Tuesday, Feb. 1--Tautira/No Wind

Source: Sam Low

At 5 a.m. when the village first begins to stir the lagoon is calm, palm fronds are motionless, the air is still. It appears that yesterday's cloud messengers and their rumor of trade winds was a ruse. Last night we had two downpours which cleaned the sky, opening a view to brilliant stars--Orion (ka heihei o na keiki), Taurus (kapuahi) and the Pleiades (makali'i)--a virtual explosion of tiny, blinking points of light. And this morning it is, once again, much too tranquil for our tastes.

At a navigator's meeting last night, Nainoa read the French weather predictions (courtesy of our friend Guy Raoul--the weather guru in Mangareva): Tuesday (today) winds ESE at ten knots, Wednesday ESE at 5 knots, Thursday ESE at 10 knots and Friday variable. The direction of the wind is favorable but its velocity is not. In ten knots of wind the canoe heavily loaded as she will be at the beginning our voyage, will make maybe three knots through the water. In a five knot zephyr she will bob and rock--making very little progress. We decide to wait for the weather pattern to reveal itself more clearly. But deadlines are approaching--Hokule`a's Martch 12th birthday celebration at Kualoa, for example. At this point, Nainoa's best guess is that if the winds do not become favorable by Saturday, February 5th, we will be forced to depart Tautira under tow. To prepare for that eventuality and to also be ready to depart on short notice, Alex and Elsa Jakubenko will depart Mo'orea, where they have been visiting with their family, tonight to arrive here tomorrow aboard Kama Hele.

The crew gathers at the canoe in the morning to load fresh produce aboard. Over the rail, gifts from the community of Tautiura come--bananas, mango, limes, coconuts, vi (a mango-like fruit), and grapefruits. Onions and ginger are stowed in netting along the port and starboard navigators' platforms. Pomai (Pomaika`i Bertelmann) and Ming (Dr. Ming-Lei Tim Sing) check out the galley--which basically consists of a two burner propane stove in a fiberglass box on deck--and inventory basic staples. Mike Tongg briefs us on radio procedures. Joey Mallot, Kaui Pelekane, Kona Woolsey and Snake Ah Hee lash down a set of spare booms along the port and starboard catwalks.

At a six thirty p.m. meeting aboard the canoe Nainoa tells us that a departure is possible tomorrow--given a favorable wind shift but more likely on Thursday. The latest weather reports from both French and American sources agree that the wind is likely to be 20 knots out of the east north of Rangiroa beginning on Saturday--reason enough, he explains, to depart on Thursday even if we have to leave under tow. A Thursday departure will also give the navigators some moonlight when we reach the vicinity of Hawaii to provide sufficient light for them to see the horizon and be able to more easily judge the altitude of various stars--the key to latitude. The moon should be full when we reach three degrees north--the usual address of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the doldrums. This could be important as a guide to direction if we encounter heavily occluded skies.

"But right now there is no convergence zone," Nainoa tell us--because the low to the South is pulling the SE trades around more to the east.

The convergence zone is usually marked by the meeting of two massive wind belts--the NE and SE trades--in a broad zone near the planet's belt tine--the equator. But partially because of the effect of the low to the south--pulling the winds down to it--there is virtually no convergence. To the north of Rangiroa we should encounter steady easterly winds to power us all the way to Hawaiian landfall.

Wednesday, February 02, 2000

Dogs sleeping in the shade of their houses, pant rhythmically. Even at complete rest, under the tents that shade Hokule`a's decks, sweat sheens the skin of her crew and darkens their tee shirts. Chad runs an abbreviated meeting--explaining that we plan to raise anchor tomorrow morning and move to a pier near to Tautira's school where prior to departure, we will invite the children aboard and, later perhaps, the families who have so generously hosted us. At the conclusion of simple departure ceremonies we will set out for home--given, of course, that all these plans ultimately depend on the weather and other variables not under human control.

At nine a.m., precisely on schedule, Kama Hele glides through the entrance to Tautira's fringing reef and drops anchor a few hundred yards from Hokule`a. Maka welcomes her with warbling blasts from his pu. With Kama Hele's arrival it seems like now, finally, all is ready for our departure.