Ocean Echo 1: December 2012

Dear friends.

First I would like to wish you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all the best in New Year 2013.
I am sending you Christmas greetings from Nuku Hiva island in Marquesas.

It has been about 1000 NM (nautical miles) of uphill battle last few weeks, which started at Bora Bora. Sailing against the wind is not much fun. Most important was to wait for weather window with lighter winds. Tuamotus to Marquesas was the longest passage, which required 10-12 days of light winds. Lighter winds means lower pressure weather, which produces more squalls. I did have a plenty of squalls on this trip. Some of them reached 30-40 kts (knots) velocity in a few (3-5) minutes time at night. It is a quick wakeup call, when they come. Heavy squalls are visible on radar and I had to use it for couple of nights, when there were too many squalls around. I ended up heaving to on some of the squalls, because they were too fast, too much. Keeping the boat speed down was important to prevent slamming on top of the waves, when the bow comes out of the water. I love my windwane. It does steer uphill quite well even in lighter winds. They do not work too well usually in these conditions. I did some modifications to it along the way and it sure pays off handsomely.
I have made it to Nuku Hiva a day before stronger N, NE winds have developed, which would be a problem. A few days later tropical depression have developed over the Cook islands, influencing Bora Bora, Tahiti and Tuamotus with 40-50 kts NW winds. An other system will bring a cyclone to Fiji in a few days. I am actually glad to be here in Marquesas. Will see, what the cyclone season does to Marquesas islands.
They say - gentlemen do not sail into the wind. Reality is little different now days. It was not too bad in lighter winds.
Most of cruising sailboats are gone now, so anchorages are more quiet. Only French and European boats are cruising these areas now. Some of French boats have been here for many years and they have a good local knowledge about the seasons and cruising areas.
Rules have changed for French Polynesia in 2009, allowing French boats to stay 2 years. This made all of marinas, buoys, ship yards quite occupied. It is becoming difficult to use or get some of these facilities now days. All other boats can stay 1 year. Lot of cruisers leave the boats around Tahiti on paid (certified) buoys and fly out for cyclone season. Similar to storage yards in Mexico.
I have sailed from Bora Bora to Raiatea, Moorea, Tahiti, Tuamotus and Marquesas. Having a few days stop in each area to wait for weather window. I was planning to stay in Tuamotus little longer, but weather opportunity came up, so I had to leave. It is not easy to get 10-12 days of lighter winds. I hope to stop in Tuamotus again in April on my way West. Clear water, corals and the sea life are the main attraction of these Atolls. Fakarava South Pass is very popular diving area. Several dive shops have established small operations there. It is quite charming and interesting location, highly recommended for diving holiday.
I am planning to stay in Marquesas for 4 months. I have many projects on the boat, which need to be done. There are some local anchorages, which I have not visited yet.

I wish you all Happy Holidays and a lot of Quality Time.

Maintaining this blog could by complicated time to time, because Internet signal/connection for uploading pictures, will not be as good/fast as it is in large cities/communities. Please, excuse my poor writing skills and grammar. Google translate does good job converting text to other languages.
I hope, that you will find something interesting in this blog – enjoy.

Jara (JJ) Holcman s.v. Ocean Echo 1