MEET THE FLEET: SV WINDSONG - Erick & Jenny
MEET THE FLEET: SVย WINDSONG
Erick & Jenny
It was a lifelong dream of mine to sail my own boat to beautiful remote places in search of perfect, empty surf breaks, enjoying fishing and other adventures along the way. Around 2007, after my first few years of office work after college, I decided to chase the dream and see if I could make it a reality. Having no prior experience, I took a few sailing lessons to see if it was something I would enjoy and was immediately hooked. Instead of taking a sensible route towards boat ownership, I dove headfirst into buying a derelict project boat and spent the next 10 years fully rebuilding Windsong, a 1975 Downeaster 38 Cutter, into a practically brand new (yet still old) boat.ย Having little to no relevant skills, I had to learn everything as I went, which in the end gave me a great set of knowledge and experience concerning the ins and outs of the boat.
Once Windsong was as complete as she could be in late 2019, my partner Jenny and I got married, and within a month we moved aboard and set sail for our honeymoon.ย Leaving from our home port, St. Augustine, FL, and bounced our way down the Florida intercoastal waterway to get a feel for life on the move and at anchor. We started our journey with our senior boxer dog, Koda, who took to cruising life with great happiness as she was able to spend all day, every day with us.ย After a month or so of Florida coastal cruising, we crossed over to the Bahamas and island hopped for the next few months until Covid shut most of the country down.ย We sailed back to the US and spent the next summer between South Carolina and Florida. Unfortunately, Koda was not long for the world at this time, so she was put to rest. While it was a devastating moment for us, it did free us up to sail greater distances.ย We went back to the Bahamas and spent a full season sailing from the Abacos all the way down to Great Inagua. From there we crossed directly to Panama on our first long passage across the Caribbean Sea.
We spent almost two years in Panama, mostly in Bocas Del Toro on the Caribbean side. With great surfing, protected anchorages, affordable living, and fantastic people; it was hard to not stay forever. However, we decided our sailing days were not done, and wanted to cross the Pacific and experience the remote South Pacific tropics. We geared the boat up a bit more, and once all was ready, we first crossed the Panama Canal and set sail to the Galapagos.ย We applied for and received a 1-year visa for French Polynesia, so after 24 days at sea from the Galapagos we arrived in the Marquesas and then took our time going through the French Polynesian islands, savoring each bit along the way.ย One year later, we set sail from French Polynesia and with some stops along the way we are now in Fiji, where we will spend the rest of the 2024 cruising season.ย ย We do not know where the winds will take us next, but we are looking forward to exploring these lovely islands for as long as they captivate us.
SVย WINDSONG 
Erick & Jenny - Downeaster Cutter 38โฒ
SV WINDSONG SAILS FROM FRENCH POLYNESIA TO FIJI
SOUTH PACIFIC PASSAGE REPORT:
French Polynesia to Fiji, with stops in Aitutaki and Vavaโu, Tonga.
with Erick & Jenny on SV WINDSONG
Having cleared out of French Polynesia in Bora Bora, we made way towards French Polynesiaโs westernmost settled island of Maupiti to wait for our weather window to sail west towards Tonga, and our ultimate destination of Fiji. We entered Maupiti through the narrow and daunting pass, and dropped anchor in the beautiful lagoon, ready to spend a few days enjoying the last taste of French Polynesia. Those few days ultimately ended up being over three weeks, as the South Pacific weather patterns decided to send system after system of immense swells towards French Polynesia, pinning us into Maupiti.
Maupitiโs one pass faces directly south, as such it receives the dominant southerly swells face on. When swells reach 2 meters and above, it is unsafe to navigate in a small sailboat not only due to the waves nearly closing out the channel, but also the strong current caused by all the water needing to escape the lagoon. The dominant winds oppose the current, causing chaotic standing waves.ย While there were a few times where the wind forecast looked good for us to leave towards Tonga, the waves kept us pinned in for all those weeks.
Once the wait was finally over, we had a clear weather window to sail west and the swells died down. We enjoyed one final night in Maupiti experiencing the opening ceremonies of the French Polynesian Heiva festival, a lovely way to send us off to the next adventure.ย The next morning, we set sail, having beautiful sunny skies and perfect 15-17 knots downwind.ย Only two days into the passage, a trough which was in the forecast but was previously showing to be quick and mild, had now strengthened and pushed more north, right into our path in about 5 days. One more dayโs forecast update now showed we would enter a nasty zone of rotating winds as the trough pushed through our path.ย We decided to alter course further South to Aitutaki, Cook Islands.
We spent a lovely 10 days in Aitutaki waiting out the front, which showed some nasty rotating winds as we were at anchor, giving us comfort that we made the right decision to put into port instead of carrying on at sea.ย Once conditions settled, we set out to Tonga.ย We saw another weak trough coming through on the forecast, so we aimed northwest to get out of the potential zone of thunderstorms or squalls.ย The first few days were prefect sailing, and once the trough moved below us we had one day of dead calm wind, which we motored through, before the southeasterlies came back. We escaped the squalls thankfully, and now turned more southeast towards Tonga.
The next few days were among the roughest we have had at sea.ย While the winds were steady at 20-25 knots, it was the seas that gave us the most trouble. 3 meters, very short period, coming from multiple directions.ย It was the first time in almost 10,000 nm sailed that both of us felt seasick.ย We always keep night watches in the cockpit, but waves would regularly break over the boat, soaking us and making for uncomfortable conditions; as such we spent much of our time below.ย The next three days passed like this, and we finally made landfall in Vavaโu Tonga, happy to have the long part of the โdangerous middleโ Pacific past us.
With a few weeks of time enjoyed in Tonga, we set sail for the last of our long passages to Fiji.ย This passage was just about the best sailing we have ever experienced, easy light winds and mellow seas.ย Humpback whales breaching here and there, fish on the lines, easy motion, sunny skies and a stunning full moon.ย We are now settled into Fiji and look forward to only needing to do short hop sails for the rest of the season.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR ADVENTURE ON THE WATER
SVย WINDSONG Erick & Jenny -ย Downeaster Cutter 38โฒ
