Day 5 Noon Position 25 03.06S 179 37.01W

Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sun 6 May 2012 04:39
The keen-eyed will notice the significance of the position above - we've crossed back over the 180 degree line and are again in the western hemisphere. So our longitude is now west rather than east. The Minerva Reef is on this side of the line, but Fiji is on the other, so we'll be crossing back again when we head up to Fiji. The weather has improved very slightly - both the wind and seas have eased a little, but both come up again in the gusts. We're still under a triple reefed main and a little head sail and making 6 kts towards North Minerva. Hope to arrive there sometime during daylight tomorrow (Monday). We're much harder on the wind today as we want to make sure we have sufficient easting for Minerva before the winds change. They're currently ESE and are due to go E and then NE. Noon-to-noon run was 115.6 miles. We slowed the boat down again over night and will again tonight to ensure we arrive tomorrow in daylight. If we get there while it's dark we'll have to heave to and wait for dawn - it's a very small entrance to the lagoon and not something to attempt in the dark! Had to go on the foredeck today to lash down something that had come loose - almost another early bath as the white horses are again queuing up to come on board. We haven't used our Musto HPX foul weather gear a great deal since we left the UK, but we're making up for it on this passage and they're great.

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