BoatUS Blogs - All Blogs

Here we are, a year since I first started writing for BoatUS about the trip with my boys. For half my life, I’ve been calling myself a writer, mostly on sailing-related subjects, and on one old computer I taped a bumper sticker that said, “I’d rather be vacuuming.” For years, it wasn’t a joke.

Saying Goodbye
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 378 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: September 01, 2008

Saying Goodbye
By Tania Aebi
Three weeks after making our lusciously sultry and Technicolor Tahitian landfall, I was back in the black-and-white land of Vermont, gazing out the kitchen window over a sea of March snow. It was several feet deep, the driveway a trough plowed out between two precarious waves, and the woodstove cranked full bore to bring a little dry warmth to my doomed tan.

The Circle Closes At Arue
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 349 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: August 15, 2008

August 15, 2008
Tahiti, French Polynesia
149° 25 W 17° 22 S
The Circle Closes At Arue
By Tania Aebi
It is 5:00 AM, and we are off Tahiti, hove-to under the flashing light beckoning from Point Venus 10 miles away. Its beam is slowly fading with the rising sun, and purplish mountains are emerging from the dark. Soon we’ll be able to discern the actual physical shape of the lighthouse itself. The wind is dying, blocked by the big island, and I want to motor along the barrier reef to the pass leading to the anchorage off Taina Marina in full daylight, which is why we’re wai...... Read More

Last Days In Rangi
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 368 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: August 01, 2008

Last Days In Rangi
By Tania Aebi
The boys and I are anchored off a jetty in Rangiroa, familiarly called Rangi (ran-ghee) by the French people living here. There’s a small restaurant overlooking the lagoon at the foot of the jetty where we tie the dinghy when we go ashore. It’s Rangi’s water-based link to the outside world, where the cruise ships disembark their passengers, where water taxis pick up people to bring to neighboring motus, where the inter-island cargo ship loads and unloads goods. Both of my cruising guides indicate this is the best anchorage, and people ashore ...... Read More

The Road To Rangiroa
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 348 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: July 15, 2008

I haven’t paid such close attention to the weather since fall of 2001. In July of that year, the boys and I had our last big adventure before this one, an 8,000-mile cross-country camping trip. In August, I led a 10-day charter in the Leeward Islands of French Polynesia, the second and last time I was here before now.

A Social Whirl
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 324 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: July 01, 2008

We’ve been in Ua Pou (pronounced: ooh, a poo) for almost a week now, and will be leaving tomorrow. The latest weather reports have been forecasting robust northeast winds for the Marquesas, 20-25 knots, gusting to 30, in the next couple of days. With the moon nearly full, I want to use the blow to make a speedy passage with well-lit nights to Rangiroa in the Tuamotus. The Marquesas have been good for amazing scenery, hiking, and the great people we’ve met, but the kids and I have decided it’ll have to be the Tuamotus where we find perfect clear blue waters for snorkeling and o...... Read More

The Land of Men
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 335 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: June 15, 2008

Kaoha from Fenua Enata. Hello from The Land of Men. That’s what the Marquesans call this group of spectacularly picturesque islands popping out of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from the Americas and, for many, including the crew of Shangri La, the first sight of land after a very long passage.

Sweet Days in Hiva Oa
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 353 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: June 01, 2008

There are tons of roosters on Hiva Oa. As ever, I wake with the sun. Here, in Tahauku Bay, it rises over the mountains behind us, coloring the rosy tradewind clouds that gather at the jaggedy summits, while the roosters crow. They echo from the hills, across the bay, and up from the valley at its head. It’s a virtual crowing cacophony.

Homing In
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 330 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: May 15, 2008

0700. Day 29. 440 miles to go. Our destination: Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, 3,850 miles from our last port in Panama. We’re screaming along downwind right now, jib poled out, mainsail lashed down with the preventer. The boys are still sleeping in their cabins and I’m on my bed, the salon settee, with the sun preparing to rise above a bank of clouds and shine through the companionway. It’s been getting hotter with every passing day from the long-sleeves, trousers, and blankets we needed over two weeks ago just west of the Galapagos. Back then, we stayed below most of th...... Read More

A Perfect Day At Sea
Contributed by Shangri-La - This blog has been viewed 323 times and there are 0 comments

Posted In Cruising Log

Posted: May 01, 2008

Ever since the afternoon we left Panama, at 1500, I’ve been marking our position every day on the overall chart at 1500. We’ve covered 1,380 miles so far. Looking back over it, the daily distances we’ve traveled vary wildly. Some are really long, and those were the days my dividers flew across the chart calculating how fast the trip would go. Then, there are some days where I didn’t even plot the position and ignored the chart altogether. Yesterday was one of those days -- our first flat calm.
Before yesterday, we’d had a couple of days of less-than-stellar pr...... Read More

Pages:

eMail BoatUS with your comments and suggestions