Round-the-world ralliers join international sailors and charter guests

Sailing the South Pacific
A Society Islands
Round-the-world ralliers join international sailors and
charter guests in Raiatea for the five-day movable
feast that is the Tahiti Pearl Regatta
E
verything begins at Taputapuatea. It was from the nearby pass through
the fringing reef that the legendary voyages of a millennium ago were
launched, the voyages of migration that populated the Austral Islands,
the Hawai’ian Islands, even New Zealand. It’s the mythical birthplace
of the god Oro, and still today you’ll find stones from this marae in the
most sacred sites all across Oceania. This is the center of the Polynesian
world. The wide Pacific itself pivots here, its tides rising and falling with
a metronomic regularity, 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, 12 and 6, every day of every year.
“Regarde,” says Pauline, who’s showing me through the outdoor temple on an afternoon of warm tropical rain. “Tu sais ce que c’est? C’est l’arbre à pain.”
Struggling through my schoolboy French to keep up with her, I’m a little slow on
56 Sojourn
Story by
Photos by Tor Johnson
Trade winds and
seas kept flat
by the fringing
reef are perfect
for those taking
part in the
annual Tahiti
Pearl Regatta.
57
4 Keys
to the
Polynesian
Dream
15° S
1 Crewed Charter
58 SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN
145° W
TUAMOTU ARCHIPELAGO
15° S
ÎLES SOUS LE VENT
Bora-Bora
Tahaa
Taputapuatea
Huahine
Raiatea
155° W
Papeete
Tahiti
ÎLES DU VENT
SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN
SOCIETY ISLANDS
the uptake. But a moment later, it dawns
on me what she’s just said.
Breadfruit!
With that word in my ears and the
broad leaf in my hand, all 30-odd years
of reading and dreaming about this place
come flooding in: James Cook plotting
the transit of Venus; the navigator-priest
Tupaia drawing accurate maps of the islands hundreds of miles out; Roger Byam
and Fletcher Christian shaking hands on
the beach before the Bounty sailed off
forever; Bernard Moitessier abandoning
Europe and publicity to save his soul;
Paul Gaugin; Alberto Torroba; Jacques
Brel—the list goes on. For, truly, in a lifetime of traveling and imagining places,
no other spot on the planet has had the
same pull on me as this one.
Here it was: Tahiti.
150° W
The Lay of the Land
I’ve come this week to sail in the seventh running of the Tahiti Pearl Regatta,
an annual five-day tour of the Society
Islands whose spirit, in the words of its
organizers, “is to blend sport, culture,
and entertainment.” And how. This May
2010 event coincides with the arrival of
the World ARC, two dozen international
boats engaged in a 15-month circumnavigation. Together with the other 50-some
boats in the regatta—mostly local sailors,
but also charterers who, like me, have
flown in—the World ARC crews gather
each night on the beach to listen to the
ecstatic harmonies of the local singers,
dance the tamure, and feast on chicken
and fish and all manner of local fare
roasted underground in banana leaves
and coconut milk. It’s almost too good.
Map by tim barker
If you’re traveling to Polynesia—
whether or not sailing is the first love
of everyone in your group—consider a
crewed charter as an alternative to hotels or bungalows. “Visiting Tahiti by boat
is both the best way and the cheapest
way,” said Stephanie Betz, the organizer
of the Tahiti Pearl Regatta. “There are
many things that people can do when
they’re on their own boat, with or without a skipper.” Highlights include anchoring off the temple at Taputapuatea; taking a dinghy ride up the Faaroa River and
visiting a vast botanical garden; crossing
over to Tahaa to visit pearl farms and vanilla plantations; snorkeling, spearfishing,
and beachcombing out along the reefs;
discovering the hidden motus; and crossing over to Bora-Bora or Huahine to swim
with the sharks, hike, or visit any number
of world-class watering holes, including
Bloody Mary’s on Bora-Bora.
When you compare the meals-included fee of a crewed charter to the cost
of hotel rooms and restaurants, plus all
the taxi rides and puddle-jumper flights
of a land-based vacation, spending your
holiday aboard with a front-row seat to
all these islands looks mighty compelling.
To find out more about sailing aboard
the Lagoon 570 catamaran Milena, visit
Didier Alphen’s website (www.tahiti
flyfish.com). For other crewed-charter
opportunities in French Polynesia aboard
Moorings 4600 catamarans, contact
Mooring Signature Vacations (www.
moorings.com/vacation-options/luxurycrewed-yacht-charter). Daily rates for a
four-cabin/four-head yacht range from
US$1,845 in the austral summer (i.e.,
January) to US$2,260 in winter (June).
And if you’d like to get a taste of the
experience for yourself, you can watch
two television spots made by “the CNN
guys,” my mates aboard Milena. These are
segments of a program called “TwelveMinute Tours: Tahiti” for the California
cable channel SoCal 101. You can find links
to both at
website (
Makemo
2 Sail Your Own Boat
I’m sailing aboard the crewed charter
When Didier Alphen came to these isyacht Milena, a Lagoon 570 catamaran, lands from France, he thought he’d stay
with hosts Didier Alphen and Pauline a year. Twelve years later, he doesn’t look
Barbat, as well as a film crew from Time like a man who’s about to leave soon.
Warner Cable who come to be known He’s sailed in plenty of other places: the
throughout the fleet as “the CNN guys.” Caribbean, the Med, elsewhere in the PaThey’re not sailors, the CNN guys, but cific. But this place clearly has a hold on
they’re absolutely game. Their on-air him. “You have a big mix of everything
reporter, Ben McCain, is a big-hearted here,” he says. “The safety is fantastic—no
and gregarious West Texan who greets pirates—and the people are so welcomall comers with a loud “Buongiorno!” ing and warm. The sun is there all the
and who spends much of his off-camera time. Pristine waters. I mean, it could be
time scripting the South Seas sequel to worse!” I very quickly come to apprecihis campy thriller Killer Tumbleweeds. It’s ate his and Pauline’s deep knowledge and
quickly clear that we’re going
love for these islands and
to have a fine time together.
their people.
Bora-Bora’s
Plus, any initial cultural difSpeaking of these islands,
Mount Otemanu
ferences among us are quickly
we should take a moment
provides an iconic
swept away as Didier brings
to say what we mean when
backdrop for visiting yachts. The
up the one cultural ambassawe say Tahiti—a name that’s
Îles Sous Le Vent
dor we all hold in common.
used in both a diffused and
(see map) are the
Yes, just a few weeks before
a particular sense. Strictly
Society Islands’
our arrival, Jimmy Buffett
speaking, Tahiti is one island
best known
came to play a fundraiser at
in the Îles du Vent, or windcruising grounds.
Bloody Mary’s on Bora-Boward, chain of French Polyra—reportedly his first show
nesia’s Society Islands archithere since recording One Particular pelago. Its capital, Papeete (pronounced
Harbour 28 years ago. Buffett is an avid pa-peh-AY-tay), is the commercial and
fly fisherman, and in these parts Didier is political hub for all of French Polynesia,
known as the master of that art. And so which stretches across 100,000 square
it was that Buffett and his entourage had miles of ocean from the Marquesas and
spent their downtime aboard the boat we the Tuamotus north of us all the way
were now sailing. And so it was that we to Easter Island to the south. Papeete,
now spent an idyllic afternoon passage to with its urban population of more than
Bora-Bora listening to music from a CD 130,000 and a network of highways, busiwarmly inscribed to Didier and Pauline nesses, and billboards, feels like a modby the Head Parrothead himself.
ern European city with palm trees.
The best way to visit Polynesia is, of
course, to sail there aboard your own
boat. If you’re near the planning stage,
check out Noonsite’s French Polynesia
page (www.noonsite.com/Countries/
FrenchPolynesia) for the latest local
knowledge on entry requirements, services, and such. If you like being part of a
larger group, consider taking part in one
of the rallies that passes through these
islands. The World Cruising Club (www.
worldcruising.com) will launch its next
round-the-world rally, the World ARC
2012-2013 (www.worldcruising.com/
WORLDARC2012/index.aspx) beginning
in the Caribbean in January 2012. And
you can click on the page for the 2010
event to read logs from the crews I sailed
with in Tahiti. Their rally concluded in St.
Lucia last March.
A California-based rally with a looser
structure and a whole lot of fun is the
Pacific Puddle Jump, organized by Latitude 38 magazine. Find out more at the
website (www.pacificpuddlejump.com).
Most of us, when we think of Tahiti, are
thinking of something different, something we’re more likely to find about 120
miles west of Papeete in the Society Islands’ Îles Sous le Vent, or leeward chain.
These islands are Raiatea, Tahaa, Huahine, and Bora-Bora. Raiatea (pronounced
rah-ee-ah-TAY-ah) is the de facto sailing
capital of Tahiti. The principle boatyards,
chandleries, and charter bases are all
concentrated here. And it’s among these
slower-paced islands that the Tahiti
Pearl Regatta sails. Our itinerary—from
Raiatea to Bora-Bora and back, then once
around Tahaa—gives us a fine introduction to the Polynesian leeward islands.
An Amphidromic Point
We aboard Milena are observers of the
racing, not participants, and so we have
the leisure on the first day of racing to pull
out ahead and watch the lagoon billow
with spinnakers of yellow, pink, blue, and
green by the dozens under the brooding
backdrop of Raiatea’s Mount Tapioi. The
fleet meanders across the lagoon toward
Tahaa on a morning of light southeasterlies, then aims north toward Passe Papai
and out into the open Pacific.
It leaves us plenty of time to talk. Ben
59
3 Bareboat Charter
Polynesia’s Îles Sous le Vent are moderate in many ways. The bareboat-chartering infrastructure here is no different;
about 80 boats are available for charter.
On the one hand, that’s enough boats
to give you some choices. But neither
are there so many that you feel you’re
traveling in a pack. As regatta organizer
Stephanie Betz says, “You’ll be alone in
front of a motu, and you can arrive at a
marina and always find a berth. You’ll
never find 100 other boats in the same
anchorage, as you do in the Caribbean
or the Med.”
There are four major charter companies operating in Polynesia’s Îles Sous
le Vent: The Moorings (www.moorings.
com/vacation-options/bareboat-yachtcharter/destinations/south-pacific/
tahiti-french-polynesia), Sunsail
(www.sunsail.com/yacht-charter/
destinations/south-pacific/tahiti),
Dream Yacht Charters (www.dream
yachtcharter.com/location_voilier/en/
Tahiti/BBorSK.asp), and Tahiti Yacht
Charters (www.tahitiyachtcharter.
com/en).
For an updated listing of all the charter operators working out of Raiatea,
contact Tahiti Sun Travel (www.raiatea.
com/sailing.html).
In the Tahiti Pearl Regatta, John and
Jan Cook sailed a chartered Beneteau
Cyclades 51, Napé. At the time of the
regatta last May, they were four and a
half years into a five-year yacht-ownership program with The Moorings. Their
own boat, Tatonka, is based in St. Lucia.
While they plan to do some long-term
cruising on that boat when it comes
out of charter, they’ve only sailed that
particular boat twice since they bought
it. Instead, they’ve used The Moorings
program to sail the waters off Baja,
Belize, Greece, the Abacos, and three
times in the British Virgin Islands. This
trip was their second to French Polynesia. “We’ve really enjoyed it,” said Jan.
“There’s always a boat for us, and the
world is pretty much open to us. And
I think The Moorings has taken really
good care of our boat.” To learn more
about yacht ownership through The
Moorings, log on to the company’s
website (www.moorings.com/
moorings-ownership/).
60 asks why these islands hold such a par- several inches at the same time every
ticular allure with sailors.
day and very little current.
“The Societies are middle-aged,” Didier
But mere geology and tides don’t exsays. Pressed, he replies that by contrast, plain the magic of the place. “I speak a
the Marquesas are young islands. “They’re lot of Tahitian,” Didier says, “but it’s very
volcanic,” he says, “but they have no reef.” difficult to translate Tahitian into French.
The Tuamotus? “They’re old. They have Tahitians speak in pictures.”
only a reef but no volcanic island.” What
Didier tells of waking up in the wee
the Societies offer is the perfect moderate hours and seeing all the Tahitian men goblend of high mountains and fringing reef ing out in their boats, and even now, after
with a wide lagoon in which to fish and a decade of living among them, he still
sail and anchor safely. To hear Didier tell has no idea what compels them into their
it, you get the sense that the
boats on one day and not anislands themselves are growother. Hours later, they come
Traditional
ing and aging and dying—
back loaded down with fish.
French Polyneeven voyaging across the
“They can teach you many
sia meets the
Pacific. “They sink and drift
things,” says the master fishmodern Western
world as islandthree centimeters every year,”
erman, recognizing full well
ers and voyagers
he says. “It’s a lot.”
that he still has an awful lot of
share anchorAn earlier conversathings to learn about fish and
ages (above)
tion with regatta organizer
the sea.
and beaches
Stephanie Betz touched on
These are the things we
(opposite).
another of the local charms
talk about as we reach across
for sailors. “In the Society Isthe long and gentle northlands, we have something very particular. running Pacific swells between Tahaa
We’re sitting at an amphidromic point.”
and Bora-Bora. And later that night on
Amphi-what?
a motu out near the reef, we taste for
“Donnes-moi une bouteille,” she says ourselves the overwhelming hospitality
to Didier. Stephanie invites us to imag- of the people among whom Didier has
ine that the half-filled water bottle is spent the last happy decade.
the whole South Pacific Ocean, with
Australia at one end and South Amer- Score One for the Good Guys
ica at the other. She holds the bottle
“We haven’t tacked this much since
on its side, then gently tips it back and we left the Caribbean,” says Rosemary
forth. “When the tide is high in Aus- Thomas from Crazy Horse, a Sundeer
tralia, it’s low in South America, and 60 out of Maryland that’s sailing in the
so on,” she says. “We’re exactly in the World ARC.
middle. It means that we aren’t affected
Her husband, Bill, chuckles. “It’s true,”
by the moon tide. The tide here in the he says. “We’ve been on port tack ever
Society Islands is always high at mid- since we left Ecuador.”
night and noon, and low at 6 a.m. and
I’ve joined Rosemary and Bill and their
6 p.m. Every day of the year.” Whereas 26-year-old son, Matt, for the second
powerful tidal currents run through day of racing, Bora-Bora back to Tahaa.
the Tuamotus and other archipelagos, Ahead of us is the pass back into the
here there’s just a gentle rise and fall of lagoon and the finish line for the day’s
course. We have a 51-foot Beneteau in
our sights—it’s the charter boat Napé.
And we’re pretty sure we’ve got them.
We’re making trees, as they say. Banana
trees. Pandanus trees.
But what we aboard Crazy Horse lack—
three American sailors halfway toward
becoming circumnavigators, plus me just
in from New England—is a local rock pilot: someone who understands how water
moves around these islands. And so we
place our bet on the inshore course, right
in alongside the reef, where it seems the
boats out in front are doing better. Napé
splits from us, heading offshore. We sail
in as close as we’re comfortable, then tack
back out.
Alas, when we cross, Napé’s wake demonstrates just how poor our bet was. Both
boats harden up for the final leg with half
a mile to go. Still, there’s hope for us. We
seem to be reeling them back in. And so
it goes for several minutes, as the surf begins to thunder on the reef on both sides
around us, but then—what’s this?—the
orange racing buoy disappears. With one
eye on the frothing reef to leeward and
one eye on the committee boat, we struggle to figure out what’s happening. I go for
the racing rules.
Under time limits, I find this helpful
note: DO = (D/VT X 1.2) – TR.
Huh?
Then I recall something Stephanie said
at the outset about the president of the
Tahitian Sailing Federation. “If the wind
is particular, he could change the rules.”
Indeed, it seems the wind today was
particular. Yes, after a full day of racing
and just moments before entering the
pass, that’s it. Race over.
It wasn’t a terrible result in the end—
just squishy enough to admit multiple
good-natured arguments that night at
the party at a motu off Tahaa’s eastern
shore. Mostly, it was fun to talk to Napé’s
John and Jan Cook about all the places
they’d chartered in the five years they’ve
owned a Moorings charter boat in the
Caribbean. As part of the yacht-ownership agreement, owners can exchange
time on their own boat for similar boats
in other Moorings locations. For this
French Polynesia charter, with their sons
and a couple of friends, the Cooks stayed
for two weeks, the first of which coincided with the regatta. For the second week,
they spent a more leisurely time exploring Huahine and Tahaa.
I spoke to Jan again last February. “We
loved chartering in Polynesia,” she said.
“And our time in the regatta was so much
fun. It was a great way to see and experience the culture of the various islands
and to just meet other people. And with
all those ARC people that were sailing
around the world, it really opened our
eyes to a whole different thing that we
don’t usually get on a charter.”
Opened their eyes? It sure seems that
way. Their boat is about to come out of
charter. And as Jan told me: “Just this
weekend, John even said, ‘I’d like to sail
over to Tahiti.’”
As for the rest of us cruisers, our kind
was vindicated when the overall winners
of the 2010 Tahiti Pearl Regata were announced on the event’s final day. When
all was said and done, who won? Was it
one of the crackerjack local members of
4 Become the Crew
Beverley Eve and Moe Rahati were
crewing aboard the Lagoon catamaran
Tucanon, one of the World ARC boats,
when I met them in Raiatea; by press
time eight months later, they’d sailed to
Brazil. Bev and Moe are among the dozens of crew in this rally, as well as others.
“You’ll find every sort of arrangement,”
Bev told me. “Sometimes the crew pays
the boat owner for room and board.
Sometimes the owner pays the crew.
Sometimes no one pays anyone.” And
the best unpublished stories, she said,
are about the inevitable crew-swapping
that goes on during the rallies. Bev and
Moe conducted a series of video interviews with people they’ve met around
the world on this trip, and they maintain
a great Facebook page called We Are
Sailing (www
.com/bev
moe1105) that gives a wonderful glimpse
into the lives of a couple of rally crew.
To find out about crewing opportunities
in the next World ARC or other similar
rallies, contact the World Cruising Club
(www.worldcruising.com). The Pacific
Puddle Jump (www.pacificpuddlejump.
com) also offers some matchmaking help
for getting into that fun rally.
Finally, if you’d like to fly in and jump
aboard a boat during the next Tahiti Pearl
Regatta, visit the event’s Crew Wanted
page (www.tahitipearlregatta.org.pf/
bourse.php).
the Tahitian Sailing Federation? Was it
one of the two fully outfitted crews who
flew in from St. Tropez?
Nope and nope. The overall winners
of the 2010 Tahiti Pearl Regatta were the
cruisers Srecko and Olga Pust of Slovenia, a husband and a wife sailing their
Sweden Yacht 45 Ciao in full cruising
trim. They were just passing through
these lovely islands on their way to Tonga
and Bali and South Africa and Brazil and,
finally, St. Lucia at the conclusion of the
2010-2011 World ARC rally.
In the meantime, we all came away
feeling lucky to have shared each other’s
company for a brief sojourn among the
beautiful, the moderate, the magic Society Islands.
editor at large, is an
independent writer and editor based in Portsmouth,
Rhode Island.
61