Va'a outrigger canoe racing

Va'a racing is the national past time of French Polynesia. It is like little league baseball is to the USA. Paddling is not only done for exercise but it is a matter of Polynesian Pride! Every single day, no matter what anchorage we are in or island we are on there is always a va'a paddler going by. But in Tahiti it is huge!

There are single person va'as. There are 3 person va'as and there are 6 person va'as. I am not sure of all the rules, but my guess is that there is a total weight minimum and possible maximum to keep the boats even.

The secret to success is synchronicity in the paddling and the movement of the body as the boat slides through the water. The superbowl of Va'a racing is the Hawaiki regatta. It takes 3 days for the race and they paddle 100's of 6 man canoes between the islands of Huahine, Raiatea & Tahaa and then over to Bora Bora where they finish on the beach like superstars. We watched it on TV while in Tahiti.

We see people practicing every day.

Then one day in early December we see a big race of 6 man boats. So we zoomed over in our dinghy to watch.

They were turning at the channel marker near where we were anchored.

 It was so surreal with Mo'orea in the background.

They were smiling and having fun.

Some of them were decked out in Christmas hats and decorations.

It was good to see they also had a safety boat.

Mike was so exhausted from watching all that paddling, he took a nap in the cockpit.

Just lasts week in February, we saw a huge single man va'a race which came right by the boat.

There were at least 100 boats in the race.

Both guys and gals too! Women were originally not allowed to even look at a man's canoe, it was taboo! But in the last two years, they have come of age and now girls can paddle in groups or on their own. We have seen one guy coaching several of them, which warms my heart.

Now not sure what happened to the safety boat in this race, but this poor guy in the green boat had his ama (outrigger) come untied and he was flipped out of the canoe. I watched him for some time, long after all the other paddlers were gone.

He finally got it retied and I made sure he was OK and he turned and went back the direction he came from. 

 Such is the life of a va'a racer!  Paddling into the sunset!

Projects in Paradise

Sure we would like to pretend that it is all fun and good times while cruising the South Pacific, but you cannot forget the real definition of cruising: Traveling to exotic ports of call to work on your boat!!

We have had many projects and we do them as they arise or as needed.

With company coming for the wedding, Shelly had to get busy and sand and varnish our new cockpit table that Pedro built, just before he sailed off to the Cook Islands. (Thanks Pedro!!) Painting and varnishing has been designated as a pink job.

When we were riding around Bora Bora, the shaft on my bike pedals started removing itself. So when we were in Hawaii in October, we bought some bike parts and tools so we can fix them up properly and ride safely. And thank you Danny for making that awning, so we can work in the shade on the foredeck.

On the crossing from Mexico the gooseneck pin came out and scratched up the side of the mast's brand new paint job! But what we found was several of the machine screws holding the gooseneck to the mast were pulling out.

So we removed them all and drilled and tapped both the gooseneck and the mast and put in larger size screws.

During the rainy season we have found that the awning likes to hold water, so it will make an excellent water catcher after Mike sews in these patches for the drains.  Sewing is a blue job ;-)

The big project which has taken months to get completed was repairing the main diesel generator. It had been leaking oil on the passage. Then the water pump went out and the exhaust with out water melted the plastic muffler. We had been using our back up Honda for some time, until it too died from over usage. We had to order parts twice from the states and have more parts brought by wedding guests and we got a new fiberglass muffler when we were in Hawaii. Let me just say, that shipping parts to French Polynesia, usually cost about the same or more as whatever those parts cost!! Because the generator is down under the cockpit locker, Mike decided we should hire Adrian, a fantastic mechanical engineer from Hungary to help with the job. Definitely cannot afford for Mike to injure his back, since his surgery 2 years before the trip!!

At first we thought just the valves were stuck.

Here the guys are working to get the valve spring back on.

Adrian is lapping the valves.

The whole cockpit became the workshop.

This is where they annealed (soften) a copper washer. After heating it with the flames they dunked it in the glass of water for cooling.

Rocker arms and valve assembly going back together.

It is a tight working space down there!!

Mike still had to jump in the hole to help and give advice.

At this point we find out that there is no compression and the rings have seized up inside the block. So the whole project got put on hold until after the wedding and more parts arrived. This time they decide it has to come out of the hole. So the generator part (that makes the 110 volts) comes out first so it will fit out of the hole.

Next we rig up a block and tackle to hoist out the diesel part. Adrian guides it from inside the hole, while Mike guides the lines of the tackle and I get to do the pulling.

There she is!

That is the piston inside the block.

More torn apart.

The last thing we found was the oil leak which was what started this whole dang problem in the first place. Turns out it was the oil seal on the crank shaft. So out it came out again and went to the machine shop to be turned down a mico amount and new seals were bought.

I almost missed this shot where Adrian is putting it all back together.

This is the broken ring from the piston!!

Finally all back together again and installed ready for charging!!

The guys celebrate with the Corona beers Kevin left behind after the wedding!!

Congrats on a job well done guys!! Let's just pray this saga is over!!