Heading North - Day 2 - 37 22.74S 178 47.94E

Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sat 2 Apr 2011 03:13
Good winds from the south most of yesterday and overnight. Able to sail around 4.5-6kts very comfortably and reached our WP off to the east of East Cape around day break as hoped, so we could see what the sea state was like. It's one of those places like Portland Bill where you want to be well off and have everything with you if you can (current, wind and swell). It doesn't help that there's a bank of shallows about 17 miles due east of the Cape, so you either go in between them and the Cape, or round the outside of everything. We chose the latter and were 30 miles off the Cape. Pleased we did as the sea was confused enough out where we were; it might have been dangerously confused closer in, with wind against current. Our noon-to-noon run was 122 miles. The wind has come up now and changed to a southeasterly, which is good now that we've turned the corner and are heading west. The only wildlife today has been more sightings of albatross, but we have had to call up a few ships to let them know that we're out here. With the latest one, a 675ft cargo ship, we both agreed to change course from what would have been a starboard to starboard crossing, to pass port to port. That's always slightly disconcerting as you then have to cross each other's bow, which for a few minutes means you're heading directly for each other. But it all worked out okay. With the change of wind, the main is back up and one of the genoas rolled away, and we're making 6-8kts in a lumpy sea with a lot of white horses. Hope this will quieten down as we get further west and in the lee of the mainland.

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