Thursday, 2012-04-26, 12:00 boat (18:00 UTC), 7:13S, 116:00W, COG 265, SOG
6kn, Wind 20kn SE, sunny
Good news, the sun is out again! After two days and three nights of rain and
overcast sky a very welcome change. We're out in the cockpit, washing and
drying our clothes and soaking up the rays - who knows how long it lasts.
The watermaker is also running, filling up the jerry cans, which then go
into the tank. I don't want to risk a malfunction and spoil my tanked water
with salty seawater.
All through yesterday the wind kept shifting again from SE to NE, as one
squall after the other went past. But you couldn't really tell whether a
squall was approaching or not, because the sky looked the same all over.
Winds increased to 38kn at one point, and waves got as big as 4m. Then we
were in the center of a squall and the wind stopped. But the waves kept
coming. Wohoooa! What a ride. We ran the engine for half an hour until the
wind had picked up again, because sitting dead in the water the boat was
swinging all over the place. Anchor under water, Anchor in the air,
starboard side under water, port side under water, ...
After the wind was back the situation improved a little, but not a lot. I
didn't dare set the mainsail because the winds were so unpredictable, and
the boom would just have banged all over the place in the heavy sea. We hid
in the cabin and couldn't do anything but lie there and wonder why somebody
would even dream of doing this. We talked about the trip and our future and
what we are going to do when we get to NZ, and that cheered us up. In the
night the wind steadied and since then it's improving. We both slept through
most of the night, looking out only ever few hours, counting on the radar
warner and AIS. We were so tired. But now everything is fine again. Bad
weather? Don't remember anything. This is the pacifc, always nice and quiet!
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