1 October 2024 –Tahiti – Niue

It was a lovely calm sunny morning when we woke and we had an early breakfast. After breakfast I went through the interior of the boat to ensure everyone was aware of all the safety equipment and where things were etc and to equip with life jackets.  

At 9.30am we had to over to the Tahiti Crew office to meet the Police who stamped our passports and gave us the paperwork to leave French Polynesia. Carolyn and Erica went off to Carrefour and we then returned to Stormbird to prepare and to refit the Bimini which had been returned.

I then went to the office to pay the final bill and to check out as it were. I left the others to prepare slip lines etc for departure. We took off the electrics and put most of what we could away.

We slipped the lines and pulled up the anchor which came up smoothly. We then headed over to the fuel dock to top up the tanks and tied up. However, it was closed (12.00 noon to 1.00pm) and so I decided to start doing the things we were going to do at anchor, like to put the dinghy on the davits etc. Whilst we were doing this the radio asked us to leave as you cannot be there apparently whilst it is closed. I was about to clarify this when one of the fuel men came round shouting and starting to throw our lines off which caused Stormbird to move away by the bow leaving Sean on the dock and risking damaging the boat. We had to act quickly and I shouted at the man to not move our lines as we would do it. It was all a bit of a hassle but we got Sean onboard and then we motored off and went and anchored for lunch and to sort out the dinghy etc.

Once we had done most things it was nearly 1.00pm so we upped anchor and headed back to the fuel dock and put in about 200 lts of fuel. It was the same man and he apologised to me when I went to pay and we shook hands. The man is a buffoon and I told the marina that if he carries on like that he will cause an accident and cause damage.

We then anchored again to put things away, rig the preventer lines etc. Once we were ready we motored out through Passe Taapuna which we had come in the other day when returning from Moorea. This was straightforward although there were waves either side of us which surfers were enjoying.

Once out of the passe we put up the main and genoa and headed toward a waypoint I had set some way south which would minimise the swell come up from the South. We had a good breeze of about 12 -13 Kts from the North and so we were soon sailing directly on our course on a sort of beam reach (wind on the side) and doing 6.5-7.5 kts. The sea state was calm and this was lovely sailing in the sun with few clouds.

We watched Tahiti begin to fade behind us and had Moorea on our starboard side. The picture of the day is of us looking back at Tahiti and the waves at the passe. Sean and I were on first watch until 4.00pm and although the wind was declining slightly we handed over to Carolyn and Erica for the 4-8.00pm shift. I shadowed them and the wind began to move toward Northeast (the forecast said it should be Southeast) and hardly any wind at all until the afternoon of the 2nd.

Over time the wind faded and we had to bring in the sails and put on the engine. I checked the weather and we do not expect wind really until tomorrow afternoon. I therefore inputted some further waypoints and we set our course. When we came to put the navigation lights on, the port light was not working so I looked at it and the wiring and could not see why it was not working. We will have to get it fixed when I can.

Carolyn had made a spaghetti bolognaise I the morning so we had a meal to heat up.  We had this at 6.30pm and it was very enjoyable. We are on our way. Joyce was feeling a bit fluey so she had a rest.

We are heading to Niue the largest Coral Atoll in the world which is about 1,150 nm away as the crow flies. We will then continue on to Tonga and I will explain more about the trip tomorrow.

We will probably have to motor most of the night and possibly tomorrow morning but this will help eat up the miles before we can sail.

Crewing Opportunity Year Two

In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com