Cyclone season has begun in French Polynesia and we need to sail 1,000 nm east upwind against the trade winds to get to the safety of the Marquesas.

We’re sailing 175 miles from Raroia to Fakarava in the Tuamotus, which is a bit tricky as we have to plan to traverse each pass at slack tide and navigate around hard to see bommies once inside the lagoon.

Our search for the trade winds continues as we sail across the Pacific Ocean. Light winds shift to higher winds which morph into squalls taking all the wind with them upon departure.

We are continuing our 4,000 nm voyage across the Pacific Ocean, going from pollywogs to shellbacks as we cross the equator, hoping for wind, catching fish, marveling at dolphins, learning we may need to hand steer more often than we’d like and now our rudders are even giving us problems.

We are finally setting sail on a 4,000 nm passage across the Pacific to French Polynesia. This dream has been years in the making and it’s finally coming true!

In this episode we’re sharing how our performance catamaran sails itself, without autopilot, and of course the latest hurdle we have to jump. Watch now to see how it’s done!