Clearing Out
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Thu 26 Oct 2017 08:00
31:52.543S 174:22.051E Yesterday we had the kind of gentle windward sailing at about 5kts in bright sunshine that used to be a rare joy for a summer afternoon sail out of Dartmouth. Not quite the right direction for Opua but sufficiently to the south to feel that steady progress was being maintained. Overnight the wind veered to the SSW and we were able to sail to the SSE - even better progress! This morning's weather forecast confirmed our fears - no wind all the way down to Opua. It comes up fresh again at the weekend but when I suggested to Annie that we float around until the wind arrives and then sail down to Opua in style words weren't necessary to convey her feelings on the matter. So here we are, motoring along at 5kts, now confident that we have ample fuel to get us all the way if necessary. ETA lunch time on Saturday. The dazzlingly fast Swedish Arcona will be arriving at her destination, some 60 miles further south than ours, today. They will have motored for about 7 hours compared with our 80 or 90 by the time we get there - truly remarkable. There is a chocolate cake in the oven to console us. To occupy our time we are filling out the customs forms for NZ, itemising all the food items that will still be on board when we arrive and clearing out all the storage spaces for stuff to go back to the UK, stay on board or be discarded. It's the electrical paraphernalia that amazes me; a huge assortment of chargers, connecting cables, plugs and so on that must have been vital at one point but are now a complete mystery. We never dare chuck them away (even though some have clearly not been used in the two and a half years they have been on board). I imagine some will yet again shuffle between our latest destination and the UK - where there will be an even larger collection of mysterious electrical accessories. Courtesy of the blue water festival in Tonga and thanks also the aptly named Tropical Tease printed tee shirt outlet, also in Tonga, I can now discard some of the rather tired looking tee shirts that have been on board the whole trip. In the UK I wouldn't dream of wearing a tee shirt that wasn't cotton (unless to the gym) but out here synthetic fibres actually have the edge. In heat cotton absorbs moisture (sweat) and just gets wetter and heavier. It was really unpleasant in the Amazon. Synthetic fibres on the other hand "breathe", rapidly drying when wet but also wicking absorbed moisture to the atmosphere and feeling much cooler and drier. Some really sorry looking cotton ones are about to go.  |