Posted by Graham Cox
When Captain Bligh sailed from Tahiti aboard HMS BOUNTY on 4 April, 1789, many of his crew cast longing glances at the receding island. They were reluctant to leave – some even had to be shanghaied back aboard – for they had found unheard of social freedoms and pleasures on this island. The MGR skippers, most of whom have spent the last week or so in Tahiti, seem largely to agree with the BOUNTY crew that this island is a paradise, and several have admitted that they are sailing on with some reluctance. As yet, nobody has mutinied!
Renaud, being the frontrunner, was the first to leave Papeete. He took a course well above the rhumb line, having seen a long-range forecast of SE winds of up to 45 knots below the rhumb line to Tonga. Though it looks like he will miss the worst of it, he soon sailed into unsettled weather. On 24 May, he reported: ‘Supposed to be calm, thunderstorms are coming. The wind was supposed to turn north, I got south… Basically last night was a rough one. 35 knots in the storms, little air between them, a sea in all directions, lots of manoeuvres and all in heavy rain.’
At the time of his scheduled call, the wind was down to 10 knots, gusting 25, but steady in direction, though he could see big squalls to the north. He has not found Windy very accurate in this part of the ocean – the bad weather is reported to be 120 miles south of CAPUCINETTE – but he relies on observing clouds and barometric pressure, plus water and air temperatures. The air can be quite hot at the beginning of a squall, then temperatures drop sharply as the squall passes, while the ocean temperature is warmer than it was in Tahiti, despite heading towards higher latitudes. All these factors affect wind direction and strength.
We talked about sailing fast and the critical importance of maintaining sail balance. Renaud noted that, while he was talking to me, his hull-speed was lower than a number of other competitors, but he was focused on keeping the boat balanced. When he wants to push CAPUCINNETE hard, he hand-steers. Either way, he keeps the boat sailing on a straight course. Ever since leaving Lagos, his AVERAGE VMG has been consistently higher than others, which gives him his competitive edge. It is a similar approach to that used by Simon Curwen in the last Golden Globe Race, where he managed phenomenal average speeds.
Renaud wished the fleet could start each stage of the leg together, so he’d be able to match his performance against the competition, as he is basically racing against himself, although other skippers might close the gap if he parks up in light winds before they do. There is no sign of that happening yet, despite Windy showing light winds in his vicinity. He may only be four days away from making landfall in Tonga, especially if he chooses to do so on the northern island of Vava’u.
Dan Turner was the next away, recording: ‘I am now 2 days into the sail across to Tonga from Tahiti, and the journey so far has been quite pleasant. Today has seen lighter winds than I would like which means my boat speed is a little slow, however I find myself quite happy out here, just enjoying the conditions. I have been spending my time communicating with family, reading, and eating the snacks my parents brought over from Japan. I’m probably going to end up putting on weight for the first time in this leg.’
He was sailing with his A5 poled out opposite the A7, and looking very relaxed. He uses the A7 a lot, often leaving it up for a week at a time, weather permitting, either alone or opposite the jib or A5, depending on wind strength, or with some mainsail. If the wind is further aft than 150°, he always furls the mainsail.
Later, like Renaud, he ran into unsettled weather. He wrote: ‘25 May – Pitch black last night, and a bit of wild weather starting to come through. Quite a few squalls, and doing my best to stay out of the thunderstorms this time around.’ He ran for a while with twin jibs set on the double foil of his new roller-furling unit, a sail combination successfully used by Renaud and Adam in fresh, steady, following winds, but he found it less effective in these unsettled conditions.
The night before his phone call, he was hit by major squalls. He wrote, ‘Found myself another thunderstorm last night and had some extremely challenging winds for 8 or so hours. It did not have the strength of the one in the Tuamotus, but (we) still had 35+ knots at times. The worst bit though was the long periods of no breeze (between squalls), and the constant changing of wind direction.
‘I must have done 20 or more sail changes just to keep the boat moving. Sail combinations varied from some mainsail and jib, to two jibs and no mainsail, to two spinnakers, to one spinnaker, to bare poles, to three reefs in the main and one jib, to one jib poled out, to two jibs poled out. I was so tired at the end of it, which was around 0400 local time, that I fell asleep just as I was about to hook up my lee cloth. This ended up with me falling out of the bunk and breaking my emergency solar panel. No injuries though, and the sunset I am now experiencing has lifted my spirits.’ The immense effort did not gain him more than handful of miles – but, hey, that’s racing!
Dan has always had a competitive spirit. He mentioned that, as a kid in his father’s car, he’d cry if they took off from a traffic light alongside another vehicle and did not beat it to the next intersection! He and his siblings even bet on whose raindrop would hit the windowsill first. This man has been training for the MGR for a long time, ha ha, though he says this is probably going to be his last ocean race. He had a wonderful time in Tahiti with his parents, and plans to cruise back with Nikki eventually.
As a result of the squally weather, the sea state was like a washing machine, with wave heights of up to 3.5m. Sometimes they would strike IMMORTAL GAME on the side and knock the boat off course. The Hydrovane would often bring the boat back, but at other times, especially if the boat broached, putting the seas on the beam, he would have to go up on deck, grab the tiller and bear away.
He also hand-steered in the lighter winds, though sometimes he could get the autopilot to do the job, allowing him to gratefully slink below into the relative comfort of the cabin. One reason the comfort was relative was that the interior, by this time, was thoroughly wet. For much of the time, the rain came down in torrents. Luckily, there were gaps between the squalls, which allowed him to snatch brief snoozes. If Windy proves to be accurate (let’s ask Dan later), the lumpy seas coming up from the depression in the south should begin to ease in a day or two.
He does not have a strategy for this stage, apart from staying north of the rhumb line. He says he no longer pays much attention, day to day, to weather predictions from platforms such as Windy, as the forecast either changes or is wrong much of the time. Apart from keeping an eye on the big picture, he just goes for it.
Keri Harris, who was third away, had a thoroughly social time in Papeete. He anchored ORIGAMI down near the airport at Maeva Beach, among an international fleet of cruising yachts, many of whose crews avidly follow the MGR. He modestly said he was sure he had not suddenly become a fascinating character (actually he is!), and yet found himself with a very full social calendar. So much so that he repeatedly missed his scheduled calls to this scribe! But in the end, naval discipline won the day, and he lashed himself to the mast and sailed west.
In an attempt to steal a march on Renaud and Dan Turner, he took ORIGAMI south of the rhumb line. As he said, there is no point in just following the leaders in a one-design class. Initially, this looked like it might pay dividends, if the frontrunners sailed into a predicted light-weather hole while he carried his breeze. He even joked that he was sorry that the red and purple zones shown on the Windy app (strong to gale-force winds) were too far south to take advantage of. But if the long-range forecasts can be believed (do you buy lottery tickets?), it now looks as if he may lose the breeze in several days’ time, while they forge ahead in freshening SE winds. This is going to be a tricky passage.
He has been struggling to get his newly-installed Aries windvane to steer the boat if he drives ORIGAMI at speed downwind with the mainsail up, a configuration that he prefers to running with two headsails. (He says that is too boring!) When pressing hard under mainsail and poled-out headsail, the boat yaws so much that it is at risk of broaching one moment and gybing the next. He can get ORIGAMI to self-steer comfortably if he reefs the mainsail and slows the boat down, something he does to rest.
In a post, he mentioned that he’d left his daggerboards in France (along with his shoes – Keri likes leaving stuff ashore – he even left his yoga mat ashore recently, and now sleeps on the hard, plywood bunk-boards). He made a new set of boards in Antigua but has not had the time to install them. They would help with directional stability, though are probably not the total answer. I have not sailed aboard a 580, so will refrain from giving Keri advice. Besides, I am not a racing sailor, and he could sail the socks off me in a duckpond!
He recently recorded a video of himself wearing his crash helmet, and looking tired, as ORIGAMI crashed along off the Cook Islands in very rough seas. He reported that his boom brake had failed, parting with a terrific bang that made him glad he was not near it at the time. He has since repaired it but also decided to slow the boat down for a while. Nonetheless, ORIGAMI is currently hanging onto 3rd place, which is an excellent showing, considering the damage incurred during a major broach while approaching Colon, and Keri’s subsequent late start from Balboa on Leg 2.
Pilar Pasanau, who is 4th on the leaderboard, was the next away from Papeete on PETER PUNK, but she is the MGR’s dark horse, and all we can do is admire her consistently-high performance. Besides the language barrier when she does call, she only posts occasional comments online, and both lines of communication are in Spanish. She is keeping the leaders on their toes.
Not far behind Pilar, Dan Turk is attempting to strike a balance between trying to overtake her and enjoying his passage. He certainly enjoyed Tahiti, reporting, ‘The people and food (in Tahiti) were amazing. Their culture is so unique and interesting. I met some great people, including a local guy who was selling ukuleles on the street. We chatted quite often, and he ended up gifting me a seashell necklace and the Tahitian flag!’
Another guy let Dan stay on his 35ft catamaran for the duration of his visit. He also socialised with other MGR entrants, marvelling that they had built their boats in their backyards and sailed them across the world to this mythical island. He would have liked a couple more days in Tahiti, at least, but his inner Captain Bligh shanghaied him to get the boat ready and sail on.
He therefore got back into boat work, climbing the mast to install a new Windex, and completing a few other small maintenance jobs. Nothing major broke on LITTLE BEA on the crossing from Hiva Oa. Then he got stuck into the round of paperwork necessary to clear out, last-minute provisioning, and final boat checks. He says he is always a little flustered or nervous before setting sail, but settles down quickly once underway.
This is a common feeling among ocean voyagers, and is perhaps heightened by sailing the world in a 19ft plywood box, no matter how strong and seaworthy they are (they are actually more seaworthy, with their flush decks and watertight bulkheads, than many ocean cruising yachts), but 19ft is 19 ft – they are ‘dynamic’, as Dan puts it, with a lively motion and the need to stay on top of your systems. Don McIntyre is correct when he says that social media surrounding this event, interviews, videos, articles, etc, makes it look easier than it actually it.
Shortly after leaving, Dan posted: ‘I am approximately 40 miles ESE of Bora Bora and enjoying the sunrise! It should take around 14 days to arrive in Tonga. I am sailing well, with a 7 to 8 ft swell.’ Later, the wind and swell increased, and he ended up dropping his mainsail overnight, allowing his arch rival, Pilar, to sneak away from him. Dan does not like to hand-steer, so always slows the boat if needed to allow his Sailormat windvane to manage.
Amusingly, in an interview with Don McIntyre the following day, he said that he spends a lot of time adjusting the windvane to ensure optimal performance so he does not have to take the tiller. He was lying on his athwartships bunk during this interview, looking very relaxed, though you could see the motion of the boat attempting to pitch him across the cabin, as LITTLE BEA breasted the 3.5m swells. He says is keen to do well in the MGR – and he is – holding onto 5th place, but is not one to hand-steer day and night and arrive exhausted. As Cyndi Lauper famously sang, ‘Some (boys) just want to have fun’.
He didn’t have a lot of fun the next night, when he decided to leave his poled-out A7 flying and make up some of the miles he’d lost to Pilar. While he was having a short sleep, LITTLE BEA was caught in a massive squall that lasted about 2.5 hours. He estimated it to be around 60-70 knots, and the boat suffered a major knockdown.
The poled-out A7 took the brunt of the squall. A cam-cleat, securing the downhaul for the pole, broke free, and the pole swung up vertical, banging against the mast and spreaders. As quickly as he could, he struggled into his harness and clambered into the tilting cockpit to try to get the boat under control. There was no way he could furl the A7, so he cast off the halyard and let the sail fall into the sea, leaving it to drag it alongside while he went below, cold and wet, to catch his breath. The wind was still howling at 40 knots.
As unfortunate as this situation was, it was better than damaging or losing the rig. Later, he dragged the sail back on deck and bagged it. Amazingly, there was no damage to the boat but the skipper was a bit rattled. He looked like a drowned rat in his ‘after the squall’ videos, and said he was in shock. But his spirit wasn’t dampened, and he soon had a jib flying, with LITTLE BEA surging west at 260°. Can’t let Pilar get too far ahead!
Christian Sauer was the next to leave Papeete. Despite enjoying his visit and getting work done on ARGO, he failed to resolve his skin infections, and also discovered that he had ligament damage to his shoulder. Despite initial medical advice that he needed immediate surgery, which would have curtailed his MGR campaign, and the likelihood of some pain and discomfort, he courageously decided to pursue his dream and set sail for Fiji. He has been making good time in steady tradewinds, hanging onto 6th position. At the time this article went to press, he had executed a deep dive to the south, and was sailing along the rhumb line at 5.1 knots.
Eric Marsh left next, after what could have been an embarrassing incident, when SUNBEAR’s outboard motor lost power coming up to Papeete’s downtown marina, and he drifted onto a wharf where another vessel was due to berth. Plucked (chucked?) out of there and set adrift by an unhelpful Samaritan, he was blowing down towards the fringing reef when Jasmine saw what was happening and came to the rescue, shanghaiing a member of the cruising fleet and his tender. SUNBEAR is now sailing west at 4.3 knots, above the rhumbline, and no doubt Eric is delighted to be out in the open sea!
Eric is on record saying he is not a fan of electric outboard motors, and this incident would not have helped! Perhaps he is thinking of John Guzzwell’s rusty old Seagull outboard motor, that one American yachtsman in Panama jokingly called an eggbeater, but which faithfully started at the first pull of the chord, to the American’s amazement. The MGR has the potential to be a testing ground for electric outboard motors, and it might be interesting later to compare the types of motor used and their setups, to see what worked, what didn’t, and what can be improved.
Jakub was delighted with the fine weather when BIBI departed, though concerned about the long-range forecast. He had 18-20 knot winds for the first day and night, but at the time he called the wind was down to 14 knots and there was a lot of sunshine, though he could see heavy cloud both to the north and south. The swell was also settling down. When he got clear of Moorea, the 2m following sea was complicated by a 3-4m swell from the south, driven by the major depression down there, and this slammed into the side of BIBI occasionally. But the swell was not breaking and does not seem to have bothered him unduly.
He is planning to stay above the rhumb line and see how the weather develops. He uses compressed Grib files downloaded onto his Iridium Go exec to see what is coming. He had initially thought about delaying his departure, due to the unstable weather around Tonga (he says he has no desire (unlike Keri) to chase storms, or push the boat hard through squalls. His idea is to put up the minimal canvas needed to keep BIBI safe, and deploy his storm warp – and even the storm jib – if necessary.
He laments that he never has time at sea to dip into his extensive library of books, and if he could decide again, might leave them behind. He values them too much, though, to dump them. But BIBI, despite being Jakub’s home, and loaded like a cruising boat, is not so slow. In 8th position, he is averaging 4.6 knots. He is an intuitive sailor, and is getting to know exactly what BIBI needs to stay balanced and safe. He observes the sea and sky constantly, takes bearings on squalls to see if he can sail around them, and watches the stars at night. He is re-reading Bernard Moitessier’s book, The Long Way, (when he gets the time), the account of JOSHUA’s participation in the 1968-9 GGR, and says he has learned a lot from Moitessier. I could see Jakub sailing in a future GGR.
At the time of Jakub’s call, BIBI was running with the jib poled out to windward and the A7 set to leeward, with its sheet led through a block on the outboard end of the main boom. This means that you can roll the A7 up quickly without having to douse its pole or venture forward. It also means that you can set the A 7 or A 5 kites better, by stretching the clew out more than you can with the specified 2m jib pole.
Another clever thing he does is to sometimes just pull a metre and a half or so of the main up, to ‘fill in the gap’, when the wind gets lighter while sailing downwind under headsails. The square top of the sail is therefore below the spreaders, and you can sheet the sail out more. Although the mainsail is not tied down with reef points – a case for adding a fourth set of reef points? – the full battens keep it under control.
He has lots of good food aboard though says he has not had much of an appetite since leaving Papeete, despite having just cooked and eaten a paella with mackerel. It isn’t because he partied himself out while there – he spent most of his time working on BIBI, including a full service of the Windpilot – though hopes to get back into cooking good meals soon.
He recounted an amusing story of one day when he did venture out in Papeete, in company with LITTLE WREN, to a diving spot further south inside the reef. To his horror, he lost his outboard motor key, but Josh Kali (skipper of SKOOKUM) explained that all you need is a magnet to make it work. Jakub later bought several fridge magnets and now has plenty of spare keys!
Adam was next away, leaving one beautiful night, with LITTLE WREN glowing in the lights of downtown Papeete and possibly the loom from Captain Coconut’s camera flash. Numerous photos attest to him enjoying his shore leave, with a big smile on his face and a large glass of beer to hand. He quickly settled into his sea routine. The trade winds were blowing 15-18 knots, with a sea state of 2-3 meters, and LITTLE WREN was running dead downwind, with both the jib and A7 poled out, sailing at 4.5 knots or so, giving an average of 120nm per day.
Ertan, who had enjoyed his time in Papeete Marina so much that he gave up the idea of moving ashore during his sojourn, slipped away next, and on 27 May was 250nm on his way. In a short text, he said there was plenty of wind, and TREKKA was self-steering dead downwind with three reefs in the mainsail and poled-out jib, averaging 4.6 knots, for a daily run of 103nm. The swell was large, but the day was mostly sunny, and Ertan was reclining in his ‘cot’ (a fore-and-aft berth he sets up on the cabin sole). It looked dry and comfortable, relatively speaking!
Jasmine also had a great time in Tahiti, according to her mum, exploring, eating, provisioning, and doing jobs in between naps, as her body had not adjusted to the thought of a full night’s sleep. The first good meal upon arrival on Saturday was a tuna burger, which was very tasty. She also received invitations to eat on a large yacht in the marina, along with Jakub, and met with the local Rotary Club for a press call, lunch, and some sightseeing. Then she completed a two-hour training session in a 50m pool with a local Masters swimming club, which she really enjoyed. It had been over 6 months since she last did a club training session, and she survived!
On Tuesday, an intrepid group of MGR sailors (Adam, Jasmine, Jakub and Josh) set out on LITTLE WREN and BIBI, to explore some wrecks at a dive site at Fa’aa, off the west coast of Tahiti, which involved a 400m swim from the anchorage to the reef. Due to a strong current running in through the reef, it turned out to be one of the toughest 400m swims Jasmine has made (which is saying quite a lot). The bottom here is 20m deep, but the water was so clear that, as well as being able to view the wrecks, she saw loads of colourful fish. The swim back was a lot faster! After all this excitement, there were only two full days left in Tahiti, taken up by customs clearance and final preparations for the 1500nm leg to Tonga.
When she made her scheduled call, there was quite a lot of wind, but she was hanging onto her jib, poled out to windward, and the A7 set to leeward without a pole. The A7 was not setting as well as it could, but Jasmine was nervous about poling it out, especially at night, because she did not want to end up with a Canadan situation! We discussed Jakub’s method of sheeting it to the outboard end of the main boom, and she thought she might try that later.
There was quite a lot of swell coming up astern, and NUMBATOU was slewing around, sometimes swinging between 200°C and 300°C, causing the sails to flog and occasionally backwind. That happened a couple of times during our 20-minute conversation. Near the end of our talk, the boat ended up beam-on, and poor Jasmine got soaked by a wave crest.
It sometimes takes up to 30 seconds for the Hydrovane to bring the boat back on course. If it takes longer, Jasmine usually gives it a helping hand. Although she used to hand-steer all day, she now splits her time 50-50 between steering and handing over to the vane. She sets up the vane about two hours before sunset, in the hope that if conditions remain settled, she can get some undisturbed sleep. The wind was steady during our chat, but had been quite gusty that morning, and she’d actively dodged a couple of squalls. The swell was running at about 2m, but every now and then a gnarly 3m sea from the south would smack into the topsides.
One good thing Jasmine reported was that she has had plenty of power since leaving Tahiti, and her batteries were almost full. She thought that perhaps it was because there is more sunlight this time, though it could also be that they are working more efficiently now that the equatorial sun is not beating down on them (she is sailing at 17° 31’ S). The optimal temperature for solar panels is around 25°C (77°F), and their efficiency decreases as temperatures rise above that.
Having eaten very well in Tahiti, often having two teas every day, Jasmine is back to her casual fare aboard ship. She provisioned with a ridiculous amount of chocolate, because it was so good there, and bought lots of cake – half a coconut cake, four big chocolate brownies, some pistachio cakes, some almond cake, some biscuits, and, for good measure, some fresh pineapple and lychees from the local market. Got to keep up your vitamins!
Jasmine does not like to look too far ahead, but with the notorious reputation of this passage to Tonga, she has been looking at Windy and Don’s tracker updates. It freaked her out initially, then she decided that the bad weather was several days ahead, and likely to change before she got there, so why give yourself grey hairs (not that the baby of the fleet has any!). She has now reverted to taking it as it comes. Jasmine is a survivor, she throws herself in at the deep end and learns as she goes. It stood her in good stead rowing across the Atlantic and swimming the length of Britain, and it will take her to the finish line off Falmouth Harbour in March 2026.
Josh Kali was still enjoying the temptations of Tahiti when he called, and was making final preparations for departure two days later. He had not explored much of the island, as he preferred to socialise and wasn’t keen to go off hiking on his own. By the time he arrived, the other skippers had done their exploring. He did have a fun day on BIBI, though, when they went off in company with LITTLE WREN to Maeva Beach. When the other skippers departed, he still had Gary Swindail on QUESTION 2, and Mark Sinclair on COCONUT, to keep him company.
Mark also accompanied him on the last section of the previous stage from Hiva Oa, meeting up not long after COCONUT left Ahe Atoll. Mark took some excellent footage of SKOOKUM at sea. Josh said the trip down to Tahiti had been a lot of fun. “I had good weather every day,” he said, “nice following sea, you know, the swell wasn’t too bad. It was a good angle. So I was pretty lazy. I didn’t have anybody to race against so I just took it as a nice little leisurely cruise in the South Pacific. I let the windvane do the driving, and I read books, played the ukulele, and made good meals – just generally relaxed and enjoyed it. It was really hot during the day, but it was a full moon when I left the Marquesas, and so I would often sleep during the day and then stay up at night and enjoy the ambiance of the bright, starry nights.”
The passage through the atolls was the most uncomfortable part of the trip. He experienced squalls in the vicinity of Rangiroa Atoll, with torrential rain though not too much wind. These were the sort of conditions that wrecked vessels in pre-GPS days, but he was able to shelter below, monitoring his track on the chartplotter, and by morning had sailed clear of both the reefs and rain.
Apart from a few hours when the wind fell really light, he sailed the whole way with the mainsail and jib, still averaging 110-115 miles a day. If the wind increased, he reefed the mainsail, something he also did towards the end of the passage, in order to slow down and reach Papeete in daylight. SKOOKUM was still making more than 4 knots in those last days. Unless he feels like hand-steering to raise his daily average, he reefs the mainsail until the helm is balanced enough for SKOOKUM to hold course – without the wind vane and no hand on the tiller – for several hundred meters. This may not work in a nasty seaway, but as a rule of thumb it provides a good benchmark.
He has been trying not to spend too much money ashore, just walking around and chatting to people, though he says that prices in Papeete are similar to those in his hometown, Seattle; so as long as he avoids tourist eateries he can manage. There is little to do on SKOOKUM to prepare her for the next passage, apart from giving the boat a bit of a clean just before he leaves. With his expeditionary background, Josh is a natural minimalist, and the boat is always clean, well-organised and uncluttered. He says he is amazed by the stuff that comes out of other 580s in port – he doesn’t even know what some of it is! He also just likes the clean aesthetic, and regularly scrubs SKOOKUM. He always makes sure the boat is spotless when he arrives in port, and if someone notices, it makes his day!
His strategy for the passage to Tonga is to just sail the rhumb line, at least initially, since the forecast at this stage is showing SE winds of around 15 knots for several days, though he joked that SKOOKUM never liked to sail the course he sets, either sailing too high or too low. On the long passage to Hiva Oa, he developed the habit of letting the boat sail low at night, taking it easy, then sailed high during the day, with the wind more out on the quarter, even if it meant hand-steering. The boat sails faster on a reach, so the overall course made good averages out. Perhaps, he said, he should fib this time, say his course was 20° off the rhumb line, and trick SKOOKUM into going where he wanted.
He didn’t want to hand-steer too much on the previous passage, as he had lost his Bluetooth speaker, and if he can’t listen to music or something when hand-steering, the monotony makes him fall asleep. He has a new one now, so perhaps SKOOKUM will sail faster on the way to Tonga! He is hoping to continue improving his average speeds, and feels that keeping an open mind is the key to performance enhancement. He is always trying something different. However, there is an old saying among mountaineers that the climber who has the most fun is the one who wins, and using that criterion, I would have to say that Josh is doing pretty well!
