When Mark and I left Irie in Taina Marina, Tahiti, on mooring ball
A19 for an indefinite time (after Mark was diagnosed with cancer, we flew to
the US for surgery and treatment), we made sure everything was as well prepared
as possible in this particular and unexpected situation. We had heard that A19
was a newly serviced mooring ball after it had broken loose recently, something
we saw as a positive thing, since we would be the only boat on this mooring and
a very light and short one in comparison to other boats in the cruising fleet,
so how would we be able to break a mooring suitable for a 40’ monohull? And we
had attached three mooring lines through the loop of the ball: one forward off
each bow and one “back-up” line in the middle. This set-up meant three things:
it kept the ball in front and in the middle of our boat, so nothing was
touching our hulls and our newly applied bottom pain, chafing of the lines was
impossible, and in case one of the lines developed a problem, there were two
other lines to hold Irie securely. Friends frequently checked on her in case
something looked suspicious; the marina had their contact information.
On August 15th, Mark and I returned to our floating home, ready to settle back into our life on the water. We saw that
Irie was lying slack against the mooring ball. Upon further investigation, we
found a pile of mooring lines on the front deck and only one single line ran
from one bow to the other through the loop of the mooring ball. From the moment
our boat moved, the sawing movement would cause chafe to the one line and/or
the loop (something every serious boater knows) with the potential danger of
the line snapping and our boat being on the loose. And, the way this one line
was tied (around the outsides of the bows!!), our boat was moving over the rope
and all the new, expensive bottom paint we put on in Apataki in March, was
being rubbed off! Needless to say, we were not very happy about this new found
situation and the only thing we found out was that none of our friends were
responsible. The neighbors in the mooring field didn’t reveal anything and when
we paid our steep bill (which was already higher than expected, because they
raised the weekly price when we were gone and did not honor the rate we had
received) to the manager Philippe Olite, he took the money without any further
information.
(For the people who are interested: catamarans pay double
the rate of monohulls, despite the fact that we, at 35 feet, were awake many
nights to keep an eye out when oversized monohulls – paying less than us – on
neighboring mooring balls came inches from our boat during wind shifts and
tidal changes. Price for a cat: 276cfp ($3)/foot/week or 551cfp
($6)/foot/month.)
What had happened to Irie’s mooring lines remained a
mystery… until a few days ago. The catamaran Paradocs entered our anchorage in
Arue and when passing our boat, one of the crew yelled: “Hey, I saved your boat
two weeks ago in Taina Marina! It was just floating…” What?????? From the
moment the new arrival had dropped the anchor and settled next to us, Mark and
I took our dinghy over and requested more information. Around August 8th,
Nicholas had come home by dinghy from playing ukulele elsewhere. It was about
midnight when he saw our cat Irie “dragging” through the mooring field. The
mooring ball and all three lines were still attached! He had banged on our
hull, but nobody was home. Our boat was about to crash into another catamaran,
so he urged those owners to wake up and together they fended Irie off just in
time to prevent any damage. Then, Nicholas contacted the marina staff, who – begrudgingly
because of the late hour – towed our boat to another mooring ball, where she
stayed until A19 was fixed. Then, Philippe and crew put Irie back on that one,
with only one line attached. And, he never told us about it!
Despite our initial shock and anger, we realize that mooring
balls break. Shit happens! What we don’t understand is how Marina Taina did not
take any responsibility for what happened, and how Philippe (“I don’t remember.
Moorings break all the time.”) feels
totally fine about not telling us anything and about the fact that we could
have lost our home (“That’s why you have insurance.”). If the wind had come
from the other direction, Irie would have ended up on the reefs. That being
sad, we are very grateful that Nicholas saved our boat and that no serious
damage was done. Discovering that you almost lost your house and way of life is
quite the scare and our good karma for having saved at least three other
cruising boats from crashing into shore or heading out to sea during our seven
years on the water has been put to the test!
