I don’t even remember when I got the roll of sunbrella, but I’m positive it was on my boat when we sailed north to Alaska in April ’06. I’m pretty sure Cindy bought it when she went to the discount store and got all the hardware for us to do canvas making. I do know the fabric in the aft cabin was always intended for a cover for our dink. The dink is made of hypalon, which is relatively strong and resistant to UV damage, but it will wear eventually. So finally last year in Ecuador I dug out the instructions we and made a pattern for the dink cover. That was probably in August, which was a year ago. I’ve been working on it ever since, and moving it in and out of the aft cabin every time I’ve straightened up.
Over the course of the last 12 months we became pretty sure pigs would be airborne long before the cover actually got finished and went on the dink. Today I’m happy to say that pigs are flying in Bora Bora. I can finally not only check that one off the eternal list, but also stop having to move the huge pile of sunbrella every time I clean up the aft cabin.
We’re still on a buoy at the Bora Bora Yacht Club. We were going to move today, but last night about 2:30 in the morning the wind started howling. We’re in the lee of the mountain and don’t think there’s a better protected spot on the island, so here we’ll stay until it slows down tomorrow. There’s a big low that passed by deep in the Southern Ocean earlier this week, and a huge high that has followed, making a squash zone between them with some pretty good winds. Hopefully the worst of it will blow over tonight and we’ll have calmer conditions tomorrow.
Which would be good, because we have to go over to the commercial dock and pick up our lifelines that arrive from Papeete. Apparently they’ll be on “the blue ship”. So we have to watch for it to come in the pass and go to the dock to unload. Somehow we’ll figure out where our stuff is and pick them up. That’ll be the end of the repairs from the collision, so we’ll be free to go and enjoy Bora Bora as soon as this wind dies.
In other good news, Michelle has Warrior as far as New Caledonia, which on a straight line course is nearly 3,000 miles from Tahiti. She’s been dodging low pressure systems and weather fronts, and reports it as a very wet ride so far. She said she’s definitely learned the difference between cruising and delivering a boat. But the best news is that Robin’s first round of chemo is done and he’s feeling good enough to fly up and spend a week in New Caledonia with Michelle before the last leg home to Aus.
Our next stop is Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, but I’m not planning too far ahead yet. Right now we’re going to enjoy some time in Bora Bora. Brit & Axel are just leaving Tahiti when this wind stops blowing, so hopefully we’ll get to see them before we head west to the Cooks. Maya’s blood test came back positive from the lab in Australia and the Kiwi officials have confirmed that we’re good to go to import her into New Zealand, so that’s good news also.
Today on Yohelah we’re waiting for the wind to slow down and watching for flying pork….
Teresa
