Sailing Big Lost · video

What this video covers

A family aboard Big Lost navigates the Tuamotus, covering the practical and logistical realities of cruising one of the Pacific's most remote atoll chains.▶ 0:00 Food scarcity is a constant pressure: fresh provisions are scarce, small island stores carry little, and the crew inventories canned goods and plans meals weeks ahead, deliberately avoiding buying out local supplies.▶ 0:39 Coral bommies dominate every anchorage, requiring chain-floating with pearl floats salvaged from an abandoned pearl farm — a technique new to the crew, who found the first attempt at Tahaneha stressful enough to leave one crew member shaking.▶ 1:58 Atoll pass timing matters: departing Rauruia roughly 145 nautical miles to Tahaneha, they transited a cut with six knots of current running with them, motoring at five knots and keeping RPM under 1,300.▶ 3:48 Anchoring in cloudy, sun-glared water with heavy bommie coverage made finding sand difficult.▶ 6:45 Wildlife highlights include a grouper spawning aggregation at Tahaneha — part of the June–July event that peaks at Fakarava, where thousands of groupers and sharks gather in the pass.▶ 11:47 The crew contrasts Pacific cruising with the Caribbean: longer overnight passages, greater distances between islands, harder resupply, and higher self-reliance demands.▶ 5:35 Chain-floating over coral bommies and careful pass timing are non-negotiable skills in the Tuamotus.

More from Sailing Big Lost

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