​The adventures of
Saecwen and her crew

A three-day sail northeast from the Isles Gambiers took Saecwen into the heart of the Tuamotus archipelago. Comprising over 70 atolls that stretch across 800 miles of the South Pacific, they form the largest chain of coral atolls in the world. Dozens are “closed” to the ocean, with no passable channel through which a deep keeled sailing vessel can enter their inside lagoons. However, many atolls do provide access from the ocean with passes through which a yacht can enter to

The Gambier islands form a small archipelago in the southeastern part of French Polynesia and are one of the natural first destinations when crossing the South Pacific from Central and South America. We chose to make Saecwen’s transpacific landfall here rather than the more popular Marquesas islands further north primarily due to the huge number of yachts which we knew were heading to the latter. We were delighted with our decision not just because of the reports of unsustai

Written by Justin Buckland, Heloise's brother who joined Saecwen in Panama on the 13th March and departed from the Gambier islands, French Polynesia on 16th May. I was delighted to be offered a place on Saecwen’s voyage from Panama to French Polynesia: crossing the Panama Canal, on to the Galapagos Islands and then a 3000+ mile Pacific passage. Part of the deal was that I would bring a few items for the boat: in the weeks before leaving the UK I accumulated a bewildering arra