Stephanie Propp

Great overnight sail between atolls. Light winds (8-13 knots) just forward of the beam. Very calm sea state. Good passage.

Quick sail in a fresh breeze across the atoll to secure better shelter for the coming wind shift. Beautiful anchorage.

Motor sail to NW pass anchorage for a short stop to drift snorkel the pass. I maneuvered the 2 dinghies while 5 people drift snorkel. Perfect conditions, beautiful spot.

Overnight passage with string winds most of the time. Gusts as high as 28. lots of gybes, downwind sailing and avoiding atolls. Good passage, but tiring .

Very nice conditions, the winds were a little lighter and we expected. One of the common sea states we have sailed on in the ocean so far. We had an issue with the steering at 3:30 in the morning where the autopilot arm hyper extended and jammed the rudder to starboard. This has happened before well anchoring but I thought it was resolved. Had to empty everything out of the lazaret and free up the jam by hand. We expected the passage to be 3 days but we were going to arrive late in the day at the pass and then be anchoring around sunset. We decided to heave to overnight and wait to come in with good sunlight the next day. We feel like it was the right decision and we enjoyed the time spent hove to.

Nice downwind sailing. 14-20 knots, fairly rough seastate. Some wing on wing. Nice to be going downwind again.

Close hauled slog. 14-20 knts and fairly large sea state made for slow going. Winds got really shifty and variable once in the lee of the island. We motor sailed the final 6 miles. Beautiful anchorage, we set a stern. anchor to stay pointing into the swell and avoid wrapping our chain around a rock. Wild horses and goats all around. No other boats.

Motor sail around to the islands main village/harbor. Set a stern anchor behind the breakwater w/ 3 other monos on stern anchors. 4 Outremers arrived and swung to just outside the breakwater. We had a nice dinner at the restaurant/bar and got to talk with 3 parties from different Outremers. A nice variety of folks- Swedes, French and Fins. Hiked to the cross the next day. Very friendly village.

Quick motor to a more protected anchorage. This spot was great, calm and we had it to ourselves for 2 nights. good snorkeling/ clear water. Our anchor chain was wrapped on a rock when it was time to go. I had to go down 30' to help clear it, I still have water coming out of my ear 4 days later, rookie move.

We planned to do an overnight to Fatu Hiva, we were knocked and not making our course. It was close hauled with winds in the high teens. I was worried we would not make the anchorage at Fatu Hiva by nightfall so we diverted to Ua Pou.