AMAZING Sail From Tahiti to the Cook Islands

Big storm coming lots of rain and Nikki Okay, let's get you down. I bet you're wondering how we got here And who these people are and well, that's a little bit of a story Okay, you can get me out now It's been a while since we've invited total strangers into our home and since we're setting sail for a new country It seemed like a good time to extend an invitation Hey Julie, it's actually it's Nikki and Jason. Hey Julie. What's your spirit animal? We were just kidding. We were really just calling to find out if you want to join us to sail to Wherever it is. We decide to go Amazing her spirit animal is a dolphin. And yes, she wants to join us to sail wherever the hell we're going. She's super excited. Yeah You made it Welcome to Tahiti. Yes George and Julie don't have a lot of sailing experience And so before we head out into the endless blue, we thought we'd better give them a little taste of the end Don't get jealous probably make another one for you And you wear it well You know something to dream about when we're all writing out storms and fixing leaky hatches But this is boat life. So isn't all lily pads and waterfalls. It didn't take long for the drama to show up It's very comforting Man, the currents have been just nuts the past couple weeks this guy just a month ago Was way over there by that marker like way over there and in the past month it's moved way over here and now it's coming right at us like It's like our boat's a magnet or something and it keeps coming closer It's ridiculous I've dreamed about a lot of things that could potentially sink our home But never have I ever considered that a partially sunken boat might hit us Yeah, I can see it Julie Half sunken trimaran Jason connected to said sunken trimaran Got George filling up the gas jerrycans Jason's filling up the boat You're not quite to a half yet Nice angle, honey. Nice angle Thank you groceries duty-free booze, it's like Half the price. That's like 70% off the store price, which is great Which is like normal price. Yeah, like normal American prices Maybe some things were a little bit less expensive than American prices like French wine We have to leave today literally in what eight hours and The weather is not looking so hot two little cyclonic actions just south of Rarotonga Which is kind of where we're heading in the southern part of the Cook Islands. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep To ease in the new crew we decided to make the overnight sail to Huahine and wait for a better weather window spinnaker was fine and all was grand until Whoo. Okay. We got a storm coming big storm coming lots of rain and Nikki Okay, let's get you down That's good, that's good. Yeah We wanted to get the spinnaker down before the storms hit But one wave and a slight slip of the hand is all it took to send the spinnaker line whipping and don't you know? It perfectly wrapped itself around the radar. I Know it doesn't look like a ton of movement, but from 35 feet up every sway feels intense I just keep reminding myself that if I lose my grip, I get to see what it's like to be a human tetherball Thank you Julie for not killing me. I appreciate that All that fuss in the storms moved on and so did our wind We blinded this baguette stand. Yeah, basically when we checked out our agent said I know there's bad weather Just as long as you don't go to Bora Bora for a couple weeks, you'll be fine So instead we came to Huahine We tied up to the mooring ball. We only needed two days now We have what looks like perfect weather and I say it looks like because it's always a prediction not a premonition as Nikki says Hopefully we'll be there Rarotonga Cook Islands three and a half days 500 miles we're gonna be flying baby We are gonna be well, we're not flying right now. No The weather looks perfect, don't worry to our new crew it's gonna be totally fine. These are gonna be great First big passage, are you excited? Oh, yeah, most definitely super excited You're really excited to get up at 3 a.m. Right? Oh, yeah, I'm not so excited about that part But hey, it goes with the territory, right? You better get out your fishing line because there's a bunch of birds fishing right in front of us I'm a little nervous about that weather But excited about it at the same time Looking forward to new territory feels really weird. I'm not gonna lie Yeah, it's like I don't know. We've gotten so used to being here. I'm like, well, we're just coming back, right? I mean, we'll be here again, but we're not That's it Bonne Journey We got some wind baby, yeah, 20 knots of true wind. Nice, we'll be there in two days. Yeah, exactly Radar's not working, autopilot's not working right, water maker's broken. It's a perfect time to be on a boat. Yeah, perfect Welcome aboard Just another day of sailing, right? One last ticket before it's gone One last summer before it's fall Tune your strings and play your cards Lead the words, heat me like a game of cards Well, the sunset is epic The wind is not I think 1.5 knots right now 438 nautical miles to go We're overboard In the middle of the open ocean I don't know, I've had a fun time while boarding at this house That's a fun time It's a team event Of all the things you thought you'd be doing on this trip that probably was not top of mind I want to make sure that this is clean Freaks old and meaningless Julie plays the ukulele and she's bound and serving to get me to play mine which I am super excited about live It's a challenge The safest ukulele player around inside the salon with IPFT on So I was just thinking safety first Julie So I'm a nurse Now open the jammer Hit it hard There you go Alright, so just very slowly take it out of the lock and you're going to let a little bit of sail out I've never experienced a stronger sense of responsibility than when we have new sailors on board All my fears scream at me to shove them in a cabin and not let them out until we're inside of land But out here, fear is a familiar voice and knowledge is the only thing that quiets that beast The more we learn and the more those around us learn the more confident we all are Ok, take it out One more click Now we're going to tighten this line up which is going to help bring the back of the sail in Ok How's that look? Accurate Now let's switch beds so we can sleep easier Assuming we don't get any more wind We are getting blown around Yes, with the sunset behind you It's time to enjoy that Did you see there's no time to enjoy that? It's always time to enjoy that How's it looking, Captain? It's alright Autopilot's holding pretty well We're doing a lot of wandering so I don't know if I have it tweaked just right But it's hard to tell when you have like 10 foot swell It's definitely exciting, I'm not tired Blocked around, knocked around and the autopilot is just not trustworthy right now It's alright A little hand steering never hurt anybody How do you see this going, Julie? Alright, so then we want to remember to watch the line over here just to make sure that it stays clear and if it looks like it's going to get caught on anything we tell them to wait Nice job Alright, so Julie it looks like our side is a little too tight You can go ahead and let a little bit of it out There you go Way better, way, way, way better It's like we put up the spinnaker and bam, 20 knots of wind hit Boom, the seas got rough It was just like nuts The autopilot was going crazy So then we said, ah screw it, we'll bring it down We'll move it over to the other side And now we're going back to our course 12 knots of true wind This is like heavenly spinnaker weather Now you're happy You weren't happy before I was not happy about putting that thing up It's all good now It's all good We've got Julie and George in the kitchen cooking up some lunch Why did you say we're having George? We'll call it burritos But it's chickpeas and onions and peppers and all kinds of good stuff And how is it cooking for you in the kitchen underway like this? We will repeat Interesting You've got to prop yourself up against this And then when you're towing around you've got to prop yourself up this way And then when you've got to get something you've got to prop your butt up this way to get to that So, interesting You're getting the hang of it It's not even down to the art form that you do Oh yeah I have no idea What did you have, like three different pots you were working on last night? One at a time Doing good just to keep this one flying that way And no seasickness Like everybody's feeling good Yeah That's actually been really good A little fuzzy at first when we first left But everything's all cool now Reading books the whole way out Nah, I'm not quite ready for that I'm not reading books good But I am just sitting out on the deck Just chilling and watching the ocean go by That's plenty good 275 nautical miles left to go We've sailed 163 nautical miles Which is an average of Put it on the screen Because I'm not going to put it on It's been a roller coaster night For sure We had 25 knots Earlier Got the main double reef Got the Genoa on the first reef Got storms all around us Now we're only about 13 knots of wind So frustrating And the worst part When I sat here last night At midnight And started my shift There was 53 hours Left in our sail Well, now the ETA says 63 hours left It's 24 hours later And we've somehow lost 10 hours Obviously it's based on wind But I don't know It always like Sort of crushes your Optimism To look at that number And see that it keeps going up And up Quick side note here We're sailing from Huahine to Rarotonga And if we could sail in a perfectly straight line It'd be about 560 nautical miles But because we're sailing We're using the wind That's wind And the wind is constantly changing So we are tacking Not sailing in a straight line And that's why It's adding way more time And way more nautical miles To our sail Bien saillé Est-tu, es-tu là Monde silencieux Grosse vélée Et la taule Veille de soleil Se balade Dans les roues Mais j'imagine son amour Se balade Dans les roues de Paris Mais j'imagine son amour Mordez-vous C'est la femme De sa vie C'est la femme De sa vie Suit up It's time to jab Well we've gone from Super rainy And crazy Winds to Blue skies And sunshine It's nuts, just nuts And of course now that We've taken the reef out And gotten the sails all set It's looking like it's spinnaker weather So another sail change Right? Hey man, oh Weird hair, weird curls It's out of control Okay, what are you telling me? 144 miles to go That is what I'm saying Gotta get your lighting just right Make sure you look good, you know Oh, well, yeah I mean, here, let me adjust my tie You did bring your Fancy wear, right? Okay, so we're down to our last Hopefully, unless something crazy happens 24 hours And this has been your first Real passage, so how do you feel? Is it what you expected? Um, a little bit of Not and a little bit of yes It's actually been quite interesting and Really a lot of fun, a lot more fun than I really Expected it to be, I figured it would just be Nosing along in the water, but it's been Really neat to be out here in the middle of the ocean In complete dark And seeing the stars and doing a little bit of work Because little, and I mean Little, bit of work And raising the sails and learning what it takes To manage a boat, and it's a lot of Busy work, it's non-stop busy work It's gotta be, oh, we gotta move this sail Oh wait, the wind's changed, we gotta move this sail Oh wait, let's take them all down and put up that sail But I guess it's part of the fun, right? Yeah, alright Julie, how about you? Has it been what you expected or different? I think pretty much what I expected Yeah Lots of learning, lots of Beautiful starry nights Which I think are my favorite part of the whole thing I'm still waiting to see those Little in the dark dolphins though The real ones not waved The real ones not waved, exactly But the Milky Way is Fantastic at night, the bioluminescence Is super cool, I'm all about The night sailing I think Nice, so then if that's Your favorite, what's your least favorite? Like what's been one thing that you're like, well this kind of sucks I think constantly feeling Damped, like you never stop Feeling damp But I'm very happy not to Have been seasick at all, it's been Very comfortable, I mean There have been some waves, but nothing big So it's been a super comfortable passage So I'm really grateful for that Yeah, ditto, ditto on that And super happy nobody's been sick Yeah, amen to that No blowing chunks, good job Sky Good job So sad I hate to see it go It's the happiest thing Okay, we're ready Okay, so, yep, take it off And remember, let it go fast Alright Give them a little more, yeah Good job Go team, let's bring it down Oh, that motion looks so dirty and wrong, Julie I'll show you that clip of yourself later Still doesn't look any better That's what she said What was that? Land ho! How many miles away? Looks like 28.5 Woohoo! Yeah, I can barely see it I was like, oh, there it is She's right, it is land Oh yeah, that's gonna make everybody sick It's a tiny little speck I gotta get this Counting hundreds Ones to find Time Taking See your tongue in the background They had this explicit rule that I read over and over You have to be flying the Q flag when you enter their waters at 13 miles measured from the lowest land mass something blah blah blah I read it over and over, so I'm like, okay, well It's very specific instructions We're 14 miles out, so I'm putting it up now I wish we had a song for it A quarantine song? Yeah We've arrived at land Let the curiosity go Nope 14 miles to go Does this give you the warm and fuzzies inside? Not at all Alright, we're gonna try to dingy over to that one sailboat, see what's going on see if we can get somebody in the port control office Just maybe tie ourselves up or whatever Jeez, okay Yep, yay fun We're here I think I feel some rain coming Excited to be in the Cook Islands, Cleo? Well got a hold of the customs guy who tried getting a hold of the port captain he was supposed to show up, but he hasn't shown up but then the customs guy said, well maybe you just stay there tonight and then we'll move you in the morning and we'll have everybody come on board and check you in So, that is what is happening We are staying right here in this very tight spot and we'll move to that other very tight spot tomorrow Good times But, celebratory beer we can't go to shore but we can drink on the boat Woohoo Passage