Out here it is mid winter. OK, not log fires and mulled wine but just recently the temperature has plummeted. We need a blanket for sleeping and a fleece for night watches. The weather here is heavily influenced by weather systems to the south that originate off the east coast of Australia and then cross NZ before running around the southern pacific, South America and onwards. The weather forecast areas stretch in a north south direction and for this area you are as likely to be reading about the ice limit as you are the doldrums. These low pressure weather systems feed cold air northwards which then becomes the easterly trade wind flow. The windy weather we are experiencing at the moment  is coming up from the south and giving us this wintry feel.
When we left Maupihaa we were sailing in 20kts of wind, gusting to 25 and occasionally 30kts. The genoa on its own was plenty of sail, reefed in the squalls to prevent the hydrovane self steering being overwhelmed. And yet we struggled to make 4.5kts of boat speed. The swell was about three metres in height but the cross swell made for a very lumpy sea that caused our uncomfortable rocking motion. Often on passage out here the waves jump vertically into the air with their confused state. Now we have a 15kt following wind, no cross swell (i.e. smooth sea) and with the cruising chute up are comfortably making 5.5kts. Sadly we need to take it down for the night and need a more manageable sailplan to keep our speed up (Probably genoa and poled out staysail which is the nearest we get to the favourite downwind twin foresail rig (both poled out) beloved of friend Mike). This is in fact what we did and we are still maintaining 5kts. We are lined up to have a discussion with the guys at Hood sails when we get to NZ. They offer the "Code 0" option which is a cross between a big genoa and a cruising chute, made of nylon but permanently mounted on a furler on the bowsprit. Whilst we love the cruising chute in relatively calm and settled conditions it is a handful to get up or down when there are squalls around or the boat is rolling. Some variant of a Code 0 would be easy to use between islands, between squalls and safe to leave up at night.

The night sky is particularly brilliant at the moment with no moon to obscure the starlight. I think it is the time of year for the annual visit by the Persiad meteor shower and you can see many shooting stars. One started the other night as an increasingly bright yellow green light. As it got brighter it gave the impression of rushing towards the boat before dropping vertically, leaving a broad trail of light as it fell. A bit eerie for a moment! I can also see what look like faint white clouds but seem to be patches of hundreds (millions?) of stars. The patches appear in the same place each night so definitely aren't clouds!

It is at this time of year I start to long for dry land, frosty nights, bright autumnal walks through dappled beechwoods, a pint in front of a roaring log fire. It may be August at home and the cricket season still in full swing but here it is winter and only 10 weeks or so until we are back in Blighty. I am really looking forward to it!