Thoughts at sea or storm warning

We've had nice weather since yesterday. The days before that were more or less covered in squalls. Those ugly things that open their gray, greedy mouths wide as if they wanted to swallow you up along with your sailboat. If you get caught in one of these showers, it will pull you into its devilish maw at 25 knots or more, and it feels like you're running down the devil's throat, straight into hell. If anyone really wants to know what rain is, I recommend a squall like this. As I said, the weather has been fine since yesterday, the wind moderate, I think they call it champagne sailing. But after the storm is before the storm, and so another new front is brewing over the weekend. This time it's coming from the south. If the forecasts are to be believed, there are up to 46 knots and 66 knots in the gust. Admittedly a little further south than our sailing area, but the wind shifts to the northwest, which makes it difficult to get to American Samoa.

Pass Bora Bora, French Polynesia

The decision to sail directly from Bora Bora to American Samoa was only made on the way there. Originally, we wanted to make a stopover in Suwarrow. Suwarrow is a small atoll and nature reserve. The island belongs to the Cook Islands. It is not permitted to call at Suwarrow without having checked in at an official port of entry. But there is one exception. The island is normally monitored by a ranger. With his permission, you can stay for a few days. But as life goes, things often change, and so we were informed shortly before departure that Suwarrow was closed until further notice. My official inquiry to the authorities was not answered either, so in the end we decided to skip the Cook Islands and sail directly to American Samoa.

A squall sneaks up from behind

We have now covered about half the distance. We've given ourselves ten days for the crossing, and at first it all looked very easy. The wind was blowing from the east at 12 to 15 knots and the waves weren't more than two meters, so everything was as the Kapitana imagines sailing to be. The wind had been much lower over the last few days, but we still managed to achieve distances of around 100 nautical miles. So there was nothing to change in our plan, and the course is set directly for American Samoa. We are in the Samoa Basin and, as the name suggests, it is a small basin in this huge Pacific Ocean that lies to the east of Samoa. I look out to sea from the cockpit and wonder where the nearest land is. The curious thing about this position is that from north to south there is nothing but the Arctic and Antarctica. 4000 nautical miles to the north and 4000 nautical miles to the south, no land masses and therefore, of course, no people. You have to imagine that. Things like that fascinate me again and again. Especially as we know what 4000 nautical miles feels like, especially when there is no wind. I'm glad that the crossing from Bora Bora to American Samoa is only a mere 1100 nautical miles. Provided you can take the direct route. It no longer looks like that on the second leg. We need to think about the second section of the route.

Helm on the Katinka Enjoy

On the one hand, we have a sufficient safety distance from the strong wind area, but on the other hand, this area sucks the wind away from us. The wind shifts to the northwest and later even to the west, which means we get the wind on our noses. Every catamaran sailor knows what that means. The heavier the catamaran, the more modest the upwind performance, and we are sailing a truck. So I need height in order to have as much angle as possible on an upwind course. So we have left our direct course and will now sail north-west for two days. This will lengthen the route, but in the end I will have a better angle to reach my destination. Provided there is still wind where we arrive. If that's not the case, the cat has once again bitten itself in the tail. I always tick something like that off as a new experience, but I'm not so sure about the Kapitana.

Lunch at sea

Whether the whole thing will succeed is written in the stars, especially as there is also a not insignificant current of up to two knots against us. Once again, this makes it a test of patience. This current has been slowing us down since Bora Bora and takes a good knot of speed out of the boat on average. It drives you crazy in the long run. It's like driving a car at full throttle on the highway with the handbrake on. Well, the comparison is a bit of a misnomer, there are people who don't even notice it, but we have a display in the cockpit and it catches my eye every time I look at it.

Camp site during the free watch

There are just some things I can't get used to. Be that as it may, I hope that the strategy works. I'll tell you whether it does in the next blog. Until then, fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.