Position 18:47.95S 162:15.93E

The last 42 hrs since leaving Vanuatu have been an endurance test !

We have been sailing in 27-40 knots of wind (force 6-9, I think) with big boisterous seas and heavy rain. Locked up inside the cabin it is like being in your own personal tumble dryer, very hot and lots of tumbling !

Watches are 2-3 hrs as it is too exhausting to stay alert for any longer, dinner the first night was cuppa soup in a mug although we managed to reheat a nice chilli yesterday to give us some energy.

We tried having a small gap, about 2 inches, of the hatch open for some ventilation but a wave came straight over us and it looked as if someone was pouring a bucket of water with some accuracy over Mark, who was sat at the chart table, very entertaining !

Luckily there was nothing on the chart table to get ruined and hence my reluctance to get out my laptop to update the blog.

The full spare petrol can for the dinghy, which we keep on the aft deck tied on, has been washed away and the cover for the bimini window, which is velcroed in place, has also blown away.

Today the winds have subsided a bit to between 20-30 knots and the seas are a bit more manageable, not so many breaking waves and we have the hatch open for air.

We have even had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, a bit messy with the first lot of eggs being mopped up off the worktop, but delicious !

We have been sailing fast averaging around 8-9 knots with a max speed of 11.7 knots.

So our 8-9 day passage is looking like being 6-7 days instead – hurray !

So much for the forecast of 20-25 knots !