Back On Board TTR ~ Return, Repair, Horses and Heiva.

Returning from the States, Frank and I were very ready to be back in our own space and reconnect with TTR and the water. Our first order of business, after restocking the pantry, was to sail from Tahiti to the neighboring island of Moorea for a little relaxation before attacking any jobs.

Moorea has several very nice places to anchor, but our favorite is Haapiti on the southwest side of the island. We dropped anchor in a familiar spot and spent the next couple of days enjoying the quiet of living on the water with very few people around.

While in Tahiti and Moorea, we had a chance to spend time with Shellie and Randy of s/v Moondance. We first met Randy and Shellie on the Baja HaHa in 2019 and we have sailed with them in three different countries and shared a myriad of anchorages. Happily for them, and sadly for us, they have sold their boat and are returning to their home in Idaho. Knowing we had very little time left on boats with these dear friends made our time together a degree or two more special than usual.

We spent some very fun days with Shellie, Randy, Amelia, and a few of Amelia’s friends in Tahiti. One of our most memorable days was when we went to the horse races.

As part of the Heiva Festival, there were four Sundays of horse racing scheduled. I was especially keen to see the traditional Polynesian races where the riders rode bareback and sported traditional costumes.

As seems to happen often, the published time and actual start time were hours apart, but fortunately the races started later, not earlier, than scheduled. Amelia, Frank and I spent the wait time sitting at the Royal Tahitian Hotel which was right on the water. We shared lunch and a drink or two, generally whiling away the time before returning to the track. A delightful warm up to the races.

The horse racing was fun and very interesting. My mom’s family is from Louisville, Kentucky and I have been to Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, many times. This was nothing like that famous horse race, but we did wear hats as if it was the Derby!

Instead of thoroughbred racing, there were a variety of races; trotting races, traditional races and bareback races were on the schedule. As a horse crazy child, I had read all kinds of books about trotting horses, well about any kind of horses, but this was the first time I had seen trotting races in person and it was delightful for me.

Of course we placed bets on each race. Shellie kicked off the wins by hauling in $40 on a $2 bet! That made us all cheer, and perhaps a little envious.

However, I got super lucky and cashed in on a bet I made on a horse named Oceanie. When “my horse” came in first, I walked to the window to turn in my ticket and was confused when the cashier told me she would give me 113,000 French francs for my 1,000 bet. Apparently Oceanie was a looong shot and paid 113 to 1!!! In U.S. dollars, I placed a $10 bet and received $1,034 in return. WOW.

In case you want to know my betting secret, it’s very involved and statistically based ~ NOT. I chose Oceanie because I thought she looked good and I loved the tattoo the rider had shaved into her coat. 🙂

When we returned to Ticket to Ride from the U.S. and sailed to Moorea, we discovered that the genoa furler had locked up and we could not furl or unfurl our genoa. (The genoa is the head sail we use most often.) We tried, but were unable to fix the furler, so Frank arranged for Matt Perry from Hurricane Rigging, New Zealand to fly in to help us. Matt was confident he could quickly open the furler and replace the bearings, so he scheduled a trip to arrive toward the end of June.

When Matt arrived, he tried to work his magic on our furler, but was unable to open it to access the bearings. On June 30th, we gave our packaged and addressed furler to our local shipping agent to send off to Karver in France so they could fix it. Karver promised to fix the furler quickly and return it to us.

Matt performed a rig check on TTR and confirmed that all looks strong and reliable. After receiving a good report card for Ticket to Ride, we are confident as we resume our exploring. But we need to get our furler back from France before we depart the Society Islands where goods and services are relatively available. Once the furler is back in place, we will have use of our genoa and have a reasonable range of sails again.

Amelia managed to procure two tickets for Frank and me to attend the opening night ceremony of the Heiva Festival in Papeete which took place while Matt was staying with us. Unfortunately, opening night was sold out and we only had two tickets which would leave Amelia and Matt without the opportunity to go to the event. But as luck would have it, while chatting with the awesome people at Tahiti Crew, Frank and I heard that a few tickets had become available. Frank immediately drove our rental car to the ticket office to buy two more seats.

VOILA! Our luck held and Frank scored two additional tickets. All four of us were able to attend the opening festival.

Much of the Heiva introduction was in Polynesian or French so our understanding was limited. However, no translation was required to appreciate the dancing and music that we witnessed. The traditional dances were well choreographed and the costumes were beautiful!

Photos were not allowed so I don’t have any of my own, but here is one from the website.

After the Heiva opening, we walked downtown to a local bar where there was a dance floor and old school tunes were blaring at deafening decibels. We were packed in like sardines and Frank and I were by far the oldest people in the place. But at least we knew the music!

We hung out until about 1 am, then we walked Matt to the taxi stand so he could catch his flight back to New Zealand. Matt’s stay with us was short but productive and we are confident that we will visit him when our travels take us to New Zealand.

As seems to happen with Amelia and me, we were on the same wavelength and popped up on deck one morning both wearing “good vibes” t-shirts. We also were of the same mind and thought the day called for a hike. Frank, Amelia and I decided to visit the Vaipahi Gardens.

We all prepared for a day off the boat and I changed into a long sleeve sun shirt before starting the hike ~ post melanoma surgery, I am being very careful.

The Vaipahi Gardens, opened in 2007, welcome visitors from 7 am to 5 pm daily. At the entrance is a small, tasteful souvenir shop which also sells fruit drinks and dried fruit. Vaipahi covers about 2.5 acres of land and 75 species of plants have been planted and marked with informational signs.

There are three loops available and we chose to hike La Grande Boucie de Vaipahi – the Great Loop. Of course we couldn’t stick to just one path and instead criss-crossed between areas and ended up hiking about four miles. We traversed a wide variety of terrane that required stepping up large boulders, walking multiple steep switchbacks, crossing some slippery and muddy rocks and some wide grassy areas under an archway of tall trees.

Formerly, Vaipahi was a sacred area and “the spirits of the deceased of the Teva clan took this “path of purification of souls” in the course of their quest for paradise.
These souls were thus taken to the high priestess of death, Te’ura-i-Hamano, in spiritual waters, transcendent and saving. The powerful breath of the gushing waters of the Vaipahi cascade detached souls from the defilements that stuck to their skin. Having successfully completed an imposed ritual, they obtained the eternal rest offered in the garden of delights of the Rohotu-No’ano’a, paradise of the ma’ohi people.” (Source: Bora Bora Travel)

It is always interesting to read a little about the rituals associated with the islands and people we visit. Many of these beliefs have changed with the influence of missionaries, but I enjoy learning the history and traditions of others.

Because we sent our genoa furler to France for repairs, we will remain in the Society Islands until the furler is returned. This actually works great for us as we will explore this area of French Polynesia during non-cyclone season and will return to the Tuamotus once the furler is back in place.

Next up, our friend, Kevin of s/v Kalewa, is coming to visit and we are looking forward to exploring nearby islands with him on board Ticket to Ride.

UPDATE: As of August 22nd, the repaired furler is finally back in our hands. The part took four weeks to arrive in France, but Karver repaired it in only a week. The furler was shipped back to French Polynesia via UPS “expedited” but it still took weeks for it to arrive and clear into the country. We are extremely grateful to Léo Pontier who called our agent to track down the furler. Léo is a very talented young man who has been instrumental in helping us accomplish projects on Ticket to Ride. Léo is fluent in French and English, so when he called our shipping agent, he bridged the communication barrier for us and worked with the agent to locate the furler. You will learn more about Léo when I write about the things we accomplished on TTR while in Tahiti.

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