19042013 Friday - At Sea

Dawnbreaker
Lars Alfredson
Fri 19 Apr 2013 19:23

Pos 20:06.02S 166:26.52W

Saturday 05.20 am

 

 

19042013 Friday – At Sea

 

0500 and I relieve Lars for my watch. There is hardly any wind and the engine pushes us on at 4-5 knots, the sea is flatter but there’s still a swell. The skies are overcast with an occasional break to let the stars poke through and the odd rain shower to send one scurrying for the shelter of the wheelhouse.

 

I watch the sunrise around six, or what little of it could poke through the cloud. Were surrounded by rain squalls and we have nice rainbow to our south. It’s warm enough to do watch in just a bathing suit with air temperature around 26C at night 32+C in the day. The water a constant 28C+ and the colour of bright blue ink when  lit by the sun which only penetrates a few tens of metres of 6000 to abysmal plain below.

 

This afternoon the wind picks up and were soon doing 9kt plus in variable 17kt wind. The engine is off and we race along with the just the sound of a tightening sail and the swish of the seas as our bow cuts a path through the swell leaving a bubbly white and blue wake to our stern.

 

The Bananas hanging in the cockpit have now ripened and its daily issue. I’m presented with a cocktail of coconut milk and rum to try but regrettably it’s very watery and I make an offering to Neptune after a brief sample.

 

Happy Hour and Dinner complete the rest of the day as we continue to zip along at 7kts. We’re hoping to arrive of Belvedere reef, a sunken island exposed at low tide to stop over and explore its waters as it’s more or less on our route. We have managed to get some pilot information (Hand drawn) from Niue Yacht Club.

 

Niue itself is geologically interesting consisting of a raised coral reef consequently there are no palm fringed beaches and languid lagoons but a ragged landscape of limestone caverns, hidden sea caves and a rocky untamed coast or so the guide book says.

 

2100 I’m on the 8pm to11pm watch today, the wind has dropped to 11knts and our speed is down to around 5kts as push on westward under a half moon and a partly cloudy sky which will no doubt produce a few more rain shower as the night progresses.

 

A slight reduction in wind speed and direction as it moves abaft the beam. A little sail trimming and out on deck to fit the preventer which stops the boom snatching as the sail goes slack when we ride down a surf and were back in business and our reward is another 1kt of speed.

 

Bob the Blog

 

P.S. Read more about Niue on :    niueyachtclub.com