Bearing: 176
Boat Speed: 6kn
Wind Direction:ESE
Wind Strength:18 to 25
Sea state: moderate confuse swell
Crew health: great
blue skies . good steady progress in the right direction , eating Fijian pineapples and papayas, not bad !
Self steering working well on starboard rudder which is a huge relief - looking back it seems like a bad dream now.
Some things seem funny in retrospect. I forgot to mention yesterday that when hand steering we were so tired that we changed from 3 hourly to 2 hourly stints. I was almost at the end of my session seated on the new cockpit seat directly behind the wheel when I nodded off to sleep momentarily, slumped forward and woke with a start as I banged my nose into the wheel and knocked a slice off skin off. Good job I did not break my glasses. So there I was when Ted came on watch, still gripping the wheel with blood dripping off the end of my nose whilst peering at the instruments and looking out for shipping
I also should have said more about passing through the Navula passage in the dark - this is some thing I dont usually do round Fijian waters but we had to go after checking out of customs and there are leading lights. There are supposed to be port and starboard flashing lights on the edge of the reef too but one was broken and so only one on our Starboard side
we saw the leading lights on the hills behind though they were not too bright by the time we were in the pass. We set some way points in the chart plotter but you never can be sure whether the charts match them ( in the Cooks and Samoa if you followed way points off the chart you would likely end up on the reef because the GPS is more accurate than the chart!!)
So Ted steered and I watched the lights and kept nipping below to compare what I saw with the chart plotter. Currents and turbulence slewed Katipo about and Ted did a fine job holding a good course. It was pitchy black and you know sharp coral is waiting to get you if you make a mistake - all that glows is one light to starboard - then soon, after all the tension we were out and free - pity about the strong winds and short steep seas awaiting us in the next hour or so - but that is all behind us too.
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