Saturday, May 31, 2008

Ted's Log Stardate May 25, 2008

MESSAGE 8, MARINA TAINA, TAHITI MAY 25


HI All,


AFTER THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS AT THE MARINA IN DOWNTOWN PAPEETE, WE MOVED CAPRICE ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTH TO HERE. THE RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED TAINA MARINE IS MUCH QUIETER, HAS LESS SURGE THAN THE ONE IN PAPEETE AND IS WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF A LARGE MALL WHICH HAS A WALMART TYPE STORE--GREAT FOR PROVISIONING. THE PAPEETE MARINA IS OK, JUST A LOT OF CITY NOISE DAY AND NIGHT. HOWEVER IT IS CONVENIENT TO THE CITY HIGHLITES. IT IS ABOUT A 20-30 MINUTE BUS RIDE TO PAPETE FROM HERE.


WHILE IN PAPEETE, TOM PERKINS’ FAMOUS YACHT THE “MALTESE FALCON” ARRIVED AND DOCKED NEAR US. TOM PERKINS IS A VERY SUCCESSFUL VENTURE CAPITALIST WHO MADE MILLIONS BACKING SILICON VALLEY BASED COMPANIES SUCH AS GENETIC, GOOGLE, AND NETSCAPE. HE WAS NOVELIST DANIELLE STEEL’S FIFTH HUSBAND AND WAS CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER IN FRANCE FOLLOWING A BOATING ACCIDENT.


THE MALTESE FALCON IS A 130 MILLION DOLLAR STATE OF THE ART 3 MASTED, SQUARE RIGGED CLIPPER YACHT. AT 289 FEET LONG AND 42 FEET WIDE, IT IS THE LARGEST PRIVATELY OWNED SAILING VESSEL IN THE WORLD. EACH OF THE FREE STANDING 192- FOOT HIGH MASTS HAVE 5 SAILS AND CAN ROTATE 180 DEGREES. THE NAVAGATION STATION LOOKS LIKE A STAR WARS SET. IN FACT THIS YACHT COULD HAVE BEEN DARTH VADER’S SPACE SHIP. QUITE A SIGHT!


A LITTLE ABOUT PAPEETE AND TAHITI.. AS MOST OF YOU KNOW, PAT AND I SAILED HERE IN 2002 WITH BOB AND RENEE MILLER ON THEIR BOAT “WANDERING STAR”. OUTSIDE OF THE NEW MARINAS, NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED. PAPEETE IS A TYPICAL EUPOPEAN
SEA-SIDE CITY: HEAVY TRAFFIC, NOISY, EXPENSIVE RESTAURANTS, SIDE WALK CAFES, BARS, SHOPS CATERING TO TOURISTS, AND ORNATE CATHEDRALS. IT IS A GREAT, BUT VERY EXPENSIVE PLACE TO REPROVISION, GET FUEL, BOAT PARTS, DO LAUNDRY ETC. EXAMPLES OF EXPENSIVE: $10.00 FOR ONE WASH IN A LAUNDROMAT AND $5 MORE TO DRY, $25.00 FOR A CASE OF COKE (SMALL CANS), $50.00 FOR A CASE OF LOCAL BEER, AND $5.00 FOR A SMALL PACKAGE OF PRETZELS. FUEL, MEAT, FISH AND SOME VEGGIES ARE MORE REASONABLE.


TAHITI IS THE LARGEST AND MOST POPULATED ISLAND IN FRENCH POLNESIA. IT IS SHAPED LIKE THE FIGURE 8 AS A RESULT OF TWO AJACENT VOLCANOES. THE LARGEST PART OF THE FIGURE IS KNOW AS TAHITI NUI, AND THE OTHER, TAHITI ITI. IT IS PART OF THE SOCIETY ISLANDS WHICH ALSO CONTAINS THE ISLANDS OF MOOREA, RAIATEA, AND BORA BORA IT WAS “DISCOVERED” BY ENGLISHMAN SAMUEL WALLIS IN 1767. THE NEXT YEAR FRENCH NAVIGATOR ANTOINE de BOUGAINVILLE NAMED IT “NEW CYTHERA”. A YEAR LATER CAPTIAN COOK TOOK POSSESSION OF THE SOCIETY ISLANDS FOR ENGLAND. TAHITI WAS THE SITE OF CAPTAIN BLY’S BREADFRUIT EXPEDITION WHICH LED TO THE FAMOUS “HMS BOUNTY” MUTINY. IN THE 19TH CENTURY FRANCE TOOK POSSESSION OF ALL THE SUROUNDING ISLAND GROUPS, INCLUDING THE TUAMOTUS, MARQUESAS’, THE GAMBIERS, THE AUSTRALS AS WELL AS ALL THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. IN 1958 THE FRENCH NAMED THE ISLAND GROUP “FRENCH POLYNESIA”.
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WE WILL BE LEAVING HERE IN A DAY OR SO AND VISITING THE OTHER SOCITY ISLANDS STARTING WITH MOOREA. LET THE FUN BEGIN! TILL NEXT TIME, TAKE CARE


TED

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About Me

1291 Sanderling Island, Pt. Richmond, CA 94801, United States
Dan and Carol Seifers

Crazy

Crazy Caprice, or what

Like is so good to us. At 65, after 15 years of retirement, my wife, Carol and I have everything one could want Good health (for old folks), loving children ( one son and his wife Jenny is marvelous), wonderful grandchildren (one age 6 and one age 4, who have a remarkable ability to totally exhaust us in about 4 - 6 hours), a good home. Wonderful friends. What more could one want?

Then we were casually cruising in the Delta ( area between Sacramento and San Francisco) last summer with the Richmond Yacht Club Cruising Group. Life was serene, life was comfortable, and then it happened - WHAM - we saw a cruising catamaran tied up at the Rio Vista marina with a sign in the window which listed its adventures. Starting in Australia, across to New Zealand, up to Tahiti, over to Hawaii and on the the West Coast. What an adventure!!! That’s when Carol started thinking about the possibility of buying a new boat (we already had a Gemini 34’ cruising catamaran - life was good). Then sailing in Sydney basin for a few months, then either shipping it to California or sailing it across the South Pacific to California. Is she CRAZY?

That started our CRAZY file.

Over the next few months, she started feeding me articles about Australia, New Zealand, and multihulls. She even subscribed to Multihull magazine and would place various articles about sailing in the South Pacific under my nose while I was reading the morning paper.
She became obcessed. A devil (Tasmanian?) had her. Then around Christmas time, the bug really bit me. We were perfectly happy with our boat, but the idea of getting a new one (with all the new toys) and visiting “down under” seemed very appealling. A friend loaned me all his books on New Zealand and Australia, and the more read, the more I becaume enthralled with the idea