Worrall Wind Update - Arrived Pago Pago in American Samoa

UTC/Local Time: Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Latitude: 14 16.354 S
Longitude: 170 41.712 W

Update: Phew!

We have safely arrived in Pago Pago in American Samoa this morning after four days of strong constant winds of 20-25 and frequent gusts from a slightly different direction 35+ knots and 10-14 foot rolling cross seas.

After another busy sailing night despite our attempts to slow the boat down with severely reefed sails, we sped through the water between 6-9 knots and arrived outside of Pago Pago (pronounced Pungo Pungo) at 4:00 a.m in the morning, Tahiti time, but 3:00 a.m Samoan time.

We had wanted to arrive at first light so that we would not have to stay outside in the rollicking sea any more than we had to. We pulled in the jib and maneuvered the boat into a fore reaching position. One tanker was also drifting about six miles south of us and another one was coming around the west side of the island.

"Pago Pago Port Control, this is the sailing vessel Worrall Wind."  We were in contact with port control and were directed to hold off until morning light and follow one of the tankers in. We were now on Samoan Time which is -11 hours Zulu. So we really got here at 3:00 a.m. and will have to change all of our clocks accordingly.

The tanker was scheduled to pick up a pilot 0630 a.m. The first light of the morning presented itself around 5:45 a.m. We were in the bay and anchored by 10:00 a.m., after three anchoring attempts. The first try, we were too close to another boat.

When we pulled up the anchor, there must have been 100 additional pounds of rope, chain, and other stuff we pulled up. The tsunami from the Samoan earthquake last year came through here dumping tons of stuff in the bay and devastated much of the shoreline.  Residents only had a 4 minute warning and the water in the Pago Pago harbor completely emptied before it came back in with a wave over twnety feet tall rolling like a freight train into the harbor, sweeping everything in its path to the back of the bay, debris, boats, cars, everythng.

Russ cleaned the junk off of our anchor after 10 minutes of hard labor, but we lost the boat hook that was still looped through some of the ropes and chain we had pulled up.  When Russ finally got the last strand of rope holding all of the junk off the anchor, the remaining weight on the boat hook was hundreds of pounds and Russ was unable to hold it on his own.  The boat hook slipped back down to the bottom adding yet even more debris to the bay. 

On the second attempt to anchor, the anchor dragged without getting a bite. The third attempt, we believe is holding just fine. Nevertheless while Russ is on shore checking in, I'm on anchor watch as we have heard that the holding here is quite iffy. (Update: About 7:00 p.m., a big blow came through and our third attempt also started to drag.  It was now dark and squally.  Endless Summer had left a vacant buoy earlier in the day which no one had claimed, so we pulled up our anchor in the dark and motored over to the buoy and latched on.  Hopefully, the buoy holds.  But we are not dragging anymore).

Some of the other boats in the bay with us are Pickles, Active Transport, Inspiration Lady, Endless Summer, Imagine, Lease on Life, Puppy, Tianha, and Windryder.  We have had many dinghy welcomes today by fellow cruisers who have already been here the past few days while we were out in the sea. They were glad to be tucked in here, even though many of them dragged anchor in the heavy winds. Most of our welcome visitors expressed a real love for this island despite the busy noisy port that often smells of the tuna cannery. The island itself is far more beautiful than expected and the Samoans the most friendly of the Polynesians.

So now that we are here, here are some of the passage details that we didn't want to concern you with while we were out there. We were never in any danger but it was pretty challenging sailing. I think Russ even commented that he was having fun!  Not sure when that was, but we weren't exactly sharing the same sentiments.

When on watch, we were really on watch and constantly helping Hydie with hand steering through the shifting winds, and hoping she would hold together. She did for the most part. We noticed this morning that here shaft was coming loose again. She needs another adjustment.

I kept reminding my somewhat fearful self, that Worrall Wind will always be able to handle the seas better than we will psychologically. And of course she did! We did pretty well too considering it felt like we were inside a washing machine for four days. The more we go forward, the more we are learning and gaining experience. Retrospectively, I wish I had been more relaxed earlier when the seas weren't nearly as much of a challenge.

We are always so thankful that we are not sitting in a soggy cockpit being pooped on by the seas. I guess this kind of makes up for the fact that we don't go as fast as many of our traditional sailboat friends. I was also glad that it was so dark, no moon....we couldn't see the giant swells, only the ones that broke on the boat or rushed underneath our keel heeling us sideways, or thundered underneath our stern and bow lifting us up, sometimes sliding us backward or propelling us forward up to 9 knots of speed. Fortunately, the seas were not steep or it could have been worse.

We had more than one wave break on the side of the boat. It's the first time though we've seen water half way up our pilot house windows running towards the back deck up and over the stairs to the fantail. Good thing we learned about stuffing towels in the bottom of the slider doors to prevent water slosh into the boat, and Russ had reworked all the ports so they would really tighten up and not leak. There were times when looking out the side ports that it looked like we were looking through the portholes of the Disneyland submarine ride, but with a lot more froth and foam.

We thought our back hatch was fairly safe cracked open for some badly needed ventilation...wrong. The water that ran up and on to the fantail, dumped right down onto the bed soaking everything. One side splash, sprayed so high it actually came through the skylight on top of the pilot house into the main salon. Several times Russ's hands were saved by the hard sponge stopper that prevented a crushing close from the forward sliding skylight when the stern was lifted high.

I'm thankful that the teapot filled with water was cold when it flew off the gimbaled stove on to the floor and the water slithered into the bilge and the floor dried before my locking flour canisters jumped from their bungie cords in the pantry spilling no less than 2 lbs of flour everywhere. We would have had paste.

As it was, the stew lids which were on tight loosened in the refrigerator emptying stew all over and when the side refrigerator door was opened, the contents shot out through all of the safety guards on a rolling heel to port, making the galley slippery like an ice rink. Every inanimate object was animated with a life of its own.

So we are here, safe and sound...no injuries, still having fun, but involved in cleanups and dryouts today, comfort food, and early to bed tonight.  Russ has gone to sign in with the port captain, customs, and immigration. There is a MacDonald's by the Port Captain office. While we never ate them at home, I've asked Russ to bring us back some big Mac's, fries, and chocolate milkshakes for dinner before we hit the sack. Tomorrow we find the super laundromat. By Thursday, we will be ready to do some sightseeing.

All is well on Worrall Wind.