Sailing from Philippines to Tahiti - part 1 planning

Like many sailors, we looked at how to best sail to French Polynesia from SE Asia. After discarding the traditional routes, we decided to take the least traveled path: going back the way we originally crossed the South Pacific from Panama to Vanuatu. During the 12 years we spent in the South Pacific (without sailing to NZ/AUS because of dogs aboard), we noticed infrequent but not unusual bouts of Westerly winds and mild motorsailing conditions lasting 3 to 5 days that allows patient sailors to go “the wrong way” in short hops between islands nations like Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cooks and French Polynesia. We will document the whole passage to help others contemplating doing such a passage, in a safe & comfortable manner, choosing patience & pleasure to visit islands on the way, rather than making a speedy trip.
This first video covers the Advanced Planning in choosing the best months to travel according to historical data. We are using the Cornell’s Ocean Atlas, Virtual Passage Planner (VPP2) and PredictWind.com to help us define our strategy in our first leg from the Philippines (Davao) to Vanuatu (Santo).
Next video will cover Departure Planning.