at another lat/long coordinate……..

Bon Voyage!

We say goodbye to New Zealand and all our wonderful friends here today.  Customs is coming down to the boat to do the final check out at 11:45 and we set sail for Chile at noon!  This morning we have taken a few moments to write one final update from land before setting sail, but as soon as we are done here we have a busy morning making last minute preparations and running last minute errands.  After the last week of rain we finally got a bright sunny day, and it could not have come at a better time!!  It makes leaving land easier when you aren't already wet!

When we leave here we are aiming to get to Puerto Williams, Chile, the southern most town in the world.  We are hoping to make landfall in 45 days, but that is all weather dependent.  We made our final stores run yesterday and got all the fresh food we will take, lots of potatoes and onions!  We would like to Thanks everyone here in New Zealand for all the support and help that we have received over the past few weeks and months that our boat has been down here.  We will see you all again in the near future!!

keep checking the blog while we are away from land because my parents have generously offered to post updates from us whenever they hear anything. 

More random pictures from Australia and New Zealand…

Dragging our anchor line to clean all the rust off.

Our first Kangaroo sighting!

 

 

Finally some pictures!

From the top of Tamata Peak in Hawks Bay.

Kevin Graeme and Bev having an afternoon beer at “the Rose”

Final Days…

 

We have been spending the past few days putting the final touches and getting everything organized before our departure on Tuesday.  We had a great relaxing weekend with Graeme and Bev who cam over from Auckland.  It was nice to have some good company and not worry about boat projects for a few days!  Today will be finishing up every last minute project we have and packing the boat with all the fresh food we will need/ can pack on the boat.  Our goal is to get as much done today so we don’t have to rush around tomorrow.  We want to make Tuesday as stress free as possible.  We won’t be taking off until late morning, around noon.  that gives us time to sleep in, eat a nice breakfast and put last minute touches on everything.  This is a picture of our boat riddled with labels off of cans.  We take them off so if the cans do end up getting wet and the labels come off they don’t end up clogging up the bilge and making a huge mess.  Here is Kevin working on our outboard motor for our dingy.  a very important piece of equipment.

Getting Close!

With less than two weeks left before out foreseen departure date things seem to be coming along nicely.  The interior of the boat has been cleaned and organized and is awaiting its first load of stores.  We plan to hit up the grocery store tonight for our first shopping trip.  These trips are both fun and dreaded at the same time.  I enjoy the shopping part, but I dread paying the bill at the end.  There isn't enough planning or calculating in the world that can prepare you for trying to buy enough food for 6 months.  We have a well thought out list of all the supplies we think we will need and always second guess when we get to the store: should we get another 5 pounds of rice? do we have enough canned meat?  How much toilet paper do we really need? Do we really need another pound of m&m's?  The only aisle we really really need to spend time in is the chocolate aisle.  As two self diagnosed chochoholics running out two weeks into a six week passage spells disaster and a very long four weeks.  I've already scoped out my secret hiding spots where I can hide the good stuff and I won't have to share with Kevin, unless it comes in handy for bribery after he is out! 

There are really just three major things that need to happen on deck before we take off: finish the windvane, finish the varnishing and finish painting the cockpit.  After those three things happen we will be more or less ready to take off.  Of course we could spend the next year working on the boat 7 days a week and never run out of things to do, but we'll just finish the things that HAVE to be taken care and get on the road. 

We have been able to get the boat out a few times in the past week for a sail!  Once to test the new windvane.  It works like a beauty!  We are so excited to have this new piece of equipment and will be able to sleep easier knowing it is steering the boat!  The second time was for the Wednesday night beer can races.  on an average week there are only about five boats that participate.  However, none of them have a windvane, wind generator or outboard hanging of the stern.  Even with all that we didn't come in last, so all in all it was a successful day of racing!  It helps that it was a beautiful evening! 

Go All Blacks!

What an amazing night to be in New Zealand!! It was so much fun to watch the rugby world cup at East Pier especially since we won!  Go All Blacks!! 

Progress?

The boat is back in the water now. The new Monitor windvane hanging off the back of the boat, almost complete. We just need some good weather to go out for a test sail before we put the finishing touches on. We also put a fresh antifouling on the bottom, and even had the prop finished with "propspeed"(antifouling for props and shafts). While the boat was hauled I discovered a hole in the water trap for the exhaust.(main engine cooling system) Thankfully I found it and we were able to get it welded up and reinstalled with new anodes without losing much time.


With the boat floating we are again working on putting the interior back together, shedding a few pounds in the process. When we left seattle we loaded everything we thought we might need for cruising on the boat. Now with a little bit of experience(and some new technology) we have decided that we don't need so much stuff on board(100lbs. of books..really?) This will make room for some other items we think are necessary for the next leg of the cruise; A drogue, a third anchor, and a water bladder.

We are currently hoping the weather improves enough that we can get our outside projects complete, namely touch up painting and varnishing(the fun stuff). Regardless of weather, we are planning on participating in the local wednesday evening beer can racing. Even if we aren't the fastest boat on the course, I do believe we get some style points for racing with: A dodger, a windvane, an outboard hanging on the pulpit, 300ft. of anchor chain, solar panels, wind generator, and all the other things that boats have when you cruise them around the world, that boats don't ever have when you are racing!

general update...

Hello everyone!  Kevin and I are excited to be starting the next leg of our adventure!  We will try to keep this updated as much as possible, which should not be a problem over the next month while we are on land, but will become infinitly more difficult after we pull out of port.  Just to get everyone up to speed we are now in Napier, New Zealand and have been for the last week and a half.  We have been putting in long days on the boat trying to get it offshore ready.  Right now we have the boat out of the water primarily so we could put another coat of bottom paint on and get our new wind vane mounted, but also to take care of other minor projects easier done out of the water.  Getting the new wind vane is probably one of the most exciting things that has happened (it's real pretty and shiny) and is much sturdier than our previous wind vane. 

Today we got to do some off roading with our rental car.  Our anchor chain was rusted and before we can get it regalvanized we had to get the rust off.  Enter rental care.  Mission: find a dirt road, far enough out of town and away from the main drag as to not draw too much attention, and go crazy!  we spent a good 45 mins dragging the anchor chain behind the car.  It came out much less rusty, but much more dirty - an easier fix!  Now the chain is off getting a nice new bath, ie getting galvanized. 

We've been hard at work on the interior as well.  We decided to give her a nice new interior paint job and it really looks amazing.  Kevin is not sure when the last pain job on the interior was done but it hasn't been since we've owned it. We also cleaned and oiled all of the teak!  the boat is really starting to come together!

Hopefully we can get the boat in shape in the next week, giving us plenty of time to do some siteseeing while we are here.  We made one trip over to Taupo, about two hours away, to pick up our wind vane.  Kevin had it delivered to his friends, Tom and Polly's, house.  We had a wonderful afternoon chatting with Polly. Taupo is a georgous little town right on Lake Taupo, apparenly New Zealands largest lake.  We also spent a few days when we first arrived in Auckland with Kevin's other friends, Bev and Graham. They were very generous to pick us up from the airport and let us stay with them for a few days.  We had a fantastic time catching up with them and doing a bit of siteseeing!    Before we made the jump over to New Zealand we spent a week on the sunshine coast of Australia with Jack and Marlene, a couple Kevin met while sailing in the South Pacific last year.  That week was amazing both because our hosts are amazing people and because of the wonderful site we got to see while over there.  Within an hour of landing I saw my first Kangaroo (and it was wild, not in a zoo), how amazing!  While in Napier we have been staying with another of Kevin's wonderful friends down here, Eva.  She was been great to us not only on this trip but on other trips Kevin has made down here she has graciously offered him, now us, a place to stay!  Australia/New Zealand have some amazing people and beautiful sites!  We are so happy to be down here and getting this opportunity but are looking forward to getting back home to see our families!