Tevake's old sea story from the South Pacific.

[tevake]

Well winter is truly here, even here in northern Az. It's chilly and rainy outside.
So I'm thinking why not a sea story from the warm South Pacifc.

After a year spent in New Zealand completely rebuilding Tevake we were glad to be heading out for Tonga and Fiji and a season of getting to know our new boat, and visiting far flung little traveled islands.
We arrived in Tongatapu after a rough but fairly quick passage barely missing being run down by what has come to be called the Queens Birthday Storm. This out of season storm Overwhelmed a large fleet of yachts that had departed days after we had headed out. Many boats were disabled with injurys aboard, a few were lost with all hands. Pretty grim news to hear on a plearsure cruise.

We completed entry procedures , restocked and headed out to check out the Hapai group. A beautiful pristine cluster of islands a day or so sail north of the Capital island.

Here anchored off beautiful white sand beaches we started to really relax and enjoy our new adventure




This was the first of many beautiful spots there in Tonga And after a few days easy sailing many wonderful adventures sailing all around the three hundred islands of Fiji.
Truly a dream realized.
But even the best dream doesn't last for ever. After about five months of sailing , surfing, diving and many interesting visits with the people of these Friendly Islands
It was time to head back to New Zealand to avoid the cyclone season in the tropics.

It was on this leg of the trip that our challenges really came along. If you notice in the pic above, Tevake was equipped with a wing mast. This rotating spar can add nicely to the drive of the sail plan under ideal conditions. We found it to be a bit of a handful to manage under rougher conditions often encountered in the waters near N Z.
While heading south we encountered a bit of a storm that required we run before the weather with bare poles (no sails up). And dragging a sea anchor for about 24 hrs of the worst of it. During this period the mast control line on one side parted allowing the mast to rotate wildly till we got it secured.
Once the wind settled down we got under way for N Z again and settled into what should have been a few more days sailing to make our landfall in the Bay Of Islands.
This was not the way it worked out. After sailing a few hours in diminishing storm waves and moderate winds. Suddenly out of the blue the mast dropped to the deck, with the top half draging in the ocean. Then as the boat moved to the waves the mast and it's gear proceeded to tear up and punch wholes in the deck.
Needless to say all hands scrambled to secure this threat before it could seriously damage the boat any more. We wenched the mast forward till the base was at the bow.
Then got a line from the tip of the mast to a winch to pull it over till it no longer hit or dragged in the water.


After making sure no water was getting into the hulls, and patching the wholes on deck, and that no lines or rigging could foul the prop we started the long slog under power (all of 10 hp single cylinder diesel) now at 2 or 3 knts of speed for the four hundred more miles to the Bay Of islands. This was to take us 11 more days to cover what we likely would have sailed in 3 days.
Well. We sure didn't have the fuel to motor for 13 days on board. Thankfully a ship diverted to drop us fuel at sea.



As you can see while motoring along we manged to rig some windsurf gear and dingy sails to help the boat along a little.
Midway on this long slow leg in I started to draw up a plan for a new fixed conventional rig for tevake. While also trying to calm Margaret's protests that this was the end of our sailing days on Tevake.

Even our arrival in the BOI. Didn't completely quell this mutinous talk. But it sure was nice to finally get there

Margaret and our crew Erica happy to be there!



We were met by boats to see us in and didn't realize there was a rep from a local sailing mag there too. Here is a clip from that mag.



Well as most sea stories go this has been a bit long winded, but I hope you have enjoyed it.

Cheers Richard

[Jim Richards]

Great story Richard. These stories are never long-winded, On the contrary, they leave me wanting to hear more.

[GH85Carrera]

It sounds like a real adventure that I don't want any part of. That ocean is one BIG ol scary place. Glad ya made it back to civilization.

[LakeCleElum]

Thanks for a great story........It was easy to spot you were in the Southern Hemisphere.........

[ckelly78z]

Is this an excerpt from your book that you should be writing ?

[2porscheguy]

Subscribed! Great story Richard....but us chickenschit landlubbers want to hear more! How did you handle your mutinous crew?!?

[tevake]

I hear ya Glenn, a prime requirement of sailors is a selective memory. You've got to be able to forget the promises made to God if he helps you out of this one.:-)

O K Jim, how about the ship that motored three plus hours out of their way to drop us fuel. They strung together jugs of fuel and tossed them in front of us. Then I had to swim over to them with a line, to avoid a prop wrap. Once back aboard pulled the jugs up to realize the fuel was gelatinous bunker fuel, completely useless to us. WTF.

There are always more.

Or sitting on the head only to have a wave sweep the deck, washing away the patch there. Leaving a waterfall on my head.

[tevake]

So Bob, how could you tell, did the pics come thru upside down? Sent from my I pad mini. Never know how things will come out.

Alex, lots of patients and understanding I thought got us past it. Tho She never did sail a major passage aboard again.

Plus the resent unexpected divorce that went down this year may be an indicator that she has a memory more like an elephant than a sailor.

[2porscheguy]

Oh ya...sorry to hear about that Richard!

[Bill Douglas]

Wow. I'm pleased you survived it Richard. Scary stuff that far from land

[Nostril Cheese]

My ex was big into sailing. Im glad I never have to work on a boat again.

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by tevake

So Bob, how could you tell, did the pics come thru upside down? Sent from my I pad mini. Never know how things will come out.

Alex, lots of patients and understanding I thought got us past it. Tho She never did sail a major passage aboard again.

Plus the resent unexpected divorce that went down this year may be an indicator that she has a memory more like an elephant than a sailor.

Yeah, Upside down, but still a great story about places I want to visit someday....Seems when I post pic's from my Iphone, it's always dicey how they come out....Thanks again.

[jwasbury]

Cool story Richard, thanks for sharing. I never tire of sailing stories, being a sailor myself. My wife was never a big fan of the boat, however. No way I'd ever get her to sign up for more than a daysail.

A sailing friend described cruising as: "countless hours of boredom, interlaced with moments of absolute terror". I think it fits.

[nostatic]

I fixed the pics. Being on the open ocean is scary biz...

[tevake]

^^. Thanks for flipping the pics for me.
Naw, the scary stuff is what can happen right here on solid earth, when someone you love decides its over for them, now that's deadly, but I think I'll survive this one too.

Thanks Alex!

I'm glad y'all enjoyed the story. The picture album just came to hand. So I thought it would fill out the yarn nicely. There are some more interesting pics of visits to villages etc. shall I post a few more?

Cheers Richard

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by tevake

^^. Thanks for flipping the pics for me.
Naw, the scary stuff is what can happen right here on solid earth, when someone you love decides its over for them, now that's deadly, but I think I'll survive this one too.

The ocean of love is the stormiest of them all. But as they say, this too shall pass...

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

a great story about places I want to visit someday....

I've just got back from 2 weeks in Rarotonga. It's the best!!!

[DonDavis]

Thanks for sharing your adventure! Looking forward to hearing many more.
I watched 'All is Lost' with Redford last weekend. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm sure there are inaccuracies re open ocean sailing, but the story was decent.

Sounds like you're in AZ, we should meet up soon.

I hiked with my daughter the other day and we were talking about the Kauai marathon. We're fairly certain we're going. More on that later.

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by tevake

I'm glad y'all enjoyed the story. The picture album just came to hand. So I thought it would fill out the yarn nicely. There are some more interesting pics of visits to villages etc. shall I post a few more?

Cheers Richard

You have to ask? Of course. Let's hear it!

And if you ever feel like escaping the cold north and heading down to the valley, let us know!

[HardDrive]

My Hemingway bell is ringing.