The boat was hauled out last Wed. We have been living on the hard in our treehouse at Technimarine in Papeete, Tahiti. The boatyard is a real working yard, with huge fishing vessels being fixed here. We have been allowed to live on the boat which is a real bonus, it means we do not have to find other accomdation. Everything is very expensive here so it would have been very costly to find somewhere else to stay.

The yard is located just inside the reef at the main entrance to Papeete harbour, we can watch all the large ferries and ocean going vessels enter and leave port. Cat's-Paw IV is by the fence on the edge of the boatyard and there is a paved road and then a ditch for runoff and then a cement seawall that is 20 feet high. The road is fairly isolated from downtown and seems to be quite a hangout. In the morning and evening there are all sorts of joggers on the road, some seem to be making some sort of loop and we see some them a couple of times in a evening, Barry is very jealous. Then there are the young people who show up in their cars after sundown. They stop and drink and visit and turn their car stereos up to full volume, so we are never short of music for our listening pleasure! Next the even younger guys show up on their motorcycles and scooters. As I said the road is isolated so they use it as a drag strip, Barry enjoyed watching them doing wheelies the other day. Added to this, the boatyard is in the flight path for the airport, huge airliners pass over on their final landing pattern. The first night on the hard I was awoken by one of these behemoths and the noise was so loud and I was so startled I thought we had hit the rocks again.

Which leads to our repairs. Last week we spent contacting the insurance people and getting a surveyor and an estimate done on the repair bill. They have started the repairs this morning and if the weather continues to be good they should be finished by the end of the week. They will not work on it if it rains. The fellow at the yard thinks he should be able to do it for $5,000 USD and he and the surveyor think it is all just surface damage, nothing structural so we are very relieved. The worst part is the damage to the keel because water was getting in there so it is good that it has been drying out since last Wed.

It is a 30 minute walk to downtown so if we go to town we walk one way and take a taxis back. Barry`s hip seems to be getting worse and he is limping badly when we get to town. The taxi ride is $17 so we don't want to take one both ways. We keep running into fellow cruisers downtown and are able to communicate with them on VHF so we don't feel too isolated here. We took Brian and Cathy from Tarun out to dinner the other night to thank them for shadowing us from the Marquesas and had a wonderful time. The other day while we were visiting with friends I had to kick myself to believe we are in Tahiti, it seems unreal and it is a long way from Yellowknife: We have been busy on board doing odd jobs, re-painting our chain, varnishing, cleaning the deck and the lines, etc, etc: We did get our ham radio back but the fellow here was unable to repair it, DAMN, we will have to think about what we want to do to have it fixed.

I am using the computer in the office as there is no internet access on the boat so I am unable to load pictures; hopefully I will be able to soon.

Hi Everyone, This is a little late, Ann had someone email it to me but they got the address wrong so I just found it tonight when I checked my mail.

Ann and Barry are safely in Papeete on Tahiti now and have probably already gotten their boat hulled out today. I imagine when Ann gets a chance she will update us and add a few photos.

May 14, 2008
We are in Manihi, an atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago at 14 27 S and 146 02 W. We arrived safely on Monday morning and since then we have had just an absolutely wonderful time. I really feel like we have hit the South Seas now, there are palm trees growing on the coral and the sun shines and the sea is a gorgeous tropical blue colour. An atoll is a circle of coral, which has motus or islets within the circle, on some islets there are palm trees and the connection to the next islet may just be coral which may or may not break the surface. The atoll we are in is over 35 km long and 11km wide. There is a pass through the coral which you have to navigate to get into the atoll. These passes have a constant outflow of water. Water can enter the atoll at low tide over the coral so it flows out of the lowest spot, which is the pass. The pass to get in here was 75 m long and 40 m wide, we got as low as 3 feet below the keel when we entered. One Canadian boat touched bottom twice coming in. At the end of the pass there were standing waves of about 2 feet and we were quite worried about having to cross them but it was no problem. One of the boats left the other day and they were going over 9 knots when they left. Barry says this is supposed to be one of the easier passes to negotiate.
Once inside the atoll you have to stay to the inside edge of the atoll to avoid the shallow spots, you can spot them when the sun shines because they look quite white. There is pearl farming in the atoll so there are nets hung off of bouys all over the place so you need to stay away from them. There is a well defined path for boats in this atoll.
Now to the fun stuff, there is a wonderful family here which has made our stay an exceptional one. He is the village baker, there are about 800 people living on this atoll, and when we arrived he pulled up in his boat and asked if we wanted fresh baguettes!! Then he asked if we would like a tour of his pearl farm in the afternoon. We were a bit astonished at the price he asked, $25, but were told that it was worth while so off we went. The tour was unbelievable; he took us out to his nets and explained how the oysters start to grow. He showed us the oysters at each stage from very tiny to 6 inches in width. Then he stopped at one of the shallow coral spots and tied his boat up to a piece of coral and chiseled off a clam for us and showed us how to take out the bad parts and we all had a taste. We proceeded to his dock and the buildings where he processes the pearls. The oysters get pried open and a part of another oyster is cut up into miniscule pieces and this as well as small ball of abalone shell (which is manufactured elsewhere in the world) is inserted into the oyster. It was a very delicate operation and his wife performed the operation with precision tools much like a dentist would use only longer. You have to very careful not to pierce parts of the oyster or separate the muscle from the shell or the oyster will die. He said that he has over 60,000 oysters in various stages of growth and it takes a year and a half to get a mature oyster and then 6 month more to grow a pearl. He uses all parts of the oyster, he sell the shell to Korea and they use it to make mother of pearl buttons and jewelry, the actual oyster he sell for food and of course the pearls. It was a very educational talk which was conducted all in French. Fortunately one of the Canadians with us had grown up in Montreal and could interpret. I could understand quite a bit but when he got to the technical parts I was lost. At one point he said something about a gross femme and I could not understand why he would sell oysters to a big lady and I said so, but it was a gross ferme which means a large farm, we had a good laugh about that!
At the end of the talk he gave us each a coconut to drink and we sat and got to know the other boaters, there were 8 of us. Then the coup de grace, he gave us each an oyster and we got to see if there was a pearl in it or not. He said that if we got one, that was fine and if we didn’t that was tough. The guy was such a softie, that if you didn’t get one in your first oyster he kept opening them until you found one. Barry and I both got white pearl in our oysters and then for some reason he gave us another and there was a black pearl in it. So we had three pearls, I figured earring with the white ones and a single black pearl necklace. That was the best $25 I have ever spent.
The next morning he showed up at the boat again to deliver more bread and he asked us to sign his cruiser book and he had two small black pearls that he wanted us to have, what a guy! Then he invited three couples in the anchorage to his house for dinner. When we got to his house he gave us a tour of the bakery, he has been baking bread for 23 years and now his son has taken over the business and he looks after the pearl farm. He makes 400 baguettes a day. He has plans to open another bakery on a different atoll. At his pearl farm he is talking about opening a small snack and juice bar for the cruisers. He is also the Mormon minister in town. He has homes in Papette and on another atoll, he is quite the business man, but is one of the nicest people you could know. His wife cooked a wonderful meal for us, with clams and oysters, soaked in coconut milk. There was also chicken and New Zealand beef on the table as well as French fries and potatoes cooked in heavy cream and fresh vegetables. It was an unbelievable meal and when we offered to help pay for the meal he would not here of it. His son and daughter in law live with him and they had two small children.
We have one day left here in this paradise and then we are headed to Papeete. It is 270nm to Tahiti we are hoping to arrive on Sunday and have Monday to scope out the place and figure out what will happen when the boat gets hauled. Our friends Cathy and Brian from Tarun, another Bluewater Cruising boat from Victoria will come with us to Tahiti as well to make sure we make it okay. They are true buddies. It would have been nice to be able to visit other atolls but we really do need to figure out what is going on with the damage. I will upload pictures when we get to Papeete.

This is yesterdays position. When I talked with Ann today (to wish her a Happy Mother's Day) She said they had about one more day before they reached the Atoll's. I have had a look at some of the pictures of where they are headed and it looks amazing. For someone interested in diving and snorkeling like myself it looks like a bit of heaven. I hope they have some time to explore before moving on to Tahiti.

The Cat's Paw IV is sailing very well at the moment. They were making 6 knots even with a reef or two in the main and have even had to slow to 5 knots and pull the foresail to allow the companion boat to catch up. The boat that is accompanying them is a 36 footer and over many hours, slowly almost imperceptibly she falls behind when the Cat's Paw has a good wind in its sails. This is fine for the crew as they are forced to sail even more conservatively than planned which means less stress on the damaged rudder.

I asked Ann if she noticed a difference between having 2 crew instead of 3. Of course she said YES. She finds the hardest part is to be disciplined enough to go to sleep once her shift is over and not having someone else to talk to during those long days at sea. Helmsman Bob, you are being missed.

Well Mom I hope you catch up on some sleep when you are finally at anchor but if those pictures I looked at are anything like the real thing, good luck, paradise awaits.

Ann and Barry are under sail again and heading to the Rangiroa Atoll for a stop over before moving on to Tahiti. This current stretch of the journey should take approx. 5 days. When Ann called they were making

6 knots and had lots of wind. I am sure they had their sails reefed to prevent stress on the rudder. The boat that is accompanying them was trailing by about 2 miles and they are staying in contact via VHF.

So far it has been smooth sailing.

The most recent marker should read May 8th.

The sailors did get a chance at their last anchorage to recheck the damage to the keel and rudder. They reported that there was no change to the cracks, which was a good sign.

Ann on a hill in Nuka Hiva Grounding in Fatu Hiva

This is a sailor’s worst nightmare. We were sleeping and were woken up with a mighty bang. We had no idea what was going on, just that something was terribly wrong. We had anchored at the island of Fatu Hiva, an absolutely gorgeous spot. The anchorage is fairly deep so we had gone close to shore and anchored in 35 feet of water, we had over 200 feet of chain out. We made sure we gave a really good pull on the anchor and we figured we were set. The first night there were not problems even though there were big gusts, we were set very well. Everyone was anchored rather close together and the night before the boat behind us had been touched by the fellow beside him. We went to talk to him about it and he said he thought we were too close and asked us to re-anchor. We quite liked where we were so instead of re-anchoring we pulled up 25 feet of chain, still a very acceptable ratio of chain to depth. Well I guess we should have re-anchored because that night we dragged.
Barry went up on deck to see what was going on and came down to inform me we were on the rocks. Oh my gosh, holy crap, what a horrible feeling. At that point I was on the floor, not sure if I had been thrown off the bed there, but I got up and found my glasses and raced upstairs. Barry was worried about the anchor and what it was doing, all I wanted to do was to start the engine and get away from the rocks. We could see the rocks sticking up right beside the boat, VERY UGLY. We got the motor started and as we were sideways and facing the shore I told Barry to try and back off. We went backwards and the swell caught us and mashed us down on the rocks again. When I looked again we were now backing towards the rocks, so I yelled for Barry to go forwards. We managed to motor right off, Barry had to get the anchor up, thankfully it was still there, and we had not lost it, only dragged. We motored around the area for about an hour. We had figured out that we did not want to re-anchor in the dark and after we had checked out the steering to make sure everything was working and figured out that we were not taking on any water, we decided to sail away to another anchorage about 6 hours away. We had been at that the anchorage we were headed for twice, knew the holding was good as well as the visibility, so we could dive the bottom and look at the damage.
We had no problems sailing to the other anchorage and the next morning we checked out the bottom. The keel has a chunk bit out of it, the fiberglass is ground up but it doesn’t look major. The skeg which holds the rudder is in worse shape. It has a crack in it ¾ of the way up and also the bronze boot which the skeg sits in has a crack all the way around it. This good cause the rudder to fall off and we would have no steering at all.
Yesterday we called a boat yard in Tahiti and we able to get a haul out date of May 20, 2 weeks from today. That will give us time to sail the 800 nm to get there and perhaps even stop at one of the atolls in the Tuamotos. Barry has decreed that we are going to sail very conservatively, not put any stress on the steering, reefing the sails so we never have any weather helm. Another Canadian boat, Tarun, friends from Vancouver Island have agreed to sail with us to Tahiti, so we will have help if something goes wrong. Our spirits are a little low at the moment but we could have lost the boat and been on our way home by now so there always is a bright side. We are at Nuka Hiva at the moment and will head to the north side today to the safest, calmest anchorage in the Marquesas to look at the bottom again and try and regain some semblance of balance and calm. We hope to leave for the Tuamotos is a couple of days, it will take us about 5 days to get there. We will keep in touch by sat phone. Barry slurping coconut milk that he had hacked open when we walked up to the waterfall.

Well if you have been keeping up with the blog then you know that Ann and Barry have had a little misadventure. On the morning of May 1 they woke up to the sound of the boat on the rocks, apparently the anchor had let go some time in the night. They have assessed the damage and the hull of the boat is fine but there is some damage to the rudder and keel. It was hard to understand the exact extent of the damage but their is a crack some where near the boot for the rudder, how serious it is they are unsure. And the keel has a 12 inch scratch/ gouge in the fiberglass. They were unable to get any repairs done on the island where the incident happened and because the hull was undamaged they decided to sail to Nuku Hiva. Nuku Hiva seems to be the other major island in the Marquesas and it has internet access and more amenities than the other islands in the region. (I am just going on what I have observed on Google Earth so if I am wrong please correct me so I can edit the blog) The plan when I talked with Ann last was to get a hold of boat yards in Tahiti to arrange a lift out date for the boat to get the repairs done. Ann and Barry have met a few Canadian boats in Nuku Hiva and one of them has agreed to accompany Cat's Paw IV on its sail to Tahiti as a back up in case an emergency should arise. Nice to hear the mariner spirit is alive and well and I will be glad to know that Ann and Barry will have company to lend a hand on the week long journey to Tahiti.

Hello to all, Trish here again.
I called Ann and Barry the other day and they just happened to have a new position to pass along. As you can see they are at a new island. Fatu Hiva. I will add some info below from google earth about Fatu Hiva and if you are interested you can read on.

When I asked Ann if she is still enjoying the region her response was....

"It is absolutely spectacular here"

So I will take that as a yes. Some of the pictures I saw on google earth of the island were amazing, very lush with awesome rock features.

Ann says they have been doing some exploring. The other day they did a long walk and came across a 200ft waterfall, and I am sure went for a swim if Mom had a say. On the way back they were starting to get hungry so Barry, getting into the hunter/gather mode, chased down a wild coconut on foot and they feasted on its fresh milk and meat. (Not bad for a guy with a bum hip.)
That was about all I got from the brief conversation. Sounds like all is well and they are happily cruising along. We will keep updating the blog now and they until Ann can get a good internet connection.
Fatu Hiva
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Statistics
Elevation 0 m–1,125 m
Land area 85 km²
Population¹(Aug. 2007 census) 587
Density 6.9/km² (2007 census)

Fatu Hiva (the "h" is not pronounced, see name section below) is the southernmost of the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. With Motu Nao as its closest neighbor, it is also the most isolated of the inhabited islands.
Fatu Hiva is also the title of a book by explorer and archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, in which he describes his stay on the island in the 1930s.

[edit] Name
The correct name of the island in Marquesan is Fatu Iva (without "h"), however the name was incorrectly recorded as Fatu Hiva, probably under the influence of other Marquesan islands containing the element Hiva (Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa, two island names where the element Hiva, with "aspirated h", is different from the element Iva in Fatu Iva) and also because in French the letter "h" is always silent (not pronounced). The spelling Fatu Hiva has now become official. In English however, contrary to French, this creates a problem as the letter "h" is almost always pronounced in initial position. In order to obtain a correct pronunciation of the name, English speakers should not pronounce the "h" of Fatu Hiva (IPA: /fatu iva/).

The island was named Isla Magdalena ("Magdalene Island") by Spanish explorers in the 16th century, a name rarely ever used.

[edit] Geography

Rainforest on Fatu-Hiva
The eastern coastline of Fatu Hiva is characterized by a number of narrow valleys, carved by streams that lead to the interior. Between these valleys are headlands which terminate in cliffs that plunge directly into the sea, making travel between them possible only by travelling over the high mountain ridges between them, or by boat. The largest of these valleys is at Uia.
The western coastline has two significant bays, Hana Vave (also known as Bay of Virgins or Baie des Vierges) in the north, one of the most picturesque sites in the South Pacific, and the well protected harbor of Omoa near the south. There are several smaller valleys between these two.
The center of the island is a plateau which is covered largely by tall grasses and pandanus trees. To the south of the plateau, running to the south, is a mountain ridge, called Tauauoho, its highest peak, at 1,125 m (3,691 ft.) is the highest point on Fatu Hiva. Proceeding to the north and northwest from the plateau is a mountain ridge called Fa‘e One, the highest peak of which is 820 m (2,690 ft.).

[edit] Administration
Administratively Fatu Hiva forms the commune (municipality) of Fatu-Hiva, part of the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas Islands. This commune consists solely of the island of Fatu Hiva itself.
The administrative centre of the commune is the settlement of Omoa, on the southwestern side of the island.

[edit] Demographics
The 2007 population of Fatu Hiva was 587. The people live primarily in three villages:

Ann and Barry continue to sail through the Marqueses. Last night their anchor did not hold and they awoke to the boat hitting the bottom. There is some minor damage to the keel and to the skeg in front of the rudder. The examination of the boat has determined that the hull has not been compromised and is perfectly safe to sail. They returned to Hiva Oa and have found out Tahiti is where they need to go to get the boat repaired. As a result they have elected to head for Tahiti now rather than later. They will determine if there are other boats intending on leaving soon and perhaps join another cruiser for the journey which should take 8 days. They hope to stop to spend some time at some of the islands along the way. We will keep you updated as we know more.

Update from the Cats Paw IV, by way of the middle daughter, Jennifer (my turn to relay info!). A 7 minute conversation today relayed the following information (as far as I can recall from my at-times-faulty memory and my hastily jotted down scribbles):


Mom and Dad (I guess Ann and Barry to the majority of people reading this blog) are still hanging around Tahuata, if my Google Earth can be believed. I put in the latitude and longitude that Ann provided, but that mapped them as somewhere in the middle of that island! I guess you need the minutes and seconds as well to be get the most accurate position, but for now I've put the pin in the most likely harbour. Ann said that they went ashore in a village and were given an assortment of fruits from this wonderful man whose name she wouldn't attempt, as it is a Marquesan name, and they all have very different spelling and pronunciation. She said they were given bananas, oranges, limes and, best of all "pamplemousse", which were juicy and absolutely devine.

Speaking of "pamplemousse", Ann's french is still serving her well, and although the dictionary is pulled out from time to time, she is enjoying much more freedom of communication in french than she did in spanish. I didn't ask,but Barry is probably not having as much luck, as I believe his spanish was much better than his french.

Back to the village. Their fruit provider refused direct payment, but Ann and Barry were going to trade for it with an assortment of items, including some rope, colouring books and tee-shirts. Knowing Barry's tendencies, if he's in charge of the trading transaction, the fruit man will no doubt get more than his fair share of items in trade. Now, if Ann were in charge, the bartering might be a bit more fierce! Apparently, the trade transaction was delayed by the arrival of the weekly ship. It only comes once a week with all the goods for everyone, and the whole village shows up to help with the off loading and picking up of goods. They were given some coffee and were content to wait around and observe the goings ons before continuing with the transaction.


As for future plans, they only have 3 months in the area, as previously mentioned by Trish, so as the area is absolutley riddled with islands, they will have to decide which of the multitude they will visit. Ann tossed out a number of names at me, most of which I have heard before, but none of which I knew precisely where they were. I've therefore tried to plot all the metioned names onto Google Earth. I hope it works as well as Trish's did.

As for the briefly mentioned names, Tahiti was high on the list, as their Ham radio was dropped off there by now absent crew member Bob. Other islands mentioned were Bora Bora, the Cook Islands, Tonga, and eventually New Zealand sometime in November. Mom said they likely wouldn't hit Fiji this time, but I've pinned it anyway, so you can see how far out of the way it is.

And finally for a bit of perspective, here are three pictures that show the three legs of their journey: Canada to Mexico to Galapagos; Galapagos to the Marquesas; and the Marquesas to New Zealand. Certainly adds some appreciation for the feat they are undertaking, doesn't it?


Whew! Quite the 7 minute conversation, wasn't it? Sorry, I've already realized that I tend to blab on as much as Ann does... must run in the family!! I haven't decided if the ability to raphsodize about the most trivial occurences is a talent or a vice. Either way, it is what it is! I hope you enjoy the update, and if you don't, don't read it!! Until next update..... JEN

Hello to all,
Trish here again. I guess the available Internet access in the Marquesas is less than desirable. So I have been asked to continue in posting positions and any other little bits of information that I get from a minute long phone call every now and again. My sister, Jen, may also be joining in on the fun.

I never did post the final destination for the Pacific crossing of Cat's Paw IV so here are a few pics. And just a reminder, to see an enlarged view right click the picture. ( the picture to the right is there current position.)

I guess the first spot they anchored at near Isla Hiva Oa, was in a commercial fishing area so there were sharks and some pollution in the water and it was not very inviting. They are now anchored off of Isla Tahuata. Mom says that the water there is beautiful, very clear and I imagine warm, there is also a gorgeous white sand beach with palm trees for shade to enjoy when they get to shore.

Mom's french is coming in handy, she has even been asked to do some translating. They have also managed to get a 3 month extension so I imagine that by the end of their time in French Polynesia Mom will be jabbering away at the locals.

Here is some information that I got from the Google earth sight.

Tahuata is the smallest of the inhabited Marquesas Islands. It is located 4 km (2.5 mi.) to the south of the western end of Hiva Oa, across the Canal du Bordelais, called Ha‘ava in Marquesan.

The commune of Tahuata consists of the island itself and the nearby island of Moho Tani.

Tahuata is approx. 61 km² (23.5 sq. mi.) The highest point on the island is Pahio, rising to an elevation of 1,000 m (3,280 ft.).
The 2002 census population was 682.
The island's chief town is the village of Vaitahu, located on the western shore. Because there is insufficient level ground for even a small runway, the island is served by the airport on Hiva Oa. This serves to give the island a feeling of much greater isolation, despite its proximity to Hiva Oa.

History
Archæological evidence indicates that Tahuata was inhabited by Polynesians as early as 200 CE.
In later pre-European times, the tribes of Tahuata were allied with the tribes from the Nuku province of Hiva Oa, and the island was considered a dependency of that province.
The first European explorers disembarked on Tahuata in 1595, beginning with the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira at Vaitahu, followed by Captain James Cook in 1774 and Admiral Dupetit-Thouars in 1842, who signed the treaty annexing the Marquesas Islands to France.

I have included a Blog entry that Ann emailed today so enjoy!

The full passage.

Blog entry. written by Ann.

The Midnight Paper Towel Caper

As some of you may know Barry is addicted to paper towels. He has a least one in his pocket at all times, more often two or three. He uses them for whatever purpose he feels moved to, primarily endlessly blowing his nose with no results, as far as I can tell. Then he’d stuff the said paper towel back in his pocket and proceeds on with his day. He wears underwear to bed for the sole purpose of stuffing a paper towel in them so he can find them at a moments notice!!! When we go for a walk I am forever picking up a possibly dirty paper towel that has escaped from his pocket. YECCH, I hate the things; they appear under his pillows, in the laundry and in all sorts of other unexpected places.

Well the other day a paper towel proved to be Barry’s undoing. He had just finished his shift eight to midnight. He was on the toilet when the unthinkable happened. (Just let me digress for a moment, on Cat’s-Paw IV as on many cruising boats you do not put the toilet paper in the head for fear of clogging the beast.) A paper towel, unbeknownst to him once again made an escape from his pocket and plunged into the head. Barry being a little tired, it was midnight, it was dark, made a horrible mistake and assumed one of his other crew members had committed the unpardonable error of putting toilet paper in the head (as if we would) and he flushed. WRONG!!!

Poor Barry, the head clogged, what was he going to do, what could he do? Bob and I would be up in the morning clamoring to use the head and if we had to use a bucket it wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. He proceeded to take the head and all the attached hoses apart. Once again all you cruisers out there will understand the difficulties involved in this action. Urine when mixed with sea water creates scale. This sludge attaches itself to the hoses and leaves a small space for all the effluent to flow through. Our hoses had not been cleaned since we got the boat in 2005, so there was a lot of sludge. There was Barry on his knees, in a pitching, rolling boat, in the dark, with his headlamp on, scraping away at the smelly hoses in a vain attempt to find the rogue paper towel. After scraping out ten feet of hose he eventually found it in the very last junction before it would have been flushed into the sea. He spent FOUR hours fixing that head. I felt for him, I really did, but somewhere deep in my heart, I figured that it was payback time for the innumerable used paper towels I had picked up in his wake over the last three years.

Bob taking down the spinnaker, we made quite a team!

We made it, wow, unbelievable! It was a wonderful passage. We left the Galapagos on March 25 at noon approx. and we counted March 26 at noon as Day 1, so we landed on Wed. April 16 at 2000 hours so we think it took us 22 days and 8 hours. I will have to figure who won the lottery. Thank you all very much for guessing. It was fun.
The Motley Crew spent a lot of time guessing, every day we would guess how many miles we had done from noon to noon, then near the end we would guess at what time we would hit a certain mileage mark, example, when would we hit 500 miles to go, etc. Once we had seen the first freighter we bet whether or not we would see another boat before we arrived. We actually saw 2 boats on the passage, on during the day and one at night. It gave us something to do.
We also saw the flare, of course, Bob spotted it and we all went up on deck in the middle of the night and hardened up the sails and turned into the wind and motor sailed for 4 hours towards where we thought the flare was.

Barry with his freshing baked loaf, he really is a multi-talented guy!

We called and called on the VHF and also listened on the ham radio emergency frequency. It was very difficult to know what to do when we didn’t see anything else and no answered our calls. We did report it, we used our sat. phone to call our buddy in Victoria who called the Coast Guard there and they called the Tahitian Coast Guard. When we spoke to the Tahitian Coast Guard (fortunately there was someone who could speak English there) he explained that they had broadcast a call and didn’t hear anything so they figured it was a false alarm. I sure hope so; I hate to think that we left someone that was in distress out there, we were a long way away from anywhere.
Looking back on it the passage was like a capsule of time, we were in our own little world. We didn’t know what was going on in the world, there was just the sun, the stars and the water. The boat moved beautifully in the trade winds, we rigged it up as a cutter and beam reached for 1500 miles. When the wind dropped we threw up the spinnaker and flew through the waves at up to 8 knots, mostly averaging 6.5 knots, WOW! From 1500 to 2500 miles the wind was on our aft quarter and we surfed down the swells on a broad reach. The last 500 miles we were sailing dead downwind, not as much fun, much harder to steer and quite uncomfortable with the rolling action. The main was getting beat up, slamming around, the bracket that holds the boom vang to the mast split so we had to take the rigid vang off and Barry rigged up a soft vang. The other big problem that we had is that our 5th crew member (we had 3 human crew, Otto, our auto pilot, and Wendy our wind vane), that would be Wendy decided that she was working too hard and gave up the ghost. Wendy, what a wench, she only worked for 3 days of the passage and then had a hissy fit and quite working, again it was stress that sheared some stainless steel. Those of you that sail will realize what that meant, we had to hand steer across the Pacific, I will admit that I called Otto into use occasionally, but Otto is a bit of a pig when it comes to power so the Captain did not want to put Otto to use very often and for very long.
We had a great time, my brother, whom I was a bit apprehensive about asking to come with us was a perfect gentleman the whole way. Bob and I have argued from the first days of our lives and both of us love to be right and want to have the last word.

I am getting a shower curtisy of the rain on our main.

Bob said that he made a pact with himself before he left Calgary, I am not sure what he promised himself but he was wonderful to have aboard. We could not have asked for a better crew member, always cheerful, always willing to help and did not mind being a butt for many of our jokes. I had thought I would rely on Barry to help offset the “Bob effect” but it turned out that I used Bob to offset the sometimes dictatorial nature of Captain Greybeard!!! There were thoughts of mutiny on occasion when the Captain would get up in the middle of the night and demand of the crew why the sail was flogging and banging around. When the crew wanted more speed and the Captain was erring on the side of caution, rumblings were heard. As we got closer and closer to where Captain Blythe got his come uppance, the crew understood why those on the Bounty mutinied!!
The island we have landed on Hiva Oa, is a gorgeous introduction to French Polynesia. There are the huge high peaks with clouds obscuring the top, last night it just poured from when we landed until about midnight. Today we walked into town; there are flowering shrubs everywhere, fruit trees with pamplemoose, mangos and papayas, coconut palm trees swaying in the fresh ocean breezes. When we got back to the boat a small German cruise ship was disembarking and there were Polynesians in traditional costumes, playing the drums and the conch. It was a wonderful welcome to the area.
I will write more news of the passage in a day or two. Bob has a ticket to Papeete, Tahiti tomorrow so will be there before Barb arrives. I am sure they will have a wonderful time there.

Hiva Oa, we have arrived.

NEWS FLASH
Cat's Paw IV has made there destination.

....YEEEEEHAAAWWWW...

.....WHOOPPIEEEE.....

or I guess more appropriately

BRAVO

All crew are accounted for, ecstatic and tired. Ann reports that they have not had much sleep the last few days because they were too excited about reaching land. As they were heading toward the island they had a gorgeous tropical rain for about 20 min. and the crew took advantage by having a warm, fresh water shower, ahhh heaven. Well I will leave the rest to Ann for when she has a chance to get an Internet connection I am sure she will be blogging to her hearts content. I forgot to ask there exact position to post on the map so when I get it I will make sure to put up a picture.

And now for the official winners of the Cat's Paw IV Pacific Crossing contest.

By the crew reckoning they took 22 days and 7 hours to cross by how I have been posting there position they have taken 23 days. Of course the crew is correct but I am going to give a little leeway for others who made the calculations based on how I have been posting the positions on the map.

So the winners are....

Barb Shanks

Jennifer Lange

Lucy McCordick

and the closest crew member was

Bob Shanks (bragging rights forever, YES!!)

If I have some how missed your guess please let me know and I will add you to the list.

Well that is it for me. It was great to be able to keep friends and family updated on the crews progress across the Pacific. I hope you enjoyed it.

Trish Lange

Day 23

First off I need to make a correction to my last blog entry. Apparently I miss read the text message and it isn't the celery that Bob is worried about but the lack of CEREAL. Oppppps. For those of you that know Helsman Bob that makes a lot more sense. Lets hope the supplies last one more day because if not we may have a man overboard and swimming for shore so he can have his cereal for breakfast, the situation could become that serious. Hold on Bob, just one more day.

This pic is a close up. Not far now.



Yes that is right folks only 75 nm left on Cat's Paw IV's Pacific crossing. (I hope that I have not just jinxed them by assuming that it will only take one more day.)

position: 09 43 S, 137 46 W

speed: 5.5 knots

weather: excellent

I must apologize for the late blog entry. I did write one up this morning and thought I sucessfully posted it but when I checked this evening it did not show up. I was in a big hurry to get out of the door on time for work so I may have pushed a wrong button somehow.

Who will be the big winner???? Check back in a couple days to see who will receive that special Marquesas shell. It could be you!

Text message received this evening. Seems as though the crew are in a good mood. Ann messaged to give an update on the Cat's Paw IV 's supply situation . Apparently the carrots, potatoes, apples and onions are holding out well, I guess scurvy won't be setting in anytime soon. Helmsman Bob is concerned about the dwindling supply of celery. The paper towel situation is critical which has Captain Barry close to panic. But good news, the chocolate stash is holding out very well, Admiral Ann is ecstatic. Can you guess who stocked the boat??

Day 21

This picture is just to show you a bit of the area that Ann and Barry will be exploring over the next few months. I am sure they will be posting many a blog to show us the wonders they discover.

position: 09 29 S, 133 17 W

distance made yesterday: 124 nm

distance to go to destination: 342 nm

Not so smooth sailing at the moment but only because they are sailing down wind and the boat is rocking back and forth and back and forth in a very uncomfortable manner. The skipper ordered the main sail to be taken down yesterday because when you sail down wind it flaps and bangs quite badly with the rocking of the boat. Ann reported that the crew has had poor sleeps due to this motion. The main sail has since been raised again due to a firm request from Admiral Ann but the skipper (or as I like to call him Captain Grey Beard) would only go so far as to raise it with 2 reefs in the main. The rocking is not quite so bad now and they will be making a little more ground with the added sail. The wind was forecast to drop from 15 knots to 10 knots and Ann seemed to think that had happened but it is hard tell when you are sailing along with it instead of scooting along across it.

My theory to all this sails down and up and looking for flares that they can't find is that each member of the crew is trying to make sure that they land in the number of days that they predicted. VERY TRICKY you lot. Haaa haaa I am on to you. (I am kidding of course, well kind of).

There guesstimates are as follows:

Helmsman Bob 23 days

Admiral Ann 24 days

Captain Grey Beard 25 days.

Ann says that they all came up with there number independently of each other so it is cool they are so close together. We shall see who gets bragging rights and in my family that is everything.

Day 19

09 24 S 129 16 W

heading of 240

*only 581 nm left to go.

Well the crew is getting close and I imagine excited to see there first sight of land, or at least something other than waves, sky, clouds, and stars. There has been no animal sightings, no other ship or boat sightings. Nothing but the big blue, I guess that is why they call it that.

They did try to find the source of the flare but had not luck. There friend Lynn Greentree who has been sending weather reports called the Victoria coast guard when he heard about the flare that was spotted by the Cat's Paw IV. Victoria in turn called the Tahiti coast guard who then wanted to get in touch with the crew. When they did talk it was decided the the flare was probably a false alarm as the Tahiti coast guard had been radioing the area and monitoring for distress calls and nothing was received. So the crew turned around and headed in there original direction by 7 pm that evening and where happy to be back on track for the Marquesas.

There is another sighting of a different kind to report. When Barry was on shift he spotted some kind of space debree streaking through the night sky from north to south. He watched it the whole way and said it had a big long tail.

Well that is all for the time being. Not many postings left for me and we shall find out who the big winner shall be.

Day 17

8 17 W 125 20 S

heading 250

speed 6 knots

I talked to Barry this morning and he was happy to report two new boat bests for the last couple of days.

April 8th there distance was 152.2 nm

April 9th they went a total distance of 153.8 nm.

Sometime during Bobs shift he spotted a flare off in the distance, so they have changed direction to search and assist. Barry explained it is there duty as a fellow boat to try to find the vessel and offer what assistance is needed. Nice to know that they are watching out for each other out there. Check the blog in a couple of days and hopefully they can fill us in on what happened.

Day 15

07 31 S 120 31 W

heading 255

average speed 7 knots

distance on April 7, 145 nm

distance on April 6, 148 nm

Bob spotted a freighter on his watch yesterday. They were in sight for about 2 hours and it was approx. 3 miles away. This is the first boat/ship they have seen since being out in the big blue.

Ann mentioned that there had been a few incidents with the spinnaker which has gotten Barry's heart rate up. Ann insists they were no big deal. I am sure it is somewhere in between.

Day 13

07 22 S 115 34 W

heading 255

speed 6.5 knots

distance covered yesterday 126 nm

Talked to Ann and she says things are going smoothly. The wind has been more consistent and is starting to come more from the west so they should make some good ground today. Helmsman Bob is really getting the hang of things and doing a great job on the boat.

A New limerick sent by text message from the ocean blue.



The Motley Crew

There once was a man from the Knife,
who bought a boat with his wife.
To sail the world was his dream.
His goal was to use no steam
Not sure he's cut out for the life

There once was a lady, Admiral Ann.
She was married to a quiet man.
They sold there home to sail oceans blue
What he was getting into he never really knew.
she'll circumnavigate if she can.

There once was a dude from Cowtown,
who left his job and flew down
to join the crew of the Cat's Paw IV

As they sailed across the ocean floor
To the Marquases they were boun.

this Motley Crew of the Cat's Paw IV.
Left the Galapagos for a distant shore.
Captain Barry, First mate Ann and Helmsman Bob,
together the three made quite a mob.
They've sailed a 1000 miles and quested more.

composed by the, Motley Crew


April 3, 2008

Day 11

6 55 S 110 48 W

heading 245

speed 4.5 knots

wind from the SE

Talked to Bob Shanks today and he sounded still very happy to be out there an d in great spirits . He says they are under sail and all is well.