A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 12/22/2024-12/29/1014

Happy Holidays! Did you see our latest video? Crew and VIP members can watch it ad-free here.

Last Sunday, while 10ft waves ravaged the boat, Ray noticed our toilet leaking. With no end in sight for these terrible conditions, he decided he might as well address it now. I sat at the helm in my PFD, tethered to Sabado as she slammed from side to side. Ray dug out the rubber gloves and braced himself while he got to work in our starboard forward head- the worst place to be in rough seas. I’ll spare you the icky details, but there was lots of gagging, cursing, and disinfectant needed. What a way to spend the day. Meanwhile, Sabado was making absolutely no progress toward our destination. In fact, we were moving backwards.

By Monday, we found our situation quite comical. We’ve crossed the Pacific Ocean, yet this has been our most challenging passage. Mother Nature finally took an ounce of mercy on us, and we were able to point toward the Marquesas, although it was still wildly uncomfortable. The boat nose-dived into every wave, leaving the rig shuddering; it sounded like Sabado could break in half any minute. Trying to sleep was a waste of time. If we were lucky enough to drift off, we’d wake up in a panic minutes later from the noise. You’d be surprised what sort of crazy dreams your brain creates when you try to sleep amongst a chorus of chaos. 

We began playing a game we created earlier this season: every time you say something negative, you must say three positives. Here’s an example: This sucks, BUT at least it’s not raining! AND we’re not seasick! AND we’re sailing, so we don’t have to worry about running out of fuel! Hahaha. 

Ray called me inside and asked if I had spilled my water bottle down the stairs. “No, why?” I asked. My eyes widened as he pointed to a puddle at the bottom of the steps down into our hull. I immediately assumed our escape hatch was leaking. I tasted the puddle; it was salt water, but the escape hatch was dry. We traced the droplets up to the ledge below the saloon window. We had taken a massive wave over the side of the boat… was our window leaking? We couldn’t see any part that looked compromised, and it was far above the waterline, so we decided to sop up the puddle and investigate later when we were on anchor. At this point, we were just in survival mode. 

Tuesday marked day 7 of our passage from Tahiti to the Marquesas. We had made excellent progress overnight and were set to arrive in Nuku Hiva late that afternoon, finally. It was Christmas Eve. We continued bashing upwind all morning, eventually changing our destination to Ua Pou, a smaller island nearby that would shave 4-5 hours off our trip. We were desperate to drop anchor and get some rest. As we approached the anchorage, a pod of spinner dolphins came to greet us. It was too rough to go up on the bow to watch them play, but we cheered them on from the helm as they frolicked in the waves. Surely this was a good omen, signifying the hard part was over… Right?

The anchorage was empty, and towering cliffs surrounded us. We found a nice sandy spot and got settled, pouring a glass of wine and sitting in our salt-soaked cockpit. Those were some conditions we wouldn’t wish on anyone! We debriefed and devised a to-do list to get the boat back in order while we watched the waves crash on the nearby rocks, but first, we were due for a good night’s sleep. 

We were rocked out of bed on Christmas morning. The anchorage was so rolly we may as well have still been underway! No wonder we were the only boat there. We sipped our coffee, discussing how much longer we could endure this swell. I typically try to make the holidays we spend isolated special, baking cookies and planning months in advanced so we have a gift to open, but this year, I could not muster the energy to do anything. We video chatted with our family and decided to stay in Ua Pou for a couple of days, get Sabado cleaned up, then move to Nuku Hiva when there was a lull in the wind. Ray was looking at the bow when he noticed we were missing a bobstay. When did that happen?! And how did we not notice?! It had completely detached from the bowsprit and bashed up against the hull for who knows how long.

Admittedly, we did not conduct very thorough inspections during this passage, so we were worried the powerful waves had whacked that hunk of stainless steel into our hull, potentially doing some damage below the waterline. I immediately got in, but with the murky water and the hull aggressively bobbing up and down, it was hard to get a clear look. I could feel the divots and see some missing bottom paint, but I couldn’t tell if it went beyond the gel coat in the smaller spots.

There were six clusters of small chips. In a moment of panic, we looked into haul-out options in the Marquesas; hull damage is not something we’d like to half-ass a repair on. Unfortunately, we are too heavy for the one facility here, so we’d have to return to Tahiti if necessary. After the passage we just endured, that sent a shiver down our spine… However, the spots are so small, in theory, we could probably get away with underwater epoxy for a while. If we were going to do that, a calmer environment and some scuba gear would be helpful. We spent the rest of the day stressing out about this. We found the pin and circle clip that attaches the bobstay to the bowsprit on the trampolines. We still have no idea how this happened, but it managed to bend the attachment point so much that we’ll have to reshape it before we can rig up our headsails again. It was not a very jolly way to spend Christmas Day. After, we passed the time cleaning the boat and putting everything away from our passage. When the sea state is that bad, we try to minimize our time down below, so we had accumulated lots of clothing, pillows, snacks, toothbrushes, lotion, etc., at the helm and throughout our general living spaces. We had tracked saltwater in on our feet, leaving the floors wet and crusty… Everything needed some attention. We did our best, but the anchorage was so bouncy, we found ourselves feeling wobbly and frustrated more than clean and refreshed.

The second the wind calmed down, we motor sailed over to Nuku Hiva and got a second set of eyes on our hull. For once, we got some excellent news: no damage past the gel coat. Sabado was okay. ❤️ We took the dinghy to shore and walked to the nearest grocery store to grab some booze to celebrate- finally, we could relax. Nuku Hiva is even more beautiful than I remember! The bay is calm with plenty of room and good holding. Plus, it smells like every flower and fruit tree are in bloom. We are looking forward to spending some more time here.

I hope you had a great week. ❤️