Little Cloud, November 2023
4675 nM, 28 days at sea
An expiring visa had us leaving Tahiti in head winds and 2 to 4m swell, beating our way towards Raivavae for the first 4 days of the trip. After a brief stop in the rarely visited island and a courtesy fruit re-provisioning by the local Gendarmes, we head off again, this time reaching, aiming for a High pressure ridge recurrently developing under the Gambier Islands and allowing us a course almost straight onto destination. For the next three weeks, we make our way between highs on our left and lows on our right, preferring speed over heading as we race to avoid the periods of calm that follow the fronts we ride. Against our expectations, we are lucky enough to not encounter any heavy weather with biggest gusts only reaching 35kts.
November 1st
We departed the anchorage of Marina Taina at first light to find a dozen surfers on the passe Taapuna break. Sails up outside the pass and we find a light breeze fifteen minutes after we start heading south. As we get passed the lee of the Island the light breeze becomes a sustained 24 kts gusting 29, accompanied by a 2m swell. This settles down to around 22 kts from 125° and has us sailing at 185° with two reefs on the main and a partially furled jib. The washing machine motion begins and we all start searching our sea legs and rhythm, mostly by taking naps and trying out some sea sickness tablets. Weather is grey and overcast, the cockpit gets washed by every other wave.
Nānā Tahiti!
November 2nd
20°09.63’S 150°04.38’W
COG 195°
SOG 6,5 kts
Wind 130° 16-20kts
Daily milage 144nM
The wind eases down on the second day, and we unfurl the jib to keep our speed up. The swell is still about 2m high. The boat is heeling heavily but seems to slice nicely through the waves and everyone is getting rest between their watches to catch up with the sea rhythm. Inspections on deck require full waterproof suiting.
November 3rd
23°13.72’S 150°26.44’W
COG 100°
SOG 6,0kts
Wind 150° 20-24kts
Daily Milage 146nm
Wind is unsettled during the night, we are getting large holes in the pattern where it drops to 8kts and veers south, we are having to be very reactive. It settles in the morning and we tack to make some easting. The swell picked up and is now peaking to 4 meters. We had to slow the boat down by tightening the wind angle to minimise pounding, keeping speeds below 6 kts. Despite the big swell Liz and I start our afternoon musical routine in the pilot house, practicing guitar chords and lyrics from our new favourite band, RKS. The weather starts to freshen, at night we are wearing long sleeves.
November 4th
22°20.97’S 147°55.84’W
COG 105°
SOG 6,5kts
Wind 170° 15-17kts
Daily milage 137nM
The sea has considerably flattened along with the decrease in wind speed. Wind has veered almost down to south. All hardware on deck seems to have kept up well with yesterday’ beatings. All apart the wind generator which started making loud rattling sounds before grinding all of the gear teeth and being decommissioned to our biggest disappointment, as it was doing a great job at keeping the batteries high in charge.
Crew is in top condition today. The boys started their day watching a fascinating movie in which Brad Pitt seamlessly runs around chopping heads wearing but a skirt and sandals.
Liz is doing a great job at documenting our trip with exotic videos.
November 5th
23°34.55’S 147°33.80’W
COG 195°
SOG 6 kts
Wind 155° 13-15kts
Daily milage 144nM We decide to make a stop in Raivavae to give the guys a break on their very first ocean crossing and to check the rig, bilges and system, and get our winter clothes out. After several tacks upwind we follow the transit into the lagoon and anchor in Mahanatoa. We spend the afternoon working on the boat.
Tacking up to Pass Mahanatoa, Raivavae, Isles Australes
November 6th
We are busy with fine tunning the rig when a police syren sounds, two gendarmes are trying to get our attention from the shore. I Call the gendarmerie of Raivavae on the VHF and the chief officer tells me we must go to shore and make a new declaration of departure, and that we are anchored in a no anchor zone. The Gendarme car follows us to Rairua Bay and wait patiently on the service dock for us to inflate the tender and row ourselves to shore. They escort us to the Gendarmerie, have me fill in a new declaration form and offer us to pick grapefruit and papayas from their backyard. The chief officer offers to lend us some bikes to go to the shop, so we come back onshore in the afternoon to circumnavigate the island on the bicycles, before heading back out to sea in the evening.
November 7th
23°52.95’S 145°58.37’W
COG 106°
SOG 6 kts
Wind 160° 10-13kts
Today the swell is quite tamed and the weather is great, the deck washing waves are only rare and although still close hauled, the deck is inviting for some perusing. I was able to make a pâte brisée and feed the guys a vegetable pie. Pedro’s hand seems to be ok, the inflammation is lesser along with the pain. He got a few deep cuts from the wind vane back in Raivavae but was quickly attended to. We are keeping him away from sail manoeuvres and cleaning dishes.
November 8th
23°32.84’S 143°21.75’W
COG 076°
SOG 7kts
Wind 140° 16kts
Daily milage 149 nM
The wind picks up, along with the swell, the peaks reach 3m high and the motion is very bumpy. We furl the jib a little more in the afternoon and point higher upwind, as we must slow the boat down and stop the slamming. We still manage to attend to our daily sister musical practice at sunset in the pilot house.
Geo practicing songs and checking the rig
November 9th
23°06.17’S 140°48.39’W
COG 084°
SOG 6.5kts
Wind 150° 14kts
Daily milage 145 nM
The weather persists, we are expecting the wind to back before disappearing for a day, and force us to follow a northerly course, but to our surprise it backs and becomes Southerly in the afternoon. We are sailing directly towards our goal, but the wind does decrease slowly after lunch.
After my watch and some domestic duties Sacha notices the bilge pump running in the forward cabins. We find a good bit of water in the bilges. We identify the leak coming from the forward black tank cover, luckily for us it is clean, but has been filling through a faulty three-way valve. The wind dies on us as we are tidying up bilge contents, loose floor boards and deconstructed furniture parts.
November 10th
23°18.66’S 139°13.50’W
COG 195°
SOG 0.7kts
Wind light and variable
Daily milage 94 nM
We have engine issues. Pedro spent half of the night working on it. We then dropped all sails and decided to get some rest. We take advantage of a day bobbing around to enjoy a gorgeous blue water dip and a well-deserved fresh water shower. Then back to work on the engine, bilge leaks and valve cleaning. By the end of the day, the engine is purring again and we make way towards 120°.
Swimming over 4000m of depth, what could be under us?
November 11th
23°53°57’S 137°29.65’W
COG 120°
SOG 7 kts
Wind Variable, building northerly
Daily milage 105 nm
The wind doesn’t show up until midday, by when the sea state has flattened and we are able to sail a solid 6 kts in 10 kts of breeze from the north. The sky is clear and we experience the definition of champagne sailing.
We are expecting light winds in the night but instead it builds to 17 kts, gusting 20, and we reach top speeds until dawn.
November 12th
25°43.62’S 134°51.13’W
COG 125°
SOG 8.5kts
Wind 020° 15-19kts
Daily milage 181nm
We had a super comfortable night, compared to the last two getting rolled from side to side, this time the boat was steadily heeling and slicing through the swell.
A slight decrease in wind strength this morning and the boys found motivation to plug the spi in, but that exercise turned out to be just a morning work out since it did not allow us to keep our course, neither did it increase our speed enough to be interesting. We dropped it, unrolled the jib and shook the two reefs in main. We are on a broad reach and our speed is back up to around 9 kts.
November 13th
27°27.43’S 131°50.91’W
COG 120°
SOG 8 kts
Wind 015° 20-25 kts
Daily milage 194 nM
The wind was between 14 and 17 kts during the night and we were able to send the whole main up again and keep our speed up. In the morning, the wind is up, we are getting gusts of 32 kts. The mainsail is reduced to its 3rd reef and we are still using a semi furled jib. Manoeuvres on deck start to feel sporty. We had to bear away on our desired course in the stronger moments. It has been raining lightly on and off since this morning.
November 14th
29°10.31’S 128°40.78’W
COG 125°
SOG 8.5 kts
Wind 010° 20 kts
Daily milage 198 nM
Tough night watch for Sacha who got many squalls with strong winds and big wind holes. He spent his watch adjusting the heading to deal with the wind shifts, we got one particularly bad broach, followed by a 180° wind shift, no wind, boom pulling against preventer with each big wave. But as soon as his watch was over the weather settled, still around 20 kts, and many rain clouds on the radar, but no big shifts. The sea is moderately big and moving the boat in an unsettling manner. I’m feeling on the verge of being sea sick since this morning, and having a hard time displacing myself through the boat without tripping and knocking everything.
November 15th
31°01.49’S 125°27.10’W
COG 125°
SOG 8.8 kts
Wind 020° 18-23 kts
As forecasted, the wind has picked up to a regular 25 kts, we are getting occasional gusts at 28 kts. The sea is disordered, the motion inside the boat is a continual rock from side to side, front to back, but barely ever any slamming of the bow, the ride feels comfortable although the white pills are still in use by some more fragile crew(captain). The pilot house is frequently transformed into a carwash when a wave washes the deck. We just dropped the main to the third reef and everything feels just a little more controlled.
Morale on board is still high, Liz is recording her new songs every day in the saloon, Sacha just recently started reading a book, Pedro made us a wonderful chicken curry and his hand is healing steadily. We brought the old kite with us for some sewing projects, but those are going real slow.
November 16th
33°20.26’S 122°23.93’W
COG 135°
SOG 8.5 kts
Wind 020° turning N 18-20 kts
Daily milage 210 nM
The wind persists. We are still running from over 20 kts of wind. The motion is better than yesterday, the swell period seems to have lengthened. We made a thourough deck check this morning and after 4 days of sailing with winds over 20 kts, everything seems to be in top shape.
It’s no secret, life onboard is pretty monotonous! Liz didn’t lose the opportunity of a video report when she spotted a white buoy floating by us yesterday. Apart from that we have daily visits from solitary pelagic birds, which I’m not good at distinguishing between petrels or shearwaters. It must be said, in over 2000 miles sailed, we only crosse paths with one other boat, and that was just off the coast of Tahiti.
November 17th
35°17.90’S 119°30.04’W
COG 130°
SOG 8 kts
Wind 330° 15-20kts
Daily milage 188 nM
Wind has decreased this morning and backed, and Liz and Pedro hooked up the spinnaker at 6am, we are running and doing excellent speeds, and life onboard is very comfortable. We cracked a coconut open to make milk to bath our taro in for lunch. I‘ve been observing a Polynesian storm petrel fishing around us. He is quite small, flies joyfully between the waves and drags his feet in the water.
Weather is getting colder. We are wearing long sleeves and boots and getting bigger sleeping bags out.
The wind started dying off mid-afternoon. At sunset we drop the main and keep the spi up, we sail completely downwind. The wind drops below 10 kts at 10.30pm and we drop the spi, turn on the engine. We have reached the meeting point of two high pressure systems.
November 18th
35°51.35’S 116°28.68’W
COG 075°
SOG 5.5 kts
Wind 120° 16-20kts
Daily milage 156 nM
At 3am the wind picked up from the South, quickly reaching 17 kts, so main up with 2nd reef and a small jib. We are on the top east edge of a new high-pressure system catching up with us. The wind is South and expected to back toward east during the next day, so we have to stay close hauled. In the morning the wind had been increasing and reaching 35kts in gusts, Pedro dropped to 3rd reef and tested the storm staysail but found the boat unbalanced and went back to the jib.
The wind drops back down at lunch time, steady around 17kts. The swell is big and life onboard is tricky. Pedro found that the bottom batten on the mainsail has ripped its pocket and is sticking out. We should be able to fix that on Monday when the wind dies.
November 19th
35°06.42’S 114°02.43W
COG 135°
SOG 6 kts
Wind 070° 8-10 kts
The weather is more civilized today. We have received real sun rays on our skin and can walk around without using upper body strength to avoid sliding downhill.
Wind has been backing slowly since yesterday and reached 070° this morning, as the high pressure system to our south catches up with us. Pedro decided to tack and the wind then dropped too much for the third reef so we decided to drop the sails and tend to the escaping batten. The stitches on the leach were torn but no cloth was visibly ripped, so we pulled the batten forward and found that it was not correctly passed in the end pocket. We reinserted it correctly and restitched the leech. We are back to main up with 1 reef and full jib, port tack, aiming low as the wind is light.
We are taking advantage of the nice weather to take showers in the cockpit, make water, and throw the fishing line over!
The wind turns off in the afternoon and we put on our noise cancelling earphones to cope with the music from the engine.
November 20th
36°05.39’S 111°24.31’W
COG 110°
SOG 7 kts
Wind 050° 5-8 kts
We patiently wait all day for the promised ten knots that never show up. We are in the centre of the high and it is taking its time to overtake us. The sky has a few holes in its thick cloud blanket and we take advantage of the calm to service the generator and clean up the interior.
November 21st
37°15.71’S 108°15.34’W
COG 100°
SOG 8.5 kts
Wind 000° 15 kts
We had to wait all the way until this morning for the wind to build up. We first tried with the spi but the wind built too quickly so we dropped it and replaced it by the jib and staysail. The combo works well on a reach, we are sailing 9 kts when the breeze is 15. We are staying north so that we can bear away when the wind picks up and also to be well situated when the low eventually comes in with SSW winds. We are well positioned now to ride this high for a few days.
The sunlight is really pleasant, we had almost forgotten what clear skies look like and are enjoying taking some layers off.
Sacha hoisting the staysail
November 22nd
38°02.65’S 104°16.04’W
COG 090°
SOG 8.8 kts
Wind 000° 20 kts
The wind has built slightly. We decide to head up a bit, adjust sails and follow our new routing which will keep us north of the storm we can see forecasted for Sunday, four days from now. This puts us on a reach but the wind speed is still tamed, and it remains quite comfortable.
The sun is shining lightly but enough to heat up the pilot house so we have to peel off some of the layers we added during the night. The night watches have us doubling up on pants, jackets and covering our hands and ears. I heard my crew exchanging top tips on techniques to keep their socks dry, a sort of sock watch system, one for the day one for the night. Anyhow…
We spot our first albatross in the afternoon. It is quite sensational.
November 23rd
38°23.12’S 099°55.96’W
COG 085°
SOG 8.9 kts
Wind 145° 18-22 kts
We are sailing on a reach, and the wind seems to be building lightly, the gusts are reaching 25 kts. We dropped the staysail earlier, we were overpowered even with just a little jib out, and going to slow with just the staysail. The boat is heeling heavily, it’s quite a challenge to do anything.
In the evening, before sunset, we hear a popping noise; The vang base shed its bolts fixing it to the mast, it is holding only on a few bent bolts. We decide to detach the vang from rig and strap it down onto the deck. We will have to mouse in a topping lift for our next main sail hoist.
November 24th
38°11.14’S 095°34.78’W
COG 086°
SOG 8.6 kts
Wind 330° 18-20 kts
We were able to make a bit of north since yesterday and the wind has backed now, as expected. It seems like we are keeping speed, even after baring away a few degrees to follow the routing. We are barely keeping up with the front which is threatening us with light winds.
The weather is overcast, with light rain and less than a mile visibility. Nevertheless, the sailing is back to being very comfortable, no more holding on to every grab for our displacements.
November 25th
38°01.47’S 091°19.37’W
COG 90°
SOG 9 kts
Wind 315° 18-20 kts
Visibility is up again. Got a few Petrels roaming around, the wind has backed and we are relentlessly keeping our speed up with the spinnaker. This sail feels borderline when the wind picks to 23 kts, but it is still manageable. The front still can’t catch us and we should stay in a good position until the low-pressure system reaches us. This last one looks like it will pass us before becoming strong, we might just be spared the heavy weather.
Nevertheless, we want to stay north, in prevision of the lighter winds after the low which we want to attack with narrower angles.
Forecast for Monday 27 morning, low strengthening and moving quickly SW
November 26th
38°03.22’S 087°09.49’W
COG 100°
SOG 9 kts
Wind 330° 20-22 kts
Daily milage 198 nM
Wind is forcing from NNW, the sea feels tamed because we are running with it, but we get an occasional pressure pulling us up. We just set a second reef in the main and feel more balanced. We are now within the building low pressure system, getting caught up by its front and are being graced with a few very welcomed rays of sun.
Many birds are out accompanying us today.
As we are getting closer to our goal, we are all feeling a bit nostalgic and are considering turning around and going to New Zealand. We have 15 rolls of toilet paper left, that should keep us covered for this venture.
November 27th
38°50.25’S 082°54.98’W
COG 105°
SOG 8.5 kts
Wind 230° 20-25 kts
Daily milage 209 nM
The front passed us around 1am last night. The wind took about an hour to clock from 330° to 260° after a succession of scattered squalls with only light rains. It was blowing 23-29 kts throughout the shift and beyond. We gybed when it settled and dropped the staysail to keep the jib.
The cold came in abruptly with this new SW wind. Wind speed is starting to drop slowly and sits at 14-17 kts in the evening and through the night.
November 28th
40°29.45’S 079°47.13’W
COG 135°
SOG 7 kts
Wind 280° 15-22 kts
Daily milage 188 nM
Today started high in emotions! Liz woke us up this morning claiming the kite fell down… it turns out it ripped straight across horizontally about a meter from the head, and stripped down along the leach and luff line. We dropped the mainsail and started pulling the sail out of the water and into the cockpit. It seems the tear doesn’t go all the way down to the foot. I hope there is a very talented sailmaker in Puerto Montt and maybe he can do a little miracle with our kite. The good news is we got it onboard safely, and Elisa has footage of its last flight with the full moon and a start of sunrise;
Second event this morning, we got a visit from a Chilean Armada plane. They contacted us on the VHF whilst flying around us in circles. He simply got us to give him the name of the boat, flag, call sign, last and next port of call and number of crew. That was our first contact in 22 days.
We are now sailing with the jib in goosewing, and might put in a gibe after I get the weather. We will not be able to do a straight line to Chacao.
November 29th
106 miles left to the entrance of Canal Chacao and we have 19hs to make it there for low tide. This low angle has us going quite slow but we should make in in time. The wind direction is just on the limit of allowing us a straight line to the waypoint.
Pedro got another call from the armada this morning but he could not see any plane or ship close by.
We have many Wedge Rumped storm petrels and other petrels flying around us today.
The marina is expecting us at the end of the day tomorrow and they have arranged for the authorities to meet us on the dock at 19.30 to clear customs.
Only one more night at sea for us!
November 30th
At 10.am as we approach the Canal Chacao, we receive a control call from Corona lighthouse. Against our expectations, the lands are medium in hight, but with straight cliffs facing the open ocean, which today with more than 2m swell is revealing many rocks along the coast line and at the start of the channel. As we go more inland we find a couple of villages, that seem to shelter a large fishing industry, seeing their superstructures and their many fishing boats moored along their beaches. Fishing boats and skiffs continuously pop up to our sight as we venture further into the channel. We instantly notice the affluent passage of graceful black and white Cormorans, I immediately look it up and find they are the Imperial Cormorans. We quickly after get greeted by noisy and curious sealions, emerging their heads out of the water ten meter around us and barking unmannerly. Then there is a parade of jumping and twisting dolphins, they are black on the back, light grey and white on the underside, and have a long S-shape white line on their side, from their tail to there blow hole. They identify as Peale Dolphins. We made it in time for the incoming tide, but only notice 4 knots of current at its strongest. As we pass the narrows between the Island of Chiloe and mainland, we could see what appeared to be the construction of a Large Bridge linking the two lands. Coming out of the channel, I enjoy watching the flight of a close flock of Pelicans, and we start spotting far high snow-covered volcanos in the distance.
We make to Canal Tenglo around 5.30pm and are in awe of the views, of steep and bushy hills, many tankers at dock, cattle in large green fields, colourful wooden houses, sealions sleeping on mooring buoys. We moor to the end dock at Club Nautico Reloncavi and soon get the visit of a friendly group of agents from the Armada, followed by one agent of SAG (Agrocultural control), and need to wait until the morning to go into town for immigration and customs.
