PAGE 8 • SPRING 2007 THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SAILING ASSOCIATION
2008 Trip
1st leg - March 8 to March 18 in
and around the Marquesas Islands
including Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oah,
etc.
2nd leg - March 21 to March 31
around the Marquesas and then
an ocean passage to the Taumotou
Islands ending in Rangiroa.
3rd leg - April 3 to April 13 from
Rangiroa in the Taumotu Islands
to Raiatea, Bora Bora, and the
rest of the Society Islands.
For more information go to www.
modernsailing.com/advent.html.
ADVENTURES IN CRUISING
continued from page 1
My first trip there began in March of 1998 when I left
Acapulco for a 26-day ASA ocean passage-making class
to the Marquesas that was as epic as any sailing
adventure I have ever had. The boat was a 53-foot sloop,
and the crew consisted of me as the instructor and six
students.
It was to that date, the strongest El Nino year on record
and we had all kinds of rough weather including at least
four full-on, 35-knot squalls per day the last 10 days.
Also, there was the lightening that hit our mast on the
(Top) Tahaa Louisa’s tropical splendor is well worth the trip to
way to the Tuamotous. Fortunately there was no damage.
see it. (Below) The different shades of colors in the water are the
hallmark of South Pacific sailing.
Then, anchored in the lagoon at Bora Bora, in the middle
of an ASA Bareboat Charter and Advanced Coastal
Cruising class, we got notice that a cyclone was coming
celestial navigation became part of our routine.
our way and would hit the next morning. This gets your
attention. The full story of this storm is too long for this
Just before we arrived at the pass in Tekahau some 72
article, but suffice it to say that when the winds got to
hours later, the engine on this four-cabin Beneteau 47
120 knots, we were pleased that our multiple large
started to overheat. We got out the tools and replaced
anchors and all chain rodes held. Many other boats were
the impeller, and everything was fine after that.
not as well equipped.
It is very difficult to describe these atolls in the Pacific
In the fall of 2006, I went back again to French
because they are so large that the curvature of the earth
Polynesia around the area of Tahiti, Riiatea and out to
is such that you can often not see the other side. They
the distant atolls some two hundred plus miles away, the
are simply rings of coral a few hundred yards wide but
Tuamtous. We offered two twelve-day ASA ocean
some twenty to forty miles across and with elevations no
passage-making courses, and in both of these trips we
higher than the tallest palm trees, it is little wonder that
went back to that same anchorage in Bora Bora where
these islands used to be called “the dangerous
we experienced that cyclone (called a hurricane in the
archipelago.”
northern hemisphere).
It is an unforgettable experience to sail these islands and
On the first of these twelve-day legs, we struck out from
to replicate the sights, sounds and feelings of sailors
the island of Huahine for the Tuamotou island Tekahau.
who have come before you. No matter where you sail or
The winds were strong and on our nose for a relatively
how experienced you are, the days spent here will be
rough passage. But we had beautiful skies where
unlike any other sailing in the world.
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