Blog 68. At Sea. 25.43.75S 169.55.45E

Alcedo
David Batten
Fri 22 Jul 2016 04:44
Friday 22 July. We are now some 300 nm South of Anatom, motoring in bright sunshine and a calm sea, waiting for the wind to fill in, hopefully from the north if the GRIB files are to believed. Wednesday was hard on the wind all day with variable wind strength and direction and a stopping sea. At times we were making better than the course suggested by New Zealand Bob, our advisor for this quite tricky passage and at times worse. However, we did not have to put in a tack to avoid Walpole Island and by
Thursday afternoon the wind was mostly from the east so we were able to start making progress to the south east and New Zealand.

Today we in a wind hole as predicted by the GRIB files and Bob, so are motoring at 5.5 to 6 knots towards New Zealand, with the promise of a favourable wind from about midnight tonight. From Saturday midday, we are being threatened with a big area of low pressure to the west of New Zealand with high winds that will track east during Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Our plan is to try and stay far enough north to miss the worst of the gale and then make the most of the westerlies in its wake to get us close to New Zealand as possible before the wind dies or goes more southerly again. All very tricky and very much depending on how far north the low comes. As can be imagined, we are becoming just a little obsessed with weather at the moment!

Today's excitement was finding a fish on the line in the middle of lunch. So the usual drama ensued with trying to land a strongly objecting fish on our not very suitable after deck, with no convenient kit for dealing with it whilst trying to minimise blood splatter. However, we are pretty sure it is Mahi Mahi, which is a favourite with everyone, so worth the effort, including allowing the fish knife to go overboard when the bloody (literally) bucket was emptied over the side. No more fish on this trip!!

Alcedo

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