March 30, 2014 HIVA OA!!!! Safe in Harbor
We have dropped the hook in PARADISE! It is beyond believable that we are here. It looks like lord of the flies, with sheer cliffs towering into the clouds, wild horses and beautiful lush vegetation. We have already been visited by several friendly cruisers who helped us run out our stern anchor, gifted us with pamplemousse and strange fruits the likes of which we have never tasted before, and let us know where we can do all of our provisioning. It is very laid back and we are happily drinking in the sights and smells of this incredible landscape.
We are 24 days to the hour from San Francisco. 3,400 miles on the odometer with all of our course deviations (jibes, wind shifts, equatorial waypoint) for an average of 5.9 knots, 141.67 nautical miles per day. Total fuel burned: 15 gallons (mostly getting off the continental shelf quickly from SF and 1.5 days in the doldrums). There is no need to run our engine to charge our batteries–we are making a whopping 24.1 amps from our solar panels right now!! Total time at the tiller: 15 minutes, plus one hour this morning upon landfall.
Maintenance: 2 control lines chafed through on the Monitor wind vane, engine shutoff cable corrosion, lost rubber plug for stove pipe cap, solenoid switch propane line failed. All have been repaired with spares on board.
Cruisers coming from Galapagos reporting no wind and motoring the whole way. Also interesting to note that Privateer’s hull is perfectly clean, while the boat hulls from Galapagos are brown. We have certainly picked the right strategy leaving from San Francisco. It has been an incredible sail. We have come a long way. Way to go PRIVATEER!!!
2000 Zulu
09 48′ 25″ S
139 01′ 87″ W
(Atuona Harbor, Hiva Oa)
SOG: At anchor: Safe in Harbor!!
