Pacific Crossing - 2019 - Suwarrow

It was a beautiful run to Suwarrow - the Cook Islands. 6 days dead downwind, fair winds and following seas. We kept our spinnaker up for 5 days, only lowering it when we saw the winds pickup to 20kts. The most memorable experience was watching the night sky. So clear and starfilled. I couldn't look at the sky without seeing a shooting star.

Suwarrow is a beautiful atoll, 690nm from French Polynesia's (Society Islands); Part of the Cook Islands, and also a nature reserve. It is also a convenient stop on our way West, only 700nm from Tonga. This means we have two six day passages instead of a two week passage. This is much better for timing periods of favorable conditions, the weather forecast which is critically important for small sailing yachts, is much less reliable beyond 6 days. 

We had such a good time in Suwarrow. It is a picturesque South Pacific atoll, and only possible by boat. We caught up with friends on the same route, and we enjoyed the hospitality of the two Park Rangers Harry and John. We encountered, kind, welcoming, and generous people throughout Polynesia, and will share those stories, but the Suwarrow rangers deserve a special mention.

We were the last of our group of eight boats to arrive. The others arrived one day before us. With so many new arrivals the rangers decided to invite us to the atoll for braai and pot luck on the beach. Everyone bought a dish and drinks, the rangers went out to the pass and caught Grouper and Barracuda for the braai. We all squeezed round the table and John said a prayer for grace. As the evening progressed the group clicked. Harry decided to sing a traditional Polynesian chant, a call for guests to come and be welcome. Then John played us some songs on the guitar. Truly excellent, it was like having a private performance by Springsteen.

The following night also turned into a small party, one cruiser had gone over to our neighbours for a boat related task, then someone else joined. One bottle of rum was opened, followed by another, and another. Step by step the evening grew into the perfect boat party, swapping notes on; rum, destinations, diving, weather, sailing and every kind of experience.

The following morning was not so good. Waking before sunrise I tried to remember what I needed to do. First job, watermaker, no check the dinghy. We normally raise the dinghy out of the water as we have davits that make this job much easier. Last night I couldn't face it, I was too drunk. I promise myself yet again that it will be the last time I drink so much. It was also the first time in two years that we decided it would be ok to leave the dingy in the water. Hmmm, it's not tied on that side, or the other side, and it's not under the boat, growing more alarmed and with a sinking feeling I realise, the dingy is gone! Oh boy.

The Dinghy

This is a big deal, we spend 99% of our time living at anchor 'on the hook', we cannot simply walk from the boat to land. The dingy is our means of getting on and off the boat, to explore, visit neighbours, and drift snorkel passes. We use her to provision, or jerry can fill the boats diesel tanks. The dingy is also useful for emergencies. In Moorea when our anchor chain was fouled, in Nuku Hiva to help guide in a boat that had no steering, and also to rescue other dinghies, and now she's gone! What will we do? How can we replace her in the middle of the Pacific?

The Search 

I called up the rangers to report in, and found out where to search. Our neighbours were also up early and offered to help, but Suwarrow is a big lagoon. We searched the nearby moto, but couldn't make the outer reef, the waves further out were getting bigger and bigger, and threatened to overwhelm us if we continued.

The Rescue

I reported back to the rangers. Harry decided to take me for a look in their larger and more powerful aluminum skiff. There were 5 dingy losses before we all arrived, and 2 in our short stay. Apparently the cause for most dingy losses is not conditions, or wear, but usually the party from the previous night - this sounded plausible to me - my head was still a little sore and I could still taste last nights neat Havana Club. Harry swept the curve of the reef so quickly in the skiff, this was definitely the tool for this particular job. He also seemed to have an Eagle's eye and found a tiny grey speck almost clear on the far side of the reef edge. I couldn't make it out even using my Steiner binos. The only problem was the conditions even inside the lagoon on this side of the atoll there is 4nm of fetch and enough depth to build up to 2m waves. Picture the old corkscrew ride at Alton Towers, this is what it felt like in the skiff once we stopped going with the waves. The coral heads over here were scattered and reaching up to the surface, so Harry could only take me so far. Also, the tide was rising, so there was only a short window for the rescue. One of us would need to swim, and Harry was the one driving the skiff. It was not a short swim either, and I forgot to bring fins. I put my mask on, stowed my binoculars, and slipped over the side.

Fortunately the waves and wind were taking me in the right direction. I turned around half way, but couldn't see Harry, I figured he might have gone back, I now knew had no choice but to make this work! I swam around coral heads, there was no time to look at the colours or chase reef fish, then the coral came up to 2m, then there some patches of sand1.5m. Suddenly, finally, in about 1ft of water I was "safe" - long as the tide didn't rise.

I limped across the coral, so relieved when I finally reached her. I found that everything was in one piece, no holes, no punctures, prop and outboard still looking good, a slight smell of petrol. I dragged her back to the edge of the reef where Harry was waiting. I'd spotted him once I could stand on the reef, he found a channel that he could used to get the skiff safely to the edge of reef I was on.

My trusty Suzuki started on the first pull. Wow. Now for a bone jarring ride back across the open lagoon. It was pretty wild. The waves needed just the right speed, too fast and the wind would catch the bottom of the rib lifting her over 45deg and could easily flip us over. Too slow and we would make no progress, I tried sitting forward, but this was just too jarring, and at one point I had to cut the throttle, I slid down the back of the wave at such an angle that I half swamped the dingy. Sitting in the centre with legs bracing either side and over the middle seat (another story) gripping the painter wrapped around my hand I found I could keep pace with the skiff. I opened the drain to let the water out and also found that following Harrys wake was slightly smoother.

That evening we had another beach party farewell, and thanks for the wardens, most of us have good weather for our next leg so one by one we left.