Countdown to Departure

Since returning to Tahiti, life aboard Tauha has been anything but quiet. Every day has been packed with projects, repairs, provisioning runs, and plenty of problem-solving as we prepare for our next big ocean passage. The honeymoon everybody dreams about, I'm sure!

The good news? After a challenging week and a half, we finally feel ready. Well... almost. We're currently waiting for our sail to come back from the sailmaker, and once that's done, we'll be watching the weather and preparing to cast off within the next handful of days.

Of course, getting to this point was anything but smooth sailing.

A Rocky Start

The moment we arrived back at the boat, we were greeted by our first problem. The fuel valve of our dinghy motor broke, leaving us unable to start the engine. Not ideal when your spare part is sitting in the rental car back on land. Fortunately, we had enough food and water aboard to avoid a complete meltdown. After some creative engineering involving instant gasket, tape, and a healthy dose of optimism, we managed to patch things together well enough for one trip ashore. We retrieved the replacement part, installed it, and were back in business. It felt like the universe was reminding us that boat life always keeps you humble.

The Waves Are Already Training Us

One thing we definitely weren't expecting was how rough it would be inside the reef.

What started as slightly choppy conditions when we arrived slowly progressed into large swells rolling into the anchorage. Waves were breaking over the reef, forming impressive tubes, and even reaching us with enough force to send loose items flying across the cockpit. At times it felt less like being moored in a protected lagoon and more like being out in the open ocean.

For me, that meant a serious test of my seasickness. Even as I write this, the boat is still rolling enough to make typing interesting. Even Alex, whose stomach is usually made of steel, admitted he wasn't feeling entirely comfortable. But there is a victory to celebrate: I haven't thrown up once. Wuhu! Sleeping became a challenge as we were tossed around in bed all night long. Unfortunately, being slightly seasick isn't exactly ideal when you're trying to do repair work. Productivity definitely took a hit whenever the boat decided to remind us who was really in charge.

Mast Adventures

One of the less glamorous jobs of boat ownership involves sending someone up the mast. That someone is usually Alex. Whether that's because of my impressive arm muscles or his stronger stomach is still up for debate. Neither of us particularly enjoys the process. Getting someone 15 meters into the air while the boat is rolling around isn't exactly relaxing. Yet up he went. Multiple times! The effort was worth it. Our wind sensor still refuses to display wind speed thanks to a faulty replacement sensor, but we successfully installed two new spreader lights. These can be used as work lights when we're anchored or if we ever need to deal with something on deck at night. We also installed a steaming light, which is required when operating under engine power. Running new cables through a mast is never a quick job. Between removing old wiring, installing new lights, feeding cables through impossible spaces, and connecting everything to the electrical panel, it took far longer than expected. But when Alex flipped the switches and everything lit up, it felt pretty satisfying and we were more than happy. We also replaced our old halogen stern light with a modern LED version, reducing our power consumption and helping stretch our precious battery reserves.

More Sunshine, More Power

Speaking of electricity, we upgraded two of our solar panels.

The new panels are larger and significantly increase our daily power production. That's important because modern cruising boats consume more electricity than many people realize. Navigation equipment, refrigeration, computers, lights, water pumps, and communication systems all add up. In theory, our upgraded system should comfortably meet our daily needs. And if it doesn't? We still have smaller backup panels ready to be connected. Hopefully the sun cooperates and our power calculations were reasonably accurate.

Safety First

Another small but important project was installing our LifeSling. For those unfamiliar with it, a LifeSling is a man-overboard (or woman-overboard!) recovery system consisting of a flotation device attached to a long line. In an emergency, it can be deployed quickly to help recover someone from the water. Installing it required rearranging a few things on the stern, including moving our barbecue to the opposite side of the boat. Small change. Big increase in safety.

Making Tauha Feel Like Home

Not every project involved tools and repairs. We spent a surprising amount of time simply organizing. Items we rarely need were moved forward into storage spaces. We cleaned out the aft bathroom so it's fully usable again. Somehow all our clothes finally found homes in our tiny cabin lockers. The boat feels dramatically larger when everything is organized. Our living space is also much cozier now thanks to new cushion covers sewn by my mum and grandmother. They transformed the cabin and made it feel much more like home. We also acquired a ukulele.

To store it and protect it from flying around in the cabin, we built a custom wall mount so the ukulele now hangs proudly in the saloon. It looks fantastic, even if it doesn't sound fantastic yet.

Small additions like a toilet paper holder, a new shower head, and a few decorative touches have made an incredible difference. It's amazing how much comfort can come from such simple upgrades.

The Sail Saga

One project we knew might become complicated was our new genoa (front sail). We brought the sail with us from the United States to save some money, but while still in America we already suspected it might be slightly too large. Unfortunately, our suspicions were correct.

The sail's luff, the front edge of the sail, was about one meter too long for our furling system. Because our furler sits slightly higher than standard, that extra metre became a real problem.

Thankfully, a local sailmaker was able to help. The plan is to shorten the luff by approximately one meter, allowing the sail to fit properly. If all goes well, we should have it back tomorrow.

We're keeping our fingers and toes crossed.

The Watermaker Drama

Just when we thought we had solved one major problem, another appeared. Our watermaker had stopped working during our previous stay aboard because one of the end caps on the high-pressure membrane housing had cracked. We ordered a replacement. We installed it. We started the system. The opposite end immediately broke. Fantastic.

After asking around, everyone pointed us toward a particular store that supposedly carried the parts we needed. We took the public bus across town, armed with broken pieces, questionable French, and a translation app. We were hopeful. Then came the disappointment. The employee couldn't find the part and directed us to another store. The second store promptly sent us back to the first one, explaining that they were the only business on the island selling watermaker parts. Back at the original store, after several conversations and plenty of confusion, the employee eventually handed us the manager's email address. Before giving up, I asked one final question: "Could you please try entering the part number directly into the computer?"

And there it was. They had the part all along. That moment may have saved our entire departure schedule. To celebrate, we rewarded ourselves with coconut ice cream in a nearby park before heading back to the boat. The repair worked. We cleaned the tanks, restarted the system, and suddenly we had running fresh water again. What a relief. And just like that, washing dishes became dramatically less annoying. Hallelujah.

Navigation Comes Together

One of our biggest technical projects involved the navigation system. We installed a monitor in the cockpit connected to a Raspberry Pi running open-source navigation software. Alex worked his magic connecting it to our radar, weather forecasting systems, and navigation charts. Now we can view radar data, weather forecasts, wave forecasts, and multiple chart sources directly from the cockpit. It's one of those upgrades that will make a huge difference once we're offshore. The only remaining improvement is powering everything directly from 12 volts instead of running through an inverter. That will require new wiring and fuses, but that's a project for another day.

The Thousand Little Jobs

And then there were all the jobs that never make exciting stories. Buying mountains of canned food. Laundry. Cleaning. Re-rigging the traveller. Reinstalling ropes on the mast. Sealing the mast partners to stop leaks. Replacing door handles. Resealing deck fittings. Organizing storage lockers. Decorating. More cleaning. Then cleaning again. Boat preparation often feels like completing a thousand tiny tasks that somehow consume entire days. But slowly, piece by piece, Tauha has transformed from a boat that needed work into a boat that feels ready for adventure.

Almost Time

After weeks of repairs, upgrades, troubleshooting, organizing, and more trips to hardware stores than we can count, we're finally approaching the finish line. The sail is the last major piece of the puzzle. Once that's back aboard and the weather window looks promising, Tauha will once again point her bow toward the horizon. And honestly? We can't wait!

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