Home Run - 11th May

Vega
Hugh and Annie
Thu 11 May 2017 21:09
10:45.4S 135:11.4W
It's difficult to believe that we have been out here for three weeks now. There are sure signs though that our thoughts are more on the forthcoming anchorage than the continuing passage. The watermaker has packed up again and we will eke out the remaining water rather than strip the offending machine down again. We are so looking forward to a decent nights sleep - and life without squash.
In my 1800UTC post to the other yachts I lamented the disappointing daily mileage we have been logging. Our speed over ground is consistently above 5kts and yet we barely do more than 120nm, often less. With only 200nm to go this is now somewhat academic and we may well have to lose some speed so as not arrive in the dark. No sooner had I pressed the send button than the wind rose to 20kts and we have been surfing along at up to 10kts (sounds better than the precise fact that we hit 9.9kts riding one wave - still a record speed for Vega). Oops, we've just had a 30kt gust so have furled most of the genoa, leaving just a small amount to counter any weather helm from the double reefed mainsail. The boat was rolling quite a lot and on each roll the screen on the iPad would flip through 180 degrees - it's more stable now.
When we crossed the Atlantic the bottom of the hull looked as if it had been pressure washed. Here, everyone is complaining of the weed growth and the goose barnacles around the waterline. Apparently fish will eat the goose barnacles when we get to Fatu Hiva but the weed will need scraping off. Thom on Fathom spent four hours in the water cleaning his waterline before being told that was unwise given the number of sharks in the bay............
The weather forecast for today was light wind - 5 to 10kts. We have a pretty big sea coming up from behind now so I had better concentrate on sailing.

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