The long way home: Navigating broken shrouds and fickle trades on the road to Polynesia

Sailing from Chile to Polynesia’s legendary shores was an adventure across the less travelled routes of the Pacific for Lauric Thiault

The Río Valdivia was glassy when we slipped our lines, the Chilean shores still wrapped in morning mist. For a moment it felt as though our crossing might actually begin gently. Within hours that illusion was gone. The calm gave way to a steep, confused sea, gear crashing below as Tupaia worked her way into water riled by a low-pressure system spun off the Roaring Forties.