I wouldn’t say we’re “stuck” in Tahiti, but we are in a holding pattern. We only have 90 days allowed to us in French Polynesia, so by the first week in July, we need to be out of the country. The clock is ticking. We can’t leave Tahiti, however, without our mainsail-sort of important.

Ben and Tatyana Olivari

We arrived here two weeks ago after quite possibly the most perfect sail we’ve yet had. Twenty-five hours of beautiful wind, clear skies, and calm seas saw us cover the 170 nautical miles from Tikehau to Tahiti. Meraviglia has been in a marina since then. We made a quick trip of 7 days to California for a wedding (Congratulations Ben and Tatyana!) and are now back aboard checking off boat projects before heading west to Bora Bora. The very long, largely windless passage across the Pacific took its toll and we have a lot of sailing to do from here to New Zealand, so now is the time to get Meraviglia fixed up while we are someplace with lots of goods and services.

Guess who’s the sailor with no decent clothes?

Our radar unit died just as we finished our Pacific crossing. Not having radar makes overnight passages somewhat more anxiety-provoking. Without it, we cannot see other vessels or developing squalls. Happily, the old unit was still under warranty, so Garmin shipped us a replacement unit (much thanks to Drew Orr at Mariner Marine Services for facilitating the warranty claim!). So, up the mast I went to replace the radar dome. Happily it was the antenna/dome itself that was faulty, so we didn’t have to replace the cable inside the mast. While aloft, I went to the masthead and did a complete rig inspection. The good news is that everything generally looked good. The bad news is that we have a broken strand on our port side D2 shroud. Further testing revealed no other broken strands there and good strength, so replacement can wait until New Zealand. Figuring all that out required a second mast trip the next day, so total of 3 hours spent in the bosuns chair over two days. Fun!

Yep-it needs to go up there!
Sometimes I wonder…
Broken strand-not cool

The other major work involves the sails. Our mainsail ripped in three places during the passage. The cloth is heavily UV-damaged, so we have a new mainsail ordered and it is due to arrive this coming week. WooHoo! We took our genoa off because we could see some areas that needed repair. Unfortunately, when we got it down on deck, it was apparent that doing the repairs ourselves would require sewing into our dotage. So off the the sailmaker it went. Turns out every seam needed restitching as well as the UV cover. They also patched a couple of areas. Happily, the cloth is in pretty good condition, so we should be set with our headsail.

The back of our instrument engine panel-no, I don’t know what all the wires do.

Other projects were more minor. I replaced the pressure relief valve on the water heater. Hopefully now we won’t have hot water leaking onto the floor! I also replaced the engine ignition switch. The old one was getting cranky: sometimes the key wouldn’t turn, sometimes it turned but the engine didn’t start, sometimes the key wouldn’t come out of the socket. Turns out the tumblers in the switch were out of whack-probably from the torque of having a keychain on the key while the boat is underway. Who knew? Anyway, new switch now installed. I like the idea of knowing the engine will start when we want it to!

Finally, we had a tech come check our freezer. The compressor has been running non-stop since we arrived in the Marquesas. Turns out we had a leak in one of the refrigerant lines. With that tightened up and the system recharged, we seem to be back in business.

So, overall, still the usual “death by a thousand cuts” thing happening on board!

This weekend Kim and I are celebrating 32 years of marriage. We’re pretty sure that 32 years ago, we would never have dreamt that we would sail our own boat across the Pacific. It’s been quite a ride!

Hopefully next week we’ll be getting ready to head west to Bora Bora!