Yvan Bougnon's circumnavigation in a beach cat project

'Jolly good show Watson' .. just checked with Sherlock

 

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Yvan is at the moment about 165 miles from his planned stop on Fakarava, so perhaps he will get there in the morning tomorrow.

I wonder if his brother will meet him there? Laurent features diving in Fakarava in his exclusive 'package deals' with his Sunreef 70 Jambo, and if they are designed so as to typically save the best for last, then the south and north passes into the lagoon of Fakarava are the chosen places.

On Youtube people have posted about 600 videos from Fakarava, very many of them shot in the waters of the south pass, where large schools of sharks are a big attraction.

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Yvan's current long singlehanded voyage is quite a different project, compared to what Laurent did a few years ago, when he took delivery of the Sunreef 70 in Poland and then navigated to Tahiti around Cape Horn with his wife and kids. There's a long blog about that voyage (in French) which begins on this page - and a short English digest is here.

 

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Here are some Fakarava kids playing with their boats, a photo taken maybe in 1996:



A larger version of the same photo is here.


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Meanwhile, I hope Yvan somewhere along the line is welcomed by something like this!

 

Red, I went on Google Earth and found that photo was taken about mid-way on the south side of Rangiroa atoll (largest of the Tuamotus), looking eastwards from a point where that atoll extends ca. another 25 miles away.

Where you see the coast making an 'S' shape, there is a comfortable rustic hotel outpost, with 5 bungalows, the Kia Ora Sauvage.



Send us a postcard, will 'ya?

 

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Yvan's tracker shows him having just passed between Kauehi and Raraka atolls in the dark.

Here's a chart of the area.

Yvan is off the NW side of Raraka, and Fakarava, the next atoll, is about 20nm ahead. It's 10 pm local time there so he'll be finding his way in to Fakarava in the dark? Sunrise is at 6am.

If he heads for the south channel into the Fakarava lagoon, then Tetamanu island is there with all the comforts of civilization. If he just speeds up he could make it before closing time!

lol.

In his situation I think maybe I'd enter the channel, find some nice quiet beach, of which there are plenty, pull the boat up on the sand and have a private celebration and a good nap, preferably dreaming of a vahine or two.

 

^^^

But before you get any ideas, keep in mind that's Annabelle; she and her husband run the village.

 

Chart

Well, he's sure not going to run aground between the 'islands'!
6000ft and more ?? Amazing to me that these atolls are still there and that people can live and survive so close to the ocean surface. Fun chart - thanks for digging it up Blackburn. What an experience Yvan is having.. and through the internet, so are we!

 

^^

While there's nothing between the islands, I wonder how close to them he has to be to see them or hear the surf, if it should happen to be a bit overcast and completely dark.

From his heading I thought perhaps he had a westerly wind, but Meteo France's closest observation 2 hrs ago on Takaroa (100 nm north) was East 13km/h.

So then he's standing off, waiting for daylight. The tracker has him about 8nm to the Southeast of Tumakohua Pass, so if he doesn't see the light there yet he soon will.

Here's a Meteo France page with a map you can click for the local forecasts and marine forecasts.


An aerial photo shot from the lagoon looking out the pass:

 

The tracker, which updates every twenty minutes or so, shifted at 06:18 am to show him turning to the right, which means he's in the lagoon. Sunrise was at 05:49.

Breakfast at Annabelle's?

 

Could you re-post the site for the overall tracker please? - I seem to have lost it.

 

^^

You haven't missed too much since he stopped sometime between 0610 and 0618 for breakfast.

TRACKER.

 

Supposing Yvan hasn't switched his tracker off, he spent the entire day on Tetamanu Island. I guess either his brother Laurent, or the 'bateau-medias-platformes' are there with him?

Here's a large photo showing Tetamanu village looking east.

Here's another showing Tetamanu looking south.


A number of yachties have made blog entries about Tetamanu, here's a post from only three days ago, by a couple on a 35ft Fontaine Pajot, describing the village and diving.

So Tetamanu hasn't got internet connection, only a slow phone connection, and that is perhaps an excuse for why Yvan hasn't done any updating (of his plethora of websites) since getting ashore.

 

After two days in what many describe as a paradise,
Yvan has had enough! He is now moving again,
as of about half an hour ago.



But I forget what his next destination is.
Are there several layers of paradise?
Or does that just apply to the other place?

 

His next destination:

"Yvan Bourgnon will then sail to ... Raiatea, then the Fiji Islands and Vanuatu, before Australia in May, then Indonesia in the South Indian Ocean in June."

Sounds like this is the fun part?

I want to see the pictures of his reunion with Laurent. That 'bateau medias' should be lined up against a wall and pelted with coconuts.

 

Yvan is in Raiatea/Tahiti now after a short leg of 244nm in favorable conditions. I'd take my time sailing in small sections in that area of the Pacific too, maybe he will do a Bernard Moitessior and sail back after circling the globe . If so probably more comfortable to go on a larger multihull or borrow the Bateau medias