slowing down

Gudrun V
Axel Busch
Thu 13 Sep 2012 21:50
Thursday, 2012-09-13, 11:30 UTC-10, 19:54.740S 166:39.575W, COG 260, SOG 5.0kn, Wind 20kn N

During the rest of the night the wind direction moved ever further north, and the strength increased slightly to 20kn. The rain passed and the stars came out again, but with no moon it stayed pretty dark In the morning I was left with bumpy sea and 220nm to go to Niue. Decision time: hurry and get there tomorrow, or slow down and aim for arrival on Saturday morning.

In nicer conditions I'll probably have hurried up, 200nm is doable with a beam reach. But bumpy as it is at the moment, and with unclear conditions up ahead, I decided to take it slowly. I really don't want to have to do more boat work in Niue, just get the boat to NZ without too much trouble. So I took down the main and furled the genoa a little, and now I'm bouncing along with 5-6kn.

Not sure what to do today. Originally I wanted to do the laundry while it was raining, but that happened during the night. Maybe more rain later today. Otherwise I'll clean inside a bit. Or sleep. I'm done with all my books for the trip, and I never feel like watching anything or doing computer work while at sea, especially when it's bumpy.

195nm to go.