Was it a bad decision

Navigating into the expansive lagoon of Rangiroa in the Tuamotu Archipelago, Lee and Sara Rice maneuvered their Pearson 530, Catalpa, toward an anchorage flanked by dangerous coral bombies. With strong winds blowing across the atoll, the crew aboard Sailing Catalpa carefully selected a spot in 10 meters of water, setting their ground tackle and floating the chain with dedicated floats to prevent it from fouling on coral heads rising up to a meter below the surface.

With the vessel secured, securing fresh provisions became an immediate priority before undertaking their next offshore passage. Walking inland near the local airport and bank ATM in Avarua, Sara gathered an initial basket of four tomatoes, a zucchini, cream for making ice cream, baguettes, and lettuce, totaling $36 US. The modest haul highlighted the real logistical hurdles of remote island grocery shopping in French Polynesia.

Stormy Dinghy Runs and Lagoon Provisioning

The following morning brought the arrival of a cargo supply ship unloading fresh inventory at the dock. Hoping to find newly stocked supermarket shelves, Lee and Sara planned a four-nautical-mile dinghy transit down the island to visit a larger store. Before setting out across the lagoon, they took the opportunity to snorkel a reef opening, only to beat a hasty retreat when a large moray eel lunged toward them from a coral cavern.

Setting out in the tender under deteriorating conditions, the crew soon encountered a heavy tropical squall pushing wind chop across the shallow water. Lee steered the dinghy behind a concrete pylon alongside a private islet to take temporary shelter from the rain. Once the front passed, they reached the commercial dock, secured the painter, and hiked into town, taking a brief pause along the road where Sara remarked, “Sometimes you got to take the time just to stop and smell the flowers.”

At the larger supermarket, they loaded up on fresh produce, including cucumbers, apples, tomatoes, zucchinis, chocolate, and a large cut of beef. The register total came to $90 US, with the meat accounting for $50 and the fresh produce taking up the remaining $40. After hauling fuel cans back aboard the dinghy, they punched through choppy water back to the anchorage to ready the yacht for sea.

Standing Waves at Tiputa Pass

Before leaving Rangiroa, the crew traveled to the edge of Tiputa Pass to evaluate the oceanic current ripping through the narrow cut. Strong outgoing water collided violently with incoming ocean swells, creating towering standing waves where wild dolphins surfed the breaks. Watching the ferocious rush of water reinforced the critical necessity of timing atoll transits around slack water, especially when strong winds oppose the tidal outflow.

With an incoming weather window expected to flatten out the surf within days, Lee and Sara faced a dilemma: wait for ideal tidal conditions or leave immediately to catch the remaining swell at Tikehau. Preparing the deck for an energetic offshore hop, Lee noted the brisk breeze buffeting the lagoon: “All right guys, there’s enough wind to blow the bloody hair off a hippie out here today.”

Running for Tikehau in Twenty-Knot Winds

Weighing anchor in sustained winds exceeding 20 knots, Catalpa powered into the open Pacific. The yacht quickly accelerated from 8 knots up to 10 knots under sail, slicing through a two-meter swell. A trolling line trailing astern hooked a fish—suspected to be a young mahi—before the line pulled free and the catch escaped. While Sara monitored the autopilot, Lee focused intently on calculating their estimated time of arrival at Tikehau, knowing they were cutting it dangerously close to the end of the outgoing tidal cycle.

Arriving off the pass at Tikehau, the outgoing tidal current was surging seaward at up to 12 knots. Facing an intimidating wall of standing chop on an ebbing tide, Lee and Sara weighed the severe risks of pushing through against the current or being forced to turn around. When assessing the raging narrows, Lee quipped, “That’s only 12 knots, darling.” With daughter Bella standing by with binoculars in the cockpit, the crew decided to attempt the transit, trusting the displacement power of the vessel to punch through the counter-current.

Gori Propeller and Passage Performance

Underway during the crossing, Lee evaluated the yacht’s propulsion efficiency, highlighting how their folding propeller had transformed vessel handling in heavy water. Having previously cycled through different propulsion setups, Lee shared a detailed assessment of their drivetrain upgrade: “We had the max prop originally. We went to back to our fixed prop which was just no good. And then now we’ve got the Gori with overdrive and it’s just working a dream.”

Where the previous fixed propeller had struggled to keep the boat moving around 7 knots under power, the Gori unit with overdrive enabled Catalpa to settle into an effortless cruising pace around 8.5 knots while drastically curbing diesel fuel consumption. The enhanced speed and thrust proved vital for making timely headway across open stretches and fighting intense opposing currents in the Tuamotu atolls.

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