At last we where ready for the crossing of South Pacific.

The 5th of Mars we departured Marina Quinched for the 4000 miles trip to Gambier via Robinson Crusoe. We had almost no wind so the first day became a slowly tacking east of Chiloé. The second day we where finally going to reach the Pacific! But before we reached Canal Chacao, the narrow and sometimes dangerous sound between Chiloé and the mainland out into the ocean, our new SLR camera choose to die. What to do?
The only god thing in this camera story is that we where still east of Chiloé and could continue north, back to Puerto Montt where we hoped to find a solution.
The "old camera" was shipped to Sweden for repair and a new one was bought in US, transported to Puerto Montt by Mary, 50% of the crew of Egret a 46" Nordhaven. Sometimes things ends up better than you ever can imaging. We met Mary and her husband Scott first time in Mar del Plata November 2006. 
Thanks to the $ we upgraded the camera to Canon 40D, a semi-professional model! of the amateur one (Canon 400D) we had paying the "same" price. 
We used the waiting time to do a lot of website work and we dried out Lindisfarne to really clean the bottom before the long passage and finally we where once again ready for the Pacific.
Initially we should have done Canal Chacao under nip conditions, but two weeks later it was of course spring! giving us a fast and adventures run thru the sound. The tide was 8-9 kn but we manage to avoid the worst tidal rips by turning north along the coast to a relatively protected anchorage waiting for the wind to change to southerly.
Once again the first hours was calm and almost without wind, but in the afternoon the wind came from the south and by night we had gale force, almost at the borderline where we have to slow down to be able to steer safely.
Now it become a very fast passage to Robinson Crusoe with 24 hours speed 180 nm.

We stayed only two nights and had some nice walks up to Alexander Selkirks lookout (the model for Daniel Defou´s famous book "Robinson Crusoe"). The anchorage become very uncomfortable late the second day, and we decided to leave just before darkness and sail straight to Gambier. Straight was actually not the correct word for this passage.  Because of the more or less stationary high pressure north east of Easter island we had to go north for a couple of days, trying to reach the prevailing south east winds avoiding areas of calm.
 The whole trip became a chasing after wind and preferably tailwind. The first two weeks we had good conditions but then low-pressure in the south affected the situation. The prevailing south  east was suddenly far north and we had to go south to get some wind. For 20 hours we just drifted with the current and during the night we drifted 4 nm with only a flashing anchor light and the AIS-B transponder working. (In total 1 Amp consumption).
Finally we got new wind from southeast and could start sailing again after a week with very weak winds, and mostly headwinds! The forth and last week was quite ok with good to strong winds from southeast.
During the forth week we had some LAND. We looked closely at the small island Ducie four days before landfall Gambier. It's a small island with no passage through the reef. 
The next night we saw Hendersen the limestone island northeast of Pitcairn in the moonlight two miles to the north. Finally one night before arrival we had Oeno on the radar in the dark four miles to the north and then, "suddenly", we where in the Gambier atoll. The last two days of strong winds made the landfall a bit to early to use the south east passage. We continued to the southwest passage to  make a safe entry in full daylight.
The strong easterly wind calmed down when we entered the reef and we could motor against 10 kn wind topping up our water tanks before the anchorage.

How to describe a month passage over an ocean with unbroken horizon and only one cargo ship? 
The weather is already done, although we haven't mentioned weather information. We use our HF radio and grib files, but on top of that we have had two friends in Gothenburg mailing us the "overall weather", suggesting where to turn to get wind. We have also helped Six Pack with Rex and Louise with weather information during the trip (they have no modem to their HF radio).
What else to do during long and "boring" days. It's funny, it seems that this is a problem only on shore before take of. On the boat under sail this is not a problem! There are always something to attend and if not you should rest. There is often a lack of sleep, remember that we sail 24 hours a day keeping watch during a whole month. "Normally" this is called "5 shift" and we are only the two of us. Sleeping is important of course, but to be prepared to do extra pass due to shifting conditions you are not supposed to get "overtired", so don't sleep only when you are tired. Sleep when planned and whenever you have the opportunity.
Our days are occupied with a lot of things except keeping watch. How many times have we gybed! a time-consuming business when we have to furl the two headsails, shift the whisky pool to the other side, shift the preventer on the main and finally unfurl the headsails. Preparing meals and eating becomes  highlights, especially as we are doing this together, not while the other crew member is sleeping! Baking bread is also very nice, the smell of the almost ready bread...  Fishing is occasionally very intensive! but sorry to say  very long time elapse between the catch. Our first Mahi- Mahi (Dolphin) we got already after some days, but the next and last one came three weeks later.     
Luckily we had a lot of home made canned food, prepared in Puerto Montt in our high pressure cooker, so lack of food was never an issue.
Of course night pass are not always funny, but the moon and the stars are fantastic. You never se e that many stars back home because of all background light. We have used MP3 players with recorded books, quite entertaining and sometimes so exiting that you don't want to leave your watch!                
Still after this long passage we agree that long passages only are a problem onshore. When we arrived in Gambier we didn't went onshore until midday the next day. It felt completely normal to wait until our "minds had made landfall", actually we where almost sad that the passage was done! a a good sign and proof of our impressions of the trip.

Checking in in French Polynesia is quite laid back compared to South America.
They have a simple routine with a formulary prepared for pleasure boats which is posted to the only formal port of entry, Papeete on Tahiti where later the procedure have to be confirmed and crews from outside EU have to pay a bond.    

Have we had any problems?
Actually not, but the already known problem with charging the battery using a regulator designed for cars have been there all the time. Reading  Nigel Calders books about charging batteries we now know how to solve it, but doing this in Chile was almost impossible and very expensive. This item is now postponed to New Zeeland. In the mean time we charge the batteries every 30-40 hours, depending on the consumption.  Our water maker is belt driven, thus giving us electricity when making water...
Now we are living a nice and comfortable life in remote anchorages around the archipelago of Gambier waiting for favourable  weather conditions for the 450 miles passage to Hao atoll.   
We have in Gambier celebrated our three years of sailing since we left Gothenburg the first of May 2005.
  
1 May 2008
Annika & Björn
S/Y Lindisfarne

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