Day 298, Year 1: Flying into American Samoa
Date: Friday, August 11, 2006
Weather: Rainy, Rainy, Rainy
Latitude: Not Recorded
Longitude: Not Recorded
Location: Pago Pago Harbor, Tutuila Island, American Samoa
We tried something new this morning. Instead of sailing into port, we decided to fly . . . in the sailboat. Around midnight, the winds started building. Sometime during Mark’s 0200 to 0500 watch, he reefed the headsail. But by 0500, we were still flying in 30 knots of wind still with a full mainsail. We jibed unintentionally and totally bent the cam cleat on the traveler that controls the mainsail lines. Mark was able to bend it back with a screwdriver so that it would still hold the mainsail line, but we will have to have some permanent repairs done. We then knew that we had to lower the mainsail. We did so with some problems, but finally Mark was able to get it down. The lazy jack lines on our port side that hold the mainsail in place while it is being lowered came undone, so when we lowered the sail it did not go into the stack pack. We just had to come into port with the mainsail draping over the cabin top, and it will require a trip up the mast to fix that problem.
George and Ute on the sailboat “Miami” (out of Switzerland) had arrived here just after dark last night, but had to wait outside until this morning to come into the harbor They had a bit of a rough night trying to heave to in order to stay just a little offshore. When we flew in this morning, there was fog obscuring our view of the harbor, so we took our time coming into port. We had been told by the harbor master to tie up next to a fishing vessel to formally complete our check-in before anchoring. We did that and spent the next hour talking to some great folks from here. The immigration and customs officials were young and very, very friendly. In fact we found this to be the most welcoming harbor we have come into. We completed our check-in and then headed to the anchorage. There are about ten other boats here and we will have to spend time tomorrow getting to know some of them.
The rest of our day was spent going to the hospital here to get x-rays of my broken leg and conferring with an orthopedic specialist. Again we found everyone at the hospital so very friendly and helpful. A young surgeon from Fiji and an orthopedic physician, also from Fiji, both told me that things look good-just not healed. I am to continue to keep all weight off my leg for at least another 2-4 weeks. At least I did not have to have it recast.
There are so many other things that I would like to share, but it is time for bed. After a good night’s rest, I will fill in the details tomorrow.
