HALF WAY!!!

African Innovation
AJ
Thu 13 May 2010 19:35
At 23:45 last night (May 11th) we passed the halway mark and could officially start counting down towards Hiva Oa. This comes after the best day of sailing on this trip so far and the best day ever for as long as I've owned African Innovation.
 
Day 10 looked like this:
We logged 195 nm
Our average speed was 8.1 knots
We ran the engines for 4 hours to charge the batteries.
Average wind speed was around 23 knots
At 18:00 yesterday we had 1544 nm to go before we make landfall.
 
In all it was a great day ... I'm impressed that we managed a 195 nm being as heavy as we are, I mean, let's not forget that we have half a ton of beer with us and a few cases of rum as extra change. That on top of 800 litres of water, 500 litres of diesel, a LOT of food, etc. Having said that, going fast is not comfortable, because the waves were big and were a mix of swell and wind waves, so the seas were confused. We had our fair share of slamming and getting bounced around, but it was worth it.
 
Right now we are down to 1417 nm, so our pace has slowed noticeably, but it's more comfortable onboard, so we are happy.
 
Today we have already celebrated with a good oat meal breakfast, with a nice pineapple dessert. We will enjoy dinner around 13:00 consisting of a rich cream corn soup made by Martin, followed by Topi's pancakes. Nice!
 
Preparations for the 17th of May celebrations continue ... It will be an epic day at sea, but for now we enjoy having passed the half way mark and look at the counter ticking down on the nautical miles left before we reach Hiva Oa.
 
- Andreas
5:59.19S 115:28.24W