S13 45
W143 43
Nuku Hiva is 345nm behind us and we are 180nm from Fakarava Island in the Tuamotu. The wind has been pretty steady at east 8-14-knots and we are making good time. The spinnaker is up and we are hoping to arrive tomorrow afternoon. If we don't make it by dark we'll have to stand off until Sunday morning, before attempting the pass, whose currents can run stronger than our engine. We are very aware that many, many boats have been lost on reefs in the Tuamotu chain of islands, so our senses are highly
tuned and we are plotting fixes on the paper chart as well as on the electronic. Thankfully we will have moonlight again tonight. But it will still be a sleepless one as we navigate through the atolls.
Last night our autopilot unfortunately "went crazy" and attacked us twice. With no warning, even though the autopilot was OFF and not even steering, it grabbed the helm, started fighting the windvane that was steering (windvane had no chance in that battle), and swung the wheel hard over so that we did a 360 and jibed twice. Thankfully (!) we had a preventer on the mainsail, so it didn't come crashing across the cockpit, potentially wreaking havoc. We have disconnected the attacker and will troubleshoot
further in Papeete.
It is still stiflingly hot and we are dreaming of snorkeling in Fakarava!
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