“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

4^th June 2024

Kon Tiki, Raroia, Tuamotus, French Polynesia – Punaruku, Makemo, Tuamotus, French Polynesia

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”. This is the manta issued from support desks in a myriad of anonymous windowless offices across the globe. This was also the manta on board Ruffian as we turned her into a mobile IT support desk in the most beautiful location, but before we could set it up, we had to get there.

To the sound of anchors being pulled up all around us (Shimshal and Resolute) we started making our way across the coral strewn lagoon and out to the pass in the atol that led to the open ocean. Hoping that all our calculations, ahem guesses, were correct we approached the pass and instead of being greeted by standing waves, a ripping tide and white water we were gently swept out into the ocean ready for a slow sail to the next pass where we had made yet more calculations, ahem guesses.

After a night of doing everything we could to slow Ruffian down we duly arrived at the pass at the next atoll, Makemo. Armed with our guesses about tide, waves and current we once again feared that we’d be pounded by big waves, a outgoing current and a reef that threatened to break Ruffian. Just like Raroia our guesses were right and our fears dissolved.

Approaching the anchorage our challenges were not over as we were about to try a new way of anchoring; we were about to ‘buoy’ our chain. The purpose of this is to lift the chain off the seabed so that it doesn’t get tangled on coral, but at the same time, make sure it’s low enough so that the anchor remains stuck in the sand. Like everything on a boat its a compromise.

After playing out the anchor and setting the buoys too far apart the chain remained on the seabed. Then resetting and putting the buoys too close together they threatened to pull the anchor off the seabed. Finally we got things right and the chain magically floated meters from the seabed skirting above all the coral bommies and the anchor was being pulled in the right direction keeping Ruffian safe. Swimming between the sunken buoys and above the floating chain felt like there was some sort of magical sorcery at work as it all looked just so wrong.*

Now safety anchored we could open the Ruffian IT clinic and our first customer was GypseaBlu. There was none of the usual “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” instead we edited PDF’s, gave technical Starlink advice and most importantly changed their Starlink service. Gone was there bonkersly expensive ‘North American Global Roam’ tarriff and we welcomed them our the better value, unlimited world of ‘Fiji Regional Roam’. Our cheapskatedness was proving to be beneficial.

Instead of taking payment for the technical support Gypsea Blue invited us to dinner with a special treat in mind: Meat (and John’s birthday). Since leaving Panama we’d been vegetarian and now we had not just meat, but succulent spare ribs, prepared in the only the way that residents of the southern United States could (and by those who own a big freezer). All it took to feed us this simply amazing meal was a freezer, an airfryer, lithium batteries, a generator and whole world of forward planning, but, wow, it was worth it.

Next up for IT support was Bumblebee , Iain,being a full on OpenCPN geek, was more than happy to share his knowledge. In months past they’d been given reams of satellite charts** for the South Pacific but without OpenCPN configured correctly they were mostly useless. After getting into the depths of file management, source folders and chart groups he presented his work and it was a revelation. Bumblebee could now safely negotiate all those scary unmarked unseen dangers.

The gift that Bumblebee bestowed was just as full of care, love and logistics as GypseBlu’s one. Wrapped in simple homemade twine was what they termed to be a tea towel, but in our world it is our new table cloth. Sharon had hand woven this piece of cloth and all it took was a loom, multiple threads, a crazy amount of counting and delivery from California across the Pacific Ocean.

With all the anchorages IT problems solved Ruffians technical support desk was able to close but the life on the reef still was still very much open. After all this work the sharks, rays, corals and countless colourful fishies still went about their business in the gin clear water and where the phrase “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” was simply meaningless.

* After watching boats try to up anchor who hadn’t gone though this rigamarole we’re pleased that we went this this high faff anchoring. They had to motor in all sorts of directions to free themselves and did untold damage to the fragile coral.

** In the poorly charted South Pacific satellite imagery showing where all the bommies and unmarked, obstructions are located are invaluable.