Suwarrow (also known as
Suvarov)
Northern Cook Islands
July 23 - August 3
Written by
PeteOne More Crew Change Before Leaving Rarotonga
On Sunday, July 22, we made one more crew change. Pamela was not in the right frame of mind to go cruising. There were a few instances that proved that she was pretty much useless.
During
one event we had to move the boat from one place in the harbor to another. For
this move, Dario, Pamela, and I were the only crew available, but we did get
some help from one or two other yachties. Pamela just stood around drinking her
tea while I was struggling with the dock line on shore. Dario had to
practically order her to put down the mug of tea and help with the dock lines.
She made a feeble attempt to hold a line will still sipping on her tea. I could
not believe that I was going to have to share space with this useless woman for
the next couple of weeks. Later that day Dario "fired" Pamela. Good
riddance.It did not take Dario long to find another "single female" crewmember, Evelyn. Evelyn is a 20-year-old Swiss girl that is traveling before starting university. She does not have any sailing experience so she gets the same deal that was offered to Pamela. No night watches, but she has to work with Gabi (we just found out this is the way she spells her name) to prepare all the dinners while under way. I hope they can cook.
Sailing to Suwarrow
On July 21 & 22, two different locals came by and asked Dario if he could carry some mail to relatives in Palmerston. Rarotonga is so small that the word must have gotten around that we were planning on going to Palmerston on our way to Suwarrow. Now we had 5 boxes full of bread, mail, peanuts, canned goods, and some other small odds and ends. Tilikum Triton is now an official Cook Island mail delivery vehicle.Monday, July 23, we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off getting some last minute things done: getting water and fuel, washing the deck, changing the crew list, etc. By 1 pm we were back in the blue water with no wind. Palmerston is about 300 miles away. If all goes well it should only take 2 or 3 days to get there.
The wind eventually picked up. About 50 miles from Palmerston, Dario decided that the wind was not in the right direction for us to safely enter or anchor near Palmerston and deliver the packages. So he changed course and headed to Suwarrow. This means the Tilikum Triton mail vehicle is now failing its first delivery. It would have been easy to call them and have them come out and take the packages, but Dario did not even consider it, citing safety as the issue. Dario said he would send the two people, who sent the packages, money from Samoa. Yeah right. Interesting how the crew of Tilikum Triton now is enjoying lots of bread and peanuts. The whole situation is quite embarrassing to Karen, Joan, Gabi, and me. It doesn't seem to bother Dario at all.
On Wednesday, July 25, the
wind began to pick up and the clouds got dark. By the time the weather was done
building that night, it was up to 30 knots of wind with gusts up to 40 knots.
The seas finally built to about 12-15 feet. All this weather was hitting us at
a beam reach to broad reach. The ride was not fun. . We have one reef in the
main and we are using a 70% jib. In the middle of the night when I was at the
helm, I got "pooped". That means that a wave broke in the cockpit. The wave
came out of nowhere and crashed over my head. Then the next wave did too. I
immediately informed Dario that we needed to put a second reef in the main.
After that we never had a wave break into the cockpit again.Thursday, July 26, is Karen's worst birthday ever. The seas are still big; the wind is still blowing hard and we won't be on land for at least another couple of days. To top everything off, the oven stopped working so I could not make a cake to celebrate her birthday. I made a personalized card for her that raised her spirits for the day. We are planning to go to dinner at a nice restaurant in Samoa to celebrate.
Since the weather picked up, we had to change the watches. The weather helm was too much for Karen during most of the nights. She was unable to keep the boat on course because she wasn't strong enough to hold the wheel even though
we were
now tripled reefed. So that left Dario, Joan, and me for manning the helm.
Since we have to hand steer we decided to use two-hour watches for the three of
us. We were two hours on and four hours off. I do not know how couples with no
other crew do it. I was exhausted. Of course, most other boats have wind vane
steering or a reliable autohelm. Tilikum Triton does not have either of
these.On Friday, July 27, we (Joan, Karen and me) estimate that we would make landfall at 4 PM that evening. But Dario decided that the wind could die and we would arrive in the night and he did not want to be anywhere near the island in the dark. So he decided to slow the boat and sail an extra 80 miles out of the way. Under some conditions this might be a desired course of action, but we are getting tossed around like a cork in a bottle. Now he wants to make this last LONGER. Joan and I finally convinced Dario to keep sailing towards Suwarrow and then heave-to on the leeside of the atoll. Heave-to is a way of setting your sails and the helm so that the boat just floats on the waves without losing too much ground. Many sailors who want to stop the boat during heavy seas or to wait outside an unfamiliar harbor use "heaving-to". Dario finally admits that he has never hove-to in the boat and he was nervous about trying it. No problem. Joan and I explain we can do it for him. Well, he only listened to half of what we said and decided to "heave-to" right there about 50 miles out.
Anyway we finally arrived in Suwarrow on Saturday, July 28 around noon. We found the only pass into the atoll without any problems. In the anchorage, we found 10 other sailboats already here on the hook. In fact, another sailboat came in right behind us. Now we are 12 boats. The anchorage was fully exposed to the still enduring heavy weather. The wind continued to blow between 25 and 30 knots for the next 48 hours. Everyone just sat on their boats and waited out the weather. But Gabi and I decide we've had enough and wanted to try our luck with swimming to the island using our snorkeling gear. We are anchored only about 100 yards away and there does not seem to be a strong current despite the 30 knots of wind and 3 foot seas.
Suwarrow
Now Suwarrow is a Cook Island nature reserve. Suwarrow is an atoll with most of the land submerged forming a ring of scattered islands. One of the largest is Anchorage Island. This island had its unique figure, for it was here that Tom Neale, a New Zealander, lived as a hermit for periods totaling 16 years, from 1952 till his death from cancer in 1978. Many yachts visited the atoll during his residence, and their crews met and were charmed by him. He wrote a book describing his experiences in "An Island to Oneself." I plan to read it sometime. I understand it might still be available in New Zealand.
Very few yachts visit this place each season. There
are two park rangers who live on the island for 6 months of the year. They
leave during cyclone season. Tom is 64 years old and John is 69. They live in
Tom Neale's old house. They are really interesting characters. They live mostly
off the land consisting of coconuts and fish. Tom speaks English really well
and is politically savvy. He was instrumental in getting the Cook Island
government to declare the atoll a national park in the 1990's. He still fights
with the government to restrict any building here. Right now the government is
planning to build a cyclone-proof house on the atoll for the park rangers. Tom
is OK with this building. Now the government wants to raze Tom Neale's house
(actually it's more like a shack). Naturally, Tom is fighting that.John speaks some English and is difficult to understand. He is a true Cook Island craftsman. He showed us how to weave hats, bowls, and baskets from palm leaves. He is an expert coconut tree climber. At the
age of
69, he still climbs 70 feet up into coconut trees to knock down coconuts for
the visiting yachties. He gives a green (unripe) coconut still in the husk a
few whacks with the machete and presto it has a flat bottom and is open at the
top. He hands it to you announcing that you have just received a "Suwarrow
Punch". MMmm! The milk from green coconuts is very sweet. There was never any
shortage of coconuts (green or brown) for us. Once he cut a green coconut in
half and handed each half to Karen and me. Along with it he fashioned a spoon
from the coconut husk. For this treat he announces that we have just received a
"Suwarrow Ice Cream". The young coconut meat is very very soft and kind of
melts in your mouth. To remove the coconut husk John uses a piece of ironwood.
Ironwood grows on the atoll and is very strong. Once the ironwood is sharpened
and fixed into the ground John just bangs the husk on it a few times and presto
a coconut without a husk emerges. I have spent many hours on beaches trying to
remove husks from coconuts. I can really appreciate his method. He is quite a
craftsman.
Cookout
On Tuesday, July 31, John and Tom invited all the
yachties to a cookout. In the morning, Tom and Serina, two yachties from
British Columbia on Shadow Fax, went fishing with John on their dinghy.
They caught an 80-pound marlin on a hand line. Now let's say this again.
They caught
an 80-pound marlin in a rubber dingy using a hand line. I know people who spend
hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on fishing rods and boats. For John, he
does not need any of that junk. For the cookout, John grilled the fish on an
open fire and every boat brought a dish. It was great to socialize with
everyone.
Helping Sir Swagman
We found some old friends here. Don and Gera from Sir Swagman, an Australian boat that we first met in Colon, Panama, are here. I met them while I was linehandling on Free Spirit through the Canal. They had arrived here on July 25 from Bora Bora.They were anchored further away from the island than Tilikum Triton. During those horrible days at the anchorage just getting tossed around, their anchor rode wrapped around a coral head and it was impossible to free it from the boat without diving. In fact they chaffed through three anchor line preventors during that time too. I volunteered to help them untangle the chain. I figured since I just got PADI certified in Rarotonga I must be qualified. This would be my first dive since getting certified. I'll be doing it without a dive buddy and I'll be working to free the chain for a boat that is still pitching wildly on the surface. Using Don's dive gear, I went down and managed to free the chain. It was great to put my diving skills to use so soon after getting certified.
Of course, since I am so inexperienced, I use more oxygen than more experienced divers. And coupled with the fact that I was working rather than just swimming around I used up all the air in the tank. Don figures I used twice as much air as he would have. But Don has problems with his ears and could not dive anyway. Don jokes with Karen that he is worried that if I need CPR that no one would be able help me. I need "a lot of air to breathe".
Don and Gera have been sailing around the world for 9 years and are heading home to Sydney. While in Suwarrow, they let us use their computer for a few hours. This was the first time that Karen had been on their boat. It is impressive. It is 42 feet. They have a washer and dryer, water maker, 2 chairs like Lazy Boy rockers in the boat's salon, microwave, refrigerator, freezer and everything works. They have made their boat just like a real home. They are traveling in style. We might see them again in Sydney.
Snorkeling, Walking around Anchorage Island, Fishing
Almost everyday we were at Suwarrow I went snorkeling. There are numerous sharks here; mainly black and white tip reef sharks. One day we got some fish from another boat and threw some of the remains into the water from the stern. Within seconds five sharks appeared and ate the remains. They never bothered us while snorkeling. In fact, they run away like cowards if you try to get close to them. Most of them are only 3 to 6 feet long. I might begin to get concerned if they show up in bigger sizes.Karen and I went to Anchorage Island to visit Tom and John almost everyday. We would usually walk around the island for exercise. The walk would take about 45 minutes and this was at a very slow pace because most of the perimeter is coral.
On Friday, August 3, I went fishing with Tom (not to be confused with Tom the Park Ranger) from Shadow Fax and John (not to be confused with John the Park Ranger) from Bow Bells. We were using the same dingy that Tom (yachtie) and John (the Park Ranger) used earlier in the week to catch the marlin. Unfortunately we didn't catch anything, but we had a great ride. We went into the pass, which had six-foot waves. We were soaked.
Mayday! Mayday!
During our stay here, an interesting story developed. Another yacht sailing from Bora Bora with only a couple on board hit the panic button. They were sailing the same seas that we sailed in to here. Unfortunately, they did not fare as well. During the middle of the night about 150 miles from Suwarrow, they lost their rudder. That's when they hit the panic button. They activated their EPIRB and called Mayday! on the radio. Mayday is reserved for "life in danger" and you must be prepared to abandon your ship when your rescuers arrive.A powerboat cruising along the same route was diverted to help the sailboat. The powerboat motored 50 miles upwind to find them in the dark. At the same time, an Orion search and rescue plane from New Zealand found the sailboat and circled them for about an hour or two. In the meantime the powerboat could do nothing until daytime so they had to run circles around the sailboat at six knots. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that ride was for them. By sunrise the couple on board decided that they would try to drift sail to Suwarrow.
I am sure the couple was quite distressed. Losing a rudder is a serious thing. But there are a few ways to keep your boat moving in your intended direction. First of all, a good sailboat can sail using the sails without a rudder. You just have to keep adjusting the sails. Secondly, it is possible to drag buckets or something behind you to help steer the boat. Lastly, you could use a cabin door or something like it as an auxiliary rudder. The message here is don't hit the panic button until you have exhausted all your means of helping yourself.
Well, the couple spent the next five days drifting at about 30 miles a day towards Suwarrow. We left before they arrived, but we found out that they did arrive safely. They did need some help getting through the pass. I understand about five dingys went into the pass to help guide the boat through. Last we heard the boat was still there trying to figure out how to replace their rudder.
Samoa, Here We Come
On Friday, August 3, we left Suwarrow for Samoa. It is 550 miles as the crow flies. Dario promised Joan that we would get to Samoa before August 10, which is when Xena is leaving Samoa. Joan had arranged with Xena in Rarotonga to switch boats in Samoa. Karen is looking forward to Samoa too. She has decided that she enjoys places with a bigger population than two inhabitants. She is also looking forward to celebrating her birthday.