From Maupiti to Bora Bora

 Leaving Maupiti early in the morning, after spending the previous evening debating again and again whether to go. You see, the exit from Maupiti is considered dangerous under certain conditions. “What’s the problem?” you might ask — “Just check the weather website and see if the conditions are bad or not.” If only it were that simple. The main issue is that weather forecasting is based on different computational models, and the website generously lets you choose between eight different models. The differences between them can be quite big. Sometimes that’s not a big deal, but in Maupiti it really is (hey, that rhymes 😊). It’s like a religious question — you can pick the rabbi who’ll give you the answer you want.

Also, the predicted conditions weren’t beyond the limits, but close enough to make us uneasy. And most importantly — what determines the conditions in the pass depends on so many variables that there’s really no solid forecast for how it will be, just general guidelines.  
So, as mentioned, we left in the morning, a bit tense, reached the pass — and it was calm and easy. What a relief!

Now all that was left was to sail 30 miles straight into the wind — which, naturally, was coming right from Bora Bora. A fairly strong wind (15–17 knots) that only felt stronger when sailing against it. And the waves — quite high, short, and annoying. Most readers probably know that since a sailboat can’t sail directly into the wind, you have to zigzag (or “tack,” as sailors say). So that’s what we did, but it didn’t really work. We sailed for two hours, hardly making any progress, while the boat bounced unpleasantly. At that point I started feeling seasick coming on and hurried to take a pill (something that happens to me very rarely).  

Then came a squall. We’ve already talked about “bommies” — those coral heads that threaten to snag the anchor — and now it’s time to talk about squalls, another trademark of South Pacific sailing that makes things harder. A squall is basically a compact cloud cluster, just a few kilometers wide, moving through the sky. You can see it from afar, and it can appear even when the surrounding sky is blue and clear. When you hit one, there’s a heavy downpour, the wind jumps up by 10–15 knots, and its direction can shift suddenly. It’s really not rare — on almost every sailing day you’ll meet at least one, sometimes three or more. When you see one approaching, you need to prepare: reef the sails, be ready to change course to avoid heading straight into the wind, and accept that you’re going to get soaked.  

Visually, I think of a squall as the sky’s version of a bommie — the same level of annoyance, just upside down.  

So, as I said, the squall came. Truth is, we were busy with other things when Ayelet suddenly looked up and said, “Oh no — squall!” We scrambled to get ready, changed course, it hit, we got drenched, waited for it to pass, got back on course — and realized that with all the changes, we’d lost what little distance we had gained before.  

So what do you do when you’re sick of playing with the sails? You fold them, start the engine, and just go straight where you want. Still not pleasant — pounding directly into the waves slows you down and tosses the boat around — but at least you get there. It was so uncomfortable that even Ayelet got seasick. And since she couldn’t take a pill at that point, she threw up.  
The fall of a hero! Ayelet — seasick! She, who for years was completely immune to any sea conditions, making sandwiches down below while the rest of us puked on deck — now she was the one! How the mighty have fallen.  

We finally reached Bora Bora at the very end of the day, tied up to a mooring, and calmed down with a cup of tea while watching the sunset. But oh, the shame! A true sailor doesn’t need an engine! Engines are for the weak! What, we can’t sail against the wind? And what happened to Ester, who refused to sail against the wind?  
A frustrating sailing day that really shook our confidence.  

Another reason for the shaken confidence: we hadn’t sailed upwind in ages! It’s funny, but when you’re sailing westward, circling the globe, most of the time you’re going downwind — and we’d gotten really good at that. But upwind sailing? Maybe we’ve forgotten how!  

So how did we calm ourselves down? Mostly by talking with another sailing couple we’d befriended, who had also sailed from Maupiti to Bora Bora that same day. They too had tried to sail, realized it wasn’t working, turned on the engine (and also threw up), and motored straight there. Misery loves company. We also analyzed the day’s conditions together and concluded that some combination of wind strength, wave direction, and wave type created unusually difficult conditions.  

In short — a frustrating day, hence no photos!  

And now, as I’m writing this, we’re enjoying a smooth, pleasant sail from Bora Bora back to Taha’a. Ester is sailing beautifully, on a good heading despite the headwind, and I feel great!