27: 31.7 S

178: 40.2 E

 

Distance last 24 hours:             169     nm

Distance since Nuku’alofa:      605     nm 

Distance still to go:                688    nm                                                 (All distances are in nautical miles:  1nm = 1.8km)

 

Yeah, we are into the eastern hemisphere, around 21h00 last night, we crossed the date line, and now about two hours to go before our first ‘sunset in the east’, for 5 months. We didn’t have to change our watches  by a day, as we were already on Tonga Time, and they cheated the system, wanting to be the first to see the sun everyday, so opted for a time east of the Date Line, when they are west..... It feels good to have now crossed, both major meridians, and tropics, by sail.... The Artic and Antarctic Circles are missing though! We shall see..... Big debates within on this very trip as I ponder the future horizons for ALLONE!

 

Back to the now of sailing to Opua, New Zealand!

 

Yeah, we are planning to enter New Zealand at Opua, which is in the bay of Islands area, not far from Russell. I have never been to the Northland region of New Zealand, having always wanted to go, by knowing it’s a place to visit with a yacht. So this is it!

 

Last night was not a restful one, with the wind staying up at 20-24 knots across the deck, and for those sailing inclined, we were on a 50-60 degree beam reach, with a swell coming from SSE. This all makes for a little bit of discomfort, but as the mileage shows we made good progress. The clouds lifted around 22h00, and so although there was no moon, the starlight sky provide pretty good light, keeping the dreaded blackness away! Around 03h00 hours the wind dropped down to 10-13 knots, and the sea calmed to make perfect sailing conditions.  I was on from 03h00 to 06h00, which included sunrise. As they say: A new dawn brings a new day, and new life. Well this was certainly one of those. I even said to Ruth she can sleep in another hour, it was just so nice out.

 

I thought this was a pre mature onset of the light winds we are expecting, but by 11h00 we were back in 20 knots and a bit of a sea again. About 3 hours ago, the wind reduced down to 10-12 knots, and this time I think this is the start of the slow reduction in wind speed until we get the inevitable, dreaded calm probably tomorrow. The wind has been great to us so far, with this 50-60 degree beam reach all the way so far. In preparation for lighter winds I did some sail repair today on the big reacher, which had a little tear high up. This loose wire luff, furler sail is great for the lighter reaching conditions.Anyway we shall see what happens, forecast can be wrong.

 

At the moment conditions are typical of a High Pressure system: Steady winds, but decreasing as we move into the isobars, clear sky and warmish weather. I say warmish, because as we go further south we can feel it get cooler. Last night I even put on socks, sailing boots and look trousers... No oilskins yet, I haven’t used them in 5 months, but don’t want to tempt fate!

 

Today called be called ‘Bird day’: We had so many birds around us all day. Mainly solo shearwaters, but at one point there were six of them together. Interestingly glide in circles above the lure that we are trailing, inspect it, but then each one decides it’s a con, and glides off. Watching them just glide and glide, riding the updrafts from the waves, brings up so many questions about their existence, and the amazing efficiency of flight that Nature had worked out so many millenniums ago..... Hmmm!

 

Yeah, now fishing: Trolled all day, changed lures twice, but not even a nibble! Still hurting about yesterday, but that’s sport hey!

 

I hope all is well in the world outside our ‘little’ world of the big ocean. I can just imagine how many things you have done in the past 24 hours, while we have just been sailing ALLONE to get to New Zealand.

 

Cheers for now

 

H