20/6/09 - 06.40.45S 115.51W at 18.00 UTC

Flying Cloud
Julian Nichols
Sat 20 Jun 2009 06:53
At 6am GMT we went through the half-way mileage for the Marquesas. By then we had sailed 1556 nautical miles with 1555 left to run to Nuku Hiva! Of course we added around 300-400 miles to our trip by circumnavigating Isabela in order for me to complete my rite of passage through the equator! We have begun to pick up nightly squall activity, and so are a bit more cautions with the use of our kites at night.

Attachment: storming.mov
Description: QuickTime movie




As you can see, the sailing right now is fantastic. We hit 17 knots today, but have frequently been in the teens!

At 4.27 UTC today disaster struck. An abnormally large wave hit us from underneath the bridgedeck, blowing the top off the rubbish shoot (wet waste like vegetable stuff) high into the air. Unfortunately the gin bottle was right next to the rubbish scoop, and of course it chose that precise moment to wobble and to fall down the chute - gone to Davy Jones. Only 3 more bottles to go!

Last night i cooked - and despite my best intentions didn't manage to poison Matt! It was a kind of chicken casserole - but it worked!

JPEG image




Julian

JPEG image




Captains Corner:
What can I say? With Julian's fantastic cooking, I've actually had to resort to exercise in an attempt to exorcise my gut... It's actually gotten to the point where it's out of hand, and I'm willing to admit it... The problem is really just my love of life - and food! Ah well, I may as well exercise some of the time, as I can't be spending all my waking hours reading and watching movies ;-)
Mattman