Sailing through the Tahitian Islands

Jeff at 24 Hour Sailing enabled my son and I to achieve our dream - sailing in Tahitian waters! Jeff met with us to discuss our goals then negotiated a chartered catamaran for us in Taha'a. He researched the best time of the year to be in Tahitian waters, arranged the boat charter, which we paid for, and advised us on the sailing gear we should bring with us or should source locally.

Jeff worked with us on our navigation skills and route planning prior to the trip so we were fully informed of the beautiful locations we would be sailing to.

We flew from Los Angeles to Papeete, where we spent 2 days acclimatizing and my son and I toured the island while Jeff confirmed everything with the charter base. Then we flew to Taha'a to pick up the charter catamaran. Jeff owned a catamaran he designed and had built in France cruised the Med, crossed the Atlantic and had the boat in the Caribbean for many years. He has owned and chartered a series of power and sailboats and has raced sailboats for over 20 years. We were were confident he was the right skipper for us. His US Coast Guard 50 Ton Masters  rating was also a comfort.

Arriving in Tahiti

After provisioning we sailed inside the reef surrounding Taha'a and Uturoa for two days - anchoring each evening to familiarize ourselves with the catamaran and then we sailed to Bora Bora.

Approaching Bora Bora

That ocean passage had large waves and winds in the 20's gusting into the 30's. Jeff had both my son and I steer and trim the sails in order to build our skills and gain confidence maneuvering the catamaran.

Spencer steering the catamaran

We always hand-steered rather than use the autopilot so we could learn to feel when the boat was surfing or starting to get overpowered. As the wind built into the 30's Jeff had us reef the main - great training in mid-ocean - getting safely to the base of the mast to get the main's first reef in, hand-steering, communication between the helm and the person at the base of the mast. The reef went in perfectly and both my son and I experienced a great feeling of satisfaction during the intense experience.

After a wonderful visit to Bora Bora we raised anchor and sailed back to Taha'a. This was a completely different wind direction but we were so much more comfortable with the boat we had no issues. We surfed through the reef opening and sailed into a deep bay near Tapu Anu on the west side of Taha'a. The bay extended back into the island and was very protected. We were the only boat in the entire bay - surrounded by tree-lined mountains, listening to birds calling out. After anchoring we went swimming in the warm, clear ocean water. We saw turtles swimming past and uncountable numbers of fish. Incredible!

After a few days we sailed back to the charter base, borrowed a car and re-provisioned. Then we sailed to our fourth island - Huahine. Huahine is east of Taha'a. We were beating, reaching and running as the wind clocked. We got inside Huahine's reef just prior to dark and anchored in 8 feet of water over sand. We loved the anchorage as there were no other boats nearby, we had a spectacular view of the dormant volcano to leeward and the reef to weather.  We snorkeled over and easily dove to check the anchor set.

Sharing the anchorage with this world cruiser

Overall this was a remarkable experience we had dreamed about for decades. Thanks to Jeff for the incredible effort, trip planning and sail training he provided as part of our agreement with him.

I highly recommend Jeff Smith and 24 Hour Sailing for route planning, navigation, patience and as an excellent, caring sailing instructor. His love for sailing and his care for us in our first global sailing experience were obvious and impactful!

Celine