Courage

I have had my courage tested in recent weeks, first with the tsunami hitting while Curtis was away back in the States and I was by myself aboard Manna in an anchorage in Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia. 

I and some buddy boats were enjoying sundowners (we had heard about the earthquake in Russia and about the potential tsunami but we were acting like high schoolers in hindsight)  when the call came in over the VHF from French Polynesia authorities that all boats anchored in the Marquesas Islands that were able were to immediately leave their anchorage and move to deeper water - 1000 meters. Or go to shore.  We were to be prepared to be at sea for 48 hours. 

It was about 6:30 pm and already dark out.  And of course the anchorage was super swelly.  Two of the crews left immediately to ready their vessels and I was left with my friend Sharon, a single hander on an 2007 Amel 54.  I talked to Curtis and we decided that the best course of action would be for me to secure and leave Manna, who was stern anchored and with plenty of scope in 35’ of water.  I did not feel able to pull the anchors up by myself and sail out.  Sharon was the only friend who was willing to take me back to to Manna to secure her (I didn’t even have my own dinghy launched).  

So we launched her dinghy in the dark, in the swell, after a few rum drinks.  We zoomed to nearby Manna and I battened down all of the hatches and port windows, grabbed my ID and iPad and said goodbye.  The tsunami wave was forecast to hit at about 1:00 am and waves were predicted to be 4 meters.  The swell in the dark anchorage plus panic made for a lot of adrenaline which helped us hoist and secure Sharon’s dinghy aboard her boat, remove sun covers, and prepare to pull anchor.

About 15 boats left our anchorage and we sailed slowly back and forth all night between Nuku Hiva and Ua Pou, a nearby island.  Sharon’s boat had some electronic issues which Curtis had been helping her troubleshoot, but required new parts to repair, such as her AIS antenna.  So we are out all night on the open sea with a flaky AIS. Avoiding other boats relying on eye of sight on a moonless night.  It was quite a night.

We thought we may have felt a wave pass under us around 1:00 am.  It was impossible to differentiate between a tsunami wave and the normal ocean waves.   We sailed slowly all night. There was a meteor shower, so we enjoyed that show as best we could.  Once the sun rose again, we felt somewhat relieved and were also receiving information that nearby ocean waves monitoring bouys had detected only waves of less than 1 foot.  

We were instructed not to return to the anchorage until noon, but around 9:30 am we heard a loud bang on the Bimini above our heads.  Sharon’s topping lift that held her boom up had a shackle failure.  Her boom was resting on the metal framing. Fortunately the mainsail was down when this occurred. We secured the now hazardous boom.

So we motored back to the anchorage a bit early.  I helped Sharon anchor and replace her sun covers.  We ate some breakfast.   I could see Manna nearby, she looked fine. The water in the anchorage was nearly flat calm, a very rare condition here.  Thankfully, Manna was unscathed.  When I went down below, not even the glass of water I had left on the table had spilled. The tiny 2” paint by number of Bob Ross that I recently did in my spare time was still standing on it’s flimsy easel. I was beyond grateful for my boat and God’s protection over it.  

The experience taught me many things.  First and foremost, I need to practice pulling the anchor all by myself.  We always tag team this task, with me at the helm and Curtis handling the windlass.  I haven’t touched the windlass in years.  That is going to change.  Also, having the boat always ready to move with 30 mins notice.  If we had lost our dear Manna, the insurance company could have easily denied our claim because I did not follow the instructions of the authorities to leave the anchorage. 

All’s well that ends well.  Our buddy boat used AI to generate the regatta flag below, which garnered a lot of chuckles on What’s app the following day.  Curtis is back after being gone for 2 weeks.  His was back in the Seattle area because his father died - not unexpectedly.  The funeral went well and now he’s busy continuing to handle his duties as executor of his father’s estate.  He returned just yesterday. I’m so happy to have him back. 

Oh, and the other thing that tested my courage happened just this morning while Curtis and I were unpacking our genoa that we had repaired locally here in Nuku Hiva.  We had been too lazy/tired to try to cram the repaired sail into our V berth so we just left it in it’s bag on the foredeck for the past two weeks.  When we were unrolling the sail, two large cockroaches scattered out!  I grabbed some nearby cardboard from a box that was sitting in the cockpit (don’t want to bring any eggs into the boat via the cardboard, right?)  I was able to squish both of the cockroaches before they got down below, pfhew!  We were so glad that we hadn’t stored the sail properly down below! 

It’s always something in boat life.  I don’t think its 30% boredom.