Finally Bikini Weather! Sailing the SOUTH PACIFIC → French Polynesia [Ep. 150]
Expedition Across the South Pacific: Sailing From Chile To French Polynesia
This week, we’re setting sail for an epic adventure across the stunning South Pacific. After braving cold weather and large waves in Chile, we’ll trade our winter gear for bikinis and sun as we make our way to the beautiful islands of French Polynesia. Over 4,000 miles of blue waters and open-ocean sailing await us, so let’s dive right in!
Planning Our Passage
To begin our journey across the Pacific Ocean, we utilize a combination of navigation tools to plan our route. We use Expedition Navigation computers and charts from Navionics’ Sailfish software on our iPads for detailed tracking and route plotting. Additionally, we keep an eye on weather models to make informed decisions about wind direction and potential storm systems.
Choosing the Optimal Route
A Northern route allows us to sail close-hauled, taking advantage of consistent wind angles between 130-140 degrees TWA (True Wind Angle). By navigating above a high-pressure system to our north, we avoid the risk of colder water and heavy storms associated with the Southern route. While faster, it’s not as comfortable or enjoyable for our voyage.
The Journey Begins
Setting off from Chile, we experience up to 30-knot winds with occasional waves from all directions. The washing machine-like conditions call for skilled hand-steering and precise sail trim, ensuring our yacht stays on course through the initial stretch of open ocean.
Challenges Along the Way
An unforeseen challenge arises during a Spiner deployment when the sock jams partway up the mast, refusing to move. A potential solution involves trimming the sheet, allowing wind to fully inflate the sock. When this method fails, we recall Curtis’s racing expertise and resolve the issue by manually deflating the sock with gusts of air, followed by tacking downwind.
Celebrating Warm Weather
As we make progress towards French Polynesia and experience better weather conditions, we enjoy warm afternoons wing-and-wing under our Genoa sail. With a steady 15-knot breeze from dead aft, we roll out the Genoa and utilize the whisker pole to optimize sailing performance while soaking up the tropical sun and enjoying panoramic ocean views.
Up Next on Sweet Ruka
In our upcoming episode, we’ll continue to document this thrilling sailing journey across the South Pacific as we experience life aboard and face any additional challenges head-on. We aim to arrive in French Polynesia refreshed and ready to embrace island culture while taking advantage of warm weather for more sun-soaked adventures.
A Special Note
We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our valued patrons who make these videos possible. Without their support, this incredible sailing adventure would not be achievable.
If you enjoyed this episode and have yet to subscribe or follow our journey on social media platforms like Instagram, please consider taking those steps to stay updated with us on future endeavors. Sailing Sweet Ruka is here to help connect with other sailors while exploring exotic destinations around the world – join us!
Escape to the South Pacific Trade Winds! We take off our winter clothes, toss in a fishing line, but are still challenged by big waves and spinnaker snafu's as we sail across the Pacific Ocean to the least visitited Islands of French Polynesia!
#sailing #travel #satisfying
Support our videos at www.patreon.com/ruca
More about us at www.sweetruca.com
So who is this crazy sailing couple making fun videos to share? Well, we are Kate and Curtis. Before we were cruising sailors we were both regatta winning racing sailors. We both sold up and headed out to sea, with the goal of sailing around the world via Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. We brought our mixed rescue dog along with us as she loves sailing and swimming too!
Our boat is a year 2000 J Boats J/46. We searched for 3 years for our perfect sailboat for sale, when we found it, we knew it was the one. She is a fast monohull performance cruising sailboat. We spent 6 months re-fitting it in Rhode Island and then went for our shakedown voyage in Maine. We stopped in Annapolis for a bit to do some more refit work and offshore modifications, then we set off to the open sea. We went to the Bahamas, Miami, US Virgin Islands, BVI, Grenada, Carriacou, St. Maarten, where we enjoyed outdoor adventures, scuba diving, and have now did an Atlantic Crossing to the Azores where we had a chance to fly our DJI drone (and learned how to fly a drone from a boat) and one of our favorite past times, mountain biking.
Now, we have two transatlantic passages under our belt, have sailed the coast of South America, rounded Cape Horn, transited the Patagonia fjords and Straight of Magellan, and are sailing across the Pacific Ocean as we work towards our goal of sailing around the world. We have sailed almost 20,000 bluewater miles to date.
We watched other sailing channels before we left as well. We even considered van life, a tiny home, or a motorhome / rv. Some of the channels we enjoyed were Gone with the Wynns, Project Atticus, Sailing La Vagabonde, and MJ Sailing. We didn't really set out to be influencers, but we wanted to return the good karma and pass our inspiration and knowledge along so we starting making YouTube sailing videos.
Come sailing virtually with us and join in on the adventure, we hope you enjoy our relaxing & satisfying video on #sailingsunday!
XO XO Kate, Curtis & Roxy the Sailing Dog
Finally Bikini Weather! Sailing the SOUTH PACIFIC → French Polynesia [Ep. 150] Locations
- Departure from Chile (-26.2931,-70.4766)
- Arrival in French Polynesia (8.3833,138.5)
Sailing Sweet Ruca
Kate and Curtis, the adventurous sailing racing couple who sold everything to set sail around the world via the capes aboard SV Sweet Ruca, a 2000 J Boats J/46 sailboat.
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