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Pulling prisms out of the deck and having them replaced with plexiglass at a Cactus Plastics place in Petone. There’s a leak around the prism as it has shattered, so all the bedding needed to come out and the hole cleaned up and sealed. It’s been raining for two days and I found a small leak where two old screw holes were next to a hatch. Should be easy enough to seal up pushing a black waterproof bonding agent up into the holes. We added sail tape to a repair in the genoa that was done with a patch sewn only on one side, so it’s best to seal the actual tear in the sail to prevent it from growing. The dingy was lowered to the water and pumped back up to check if the Yamaha 15hp was operational. Started the first time after a couple pumps of the primer bulb and the choke pulled out. Runs like a top. The trimaran is an ongoing pleasure to sail in a range of winds as the sail is furlable and the whole boat is rowable with outriggers on either side. Trying to watch out for too much sun as it burns pretty quickly here. The flip flop tan is in full force.

The water maker routine is easy now. Every morning I’m woken up by the generator or the whistle of a boiling tea kettle for coffee in a huge stainless steal coffee press for four people. Breakfast is usually bread or croissants with butter and jam usually around 8 and we’ve gotten into a routine of working on projects or running errands in the morning and leaving the afternoons for leisure and whatever we decide needs planning. I’ve got three books on yachtsmanship and seamanship to peruse as well as cruising guides for NZ,  French Polynesia and the surrounding islands. They describe popular cruising destinations and the approaches to get into anchorage. The atolls are especially challenging and offer the extra challenge of encountering fast moving currents as the atolls empty and fill with every tidal change. We have been discussing the position of the lows that swirl clockwise down here and how taking advantage of the easterly winds along the northern fringe of them will give us the best winds east until we need to turn north to our chosen destination. We were thinking about heading north along NZ and then departing east but the farther north we go the more we risk the lulls that plague the 40-30 range between the trades and the roaring 40s. It can be deadly to morale and your fuel supply to either spend days on end dead in the water with the sail flapping from the wave motion or burning much of your available fuel just getting to your destination. Those big white flappy things are supposed to be put to good use. That’s the whole point.

It’s been cool and crisp today with a lull in the winds which will extend into tomorrow when we finally put MoonDancer into motion towards the fuel docks. My first opportunity to see just how big and how much momentum she really has is coming soon as well as to find out just how bad the windage is on something this size. Phil and Nell are talking about a new sailboat, something a little smaller actually, and I don’t blame them. Everything is big on this sailboat and the power generated by the sails is enormous. There will be no grabbing a sheet to get it under control. There is either plan ahead and be prepared when they fill and the boat slide forward through the foam and blue or just let it go and get control of it when the sails aren’t full of wind. The forces will pick you up and launch you off the boat in a split second. First things to learn on the agenda: heaving to and man overboard drills. Two critical maneuvers when you’re on a long distance sail and safety is a priority.