Bearing: 175M
Boat Speed: 5
Wind Direction:E
Wind Strength: 27knots
Sea state: very rough cross seas
Crew health: excellent
Last night I was dreaming about sunny Fiji and its cheerful people in my snug warm bunk below decks when he alarm clock went off at midnight . I was dressed and into my wet weather gear and sea boots in about 5 minutes As I slid back the hatch and thrust my head out, an ominous howl came from the wind in the rigging, and a large dollop of cold sea spray hit me in the face and ran down my neck - welcome to the real world. I felt my way in the pitch black night with safety harness clipped on to the safety lines to the cockpit. A low glow coming from the lights of the instrument dials was all you could see. " Brisk weather" I commented to Ted who was a faint shadow in the dark up one corner of the cockpit. Looking at the wind meter I saw it flash up to 40 knots. "Excellent news" he said "a wind shift backing 20 degrees to nearly East". It is surprising what you can be cheered up by when at sea. We had only a small yankee jib up and it meant we could run off at a better angle to the wind in greater comfort without crashing into the seas with the port bow. All went well , the self steering vane doing all the work. The wind moderated and it was only 25 to 35 all night and much of today .
Progress is pleasing and we are keeping on course. We hope to cross the half way point to Opua from Fiji this afternoon with this wind
We are sailing conservatively so as not to stress boat and sails , we dont want any more damage after the trim tab problem - it is also much more relaxing!!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Denise, Don & Ted, best wishes for your homecoming. What an amazing voyage that you have shared so well with your followers.
ReplyDelete