S/V Rutea Sails Around the World: Mara'amu Watch

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Mara'amu Watch

Papeete, Tahiti

During the Austral winter (June to September) there are strong winds that blow up to Tahiti from the southwest, then the south eventually becoming the kinder, gentler southeast trade winds. We saw on our grib files that there would be 20 to 25 knot winds from the southeast but thanks to Francois, a live-aboard here off of Marina Taina, we now know that the mara'amu winds funnel up this side of the island, between our anchorage and Moorea, and when the gribs say 25 to 30, the locals expect 40 to 60 knots! Oh, and these can last up to eight days! Right now the gribs are calling for four days.... So! That got our attention (and everyone else's in the anchorage) and for the past 48 hours everyone has been letting out more anchor chain, reanchoring, jockeying for position, lashing down canvas and, of course, provisioning with lots of good food because it's not going to be a good idea (or not even possible without getting really wet) to leave the boat! The winds hit us about 2:00 this afternoon and we spent the afternoon in the cockpit (as did everyone) watching boats drag anchor, lose things overboard, decide in high winds to pull their dinghies up on board and of course to making sure that we didn't drag anchor ourselves! It felt like a hurricane watch except that so far (gracias a dios) we haven't seen any winds higher than 30 knots, the wind waves here in the lagoon haven't been too bouncy and the rain squalls that have come through have showered us with more rainbows than rain! What is a bit disconcerting though, is to watch the waves crash against the reef at the lagoon edge because they are huge! There are twelve to sixteen foot seas out there!
It's a bit of a shock to be back in a big city again after being is such remote areas for the past couple of months! I told Neal that I didn't think we should attempt to cross any busy streets on our first outing past the marina gates! It's bumper to bumper traffic and everyone is talking on their cell phone! Of the 230,000 people that live in French Polynesia, over half of them live in Papeete- and everyone drives! We walked to a super store and the choices of goods was overwhelming! We just stood there star-struck (feeling very inept) and stared at aisles of French cheeses, pates, meats and fruits and vegetables! Of course, then you have to figure out the grocery store routine so that you don't get up to the cash register and get sent back to fruit department because you didn't get the apples weighed and priced in the fruit section or so you remember to bring your own bags because the stores do not provide ANY bags for groceries and you have to end up putting your checked out goods back in the shopping cart one by one, pushing the shopping cart back to the marina and unloading your goods into the dinghy.... one by one....
OK- the wind is down to 20 knots and I just checked and we have still not dragged anchor! I can barely make out the outline of Moorea against the darkening sky and I can hear the roar of the breakers on the reef! It is amazingly beautiful here! Tahiti is a velvety green island whose peaks are typically shrouded in clouds. The ocean is a royal blue and the water near the reefs, an aqua blue. Coconut palm trees line the shore and the people are gorgeous! I can smell flowers from the boat! Very exotic! We have only been into the center of Papeete once since we arrived because we have been busy! I can't remember right now what we have been so busy doing .... but something like LOTS of laundry, provisioning and a couple of boat projects that needed immediate attention! Then we had to prepare for this mara'amu and today we couldn't leave the boat! Corie, on the other hand, has gone surfing for the past three days and has already driven around the entire island by car with her surf buddies! But when Corie surfs, everybody is happy and this is really the first time she has been able to surf since Mexico! After the mara'amu passes, there is the island to explore, music to be heard, dancing to be seen, waterfalls to be hiked and lots of wonderful French and Asian food to try! In the meantime it's my anchor watch so I better go check our position!
R of Rutea
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At 6/5/2011 5:41 AM (utc) Rutea's position was 17°34.81'S 149°37.14'W
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About Rutea

Rutea was built in 1984 by Conyplex in Mendemblik, Holland. A small brass plaque says that she's hull Number 9 but on the Conyplex website www.contestyachts.com there's no mention of them building that many. She's designed by Dick Zaal, who designed most of Conyplex's earlier boats. The brochure says that she's 48' overall with a 14'6" beam and she draws 6'. Her cast iron bolted-on fin keel weighs 12,000 pounds and she is supposed to displace slightly over 37,000 pounds but she's never been one to watch her weight and, ahem, she's gained more than a few pounds since we bought her in 1996. Her ketch rig sports Profurl furlers for the jib/genoa and the staysail. The main has a very tall aspect as does the mizzen. All of her winches are made by Enkes although I did add a Harken self-tailing for the main halyard. She uses an unusual reel winch that's equipped with Spectra rope for furling the genoa. There's a running backstay on the mizzen mast and there are no forward lowers on the main mast. The head stay is Dyform.

I replaced the original Volvo MD40A six-cylinder diesel with a Beta Marine 90 and I've been very happy with it although it puts out nowhere near 90 HP - probably 70 is more like it. Regardless, it's adequate and very economical on fuel. I also replaced the original Westerbeke 6kw genset with a single-cylinder Kubota diesel that drives a 150-amp alternator. Since we switched over to 12-volt refrigeration, we no longer have any 110-volt appliances on board, other than the water heater. Since the new Beta Marine engine has two big alternators (one is 100 amps and the other 175), we have our Victron inverter/charger power the water heater when we're under power (we don't have engine coolant circulate through the water heater).

Rutea's layout down below is different from many boats of her size. Aft of her water-tight forward bulkhead is a 'wet' head, complete with two sinks. Aft of that are two cabins, both with bunk beds on either side of the boat and each has a door to the forward head. This was perfect when we cruised with our family as our 3 children had their own quarters. The main saloon occupies the area aft of the forward cabins and her dinette and settees are large enough to seat 10 people (we've had many a memorable meal here!). Under the cabin sole are two 90-gallon stainless steel fuel tanks. Under the settee seats on either side is a 120-gallon water tank, also made of stainless steel. On the starboard side, aft of the dinette is the foward-facing nav station and on the port side is the galley where we have a 7 cubic foot refrigerator and a 5 cubic foot freezer. Aft of the nav station, on the starboard side is my work shop. This was originally designed to be another stateroom but the original owner had Conyplex convert it into a work shop, complete with a heavy-duty work bench and a massive 6" vise. I sometimes spend days at a time in there. Many a visiting cruiser has eyed with envy, drooled with desire and blatantly coveted my work shop! I have access to the engines from there. On the port side, aft of the galley, is another 'wet' head. Aft of that is the aft cabin, which has a settee as well as a full double-size berth. Aft of the aft cabin or 'owner's stateroom' as it's called on many boats, is her spacious lazarette, which is where the water heater and diesel-fired boiler are located. Bolted to the back of the aft deck and overhanging the transom are her Simpson davits (I sometimes tell people that the boat was built around those davits - they're very substantial with a capacity of 250 Kgs). Resting on top of the davits are Ruthie's roto-molded kayak and above that are two 215-watt solar panels. Hanging off the davits is our Aqua Pro dinghy and it's 15-horsepower Honda outboard.

On deck, starting at the bow, is Rutea's primary anchor, a Bruce 30 kilogram that's connected to the 350' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain with a Wasi Powerball. The anchor and chain are deployed and retrieved by a Lofrans Progress II windlass. In the anchor locker lives another Bruce 20kg anchor that's connected to 50' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain and 150' of 1" MegaBraid rope. Also in the anchor locker, amongst many other things, is the 18' Para-Tech sea anchor with it's dedicated 100' of 1" single-braid rope. Moving aft is Rutea's main mast, which has double spreaders, four Enkes winches and one Harken self-tailing winch. The mast is made by Selden as are the two heavy spinnaker poles. The tracks for the staysail and the genoa are stainless steel. In the cockpit are five more Enke winches and a Harken mechanical backstay adjuster. The mizzen mast is also quite substantial and has three Enkes winches on it. The turning blocks are stainless steel. The steering system on Rutea is the Whitlock Mamba system using a torque tube and a push-pull rod. The compass in the binnacle is made by Sestrel.

Even though we try to keep up on Rutea's appearance, she's still starting to show her age. I replaced her portlights (all twelve of them) and Ruthie has taken over the job of varnishing her brightwork. In 2000 we removed her teak decks and replaced it with painted fiberglass. Much less maintenance! She's what I call a 200-foot boat: She looks great from 200 feet!

Regardless, the best part of Rutea is the way she handles. While she's not the fastest filly in the fleet, she can cover a respectable amount of distance in a day. Her sail plan allows her to be easily balanced to the point where the autopilot has very little correcting to do. Her sails are all made by North except her spinnakers are Dutch-made.

Rutea’s electronics package includes radar, chartplotter, AIS, sounder and sailing instruments - all made by Garmin. Her radios are all old but they work well. Her Icom M802 SSB has been modified to use ham frequencies.