Day 5: 436 miles to go
Kahia
Paul and Catherine Davis
Thu 8 Nov 2012 08:53
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Another night of strong winds. ESE 30 to 35 plus with
4-5 meter waves. The very rough sea was produced by the cyclone which
past yesterday over Fiji and Tonga. Up to 75 knots of winds in Tongatapu, South
Tonga and we are glad we sailed on. We heard on the net that everybody at anchor
or on buoys was ok.
Here all is well. Feeling exhausted of being tossed
around by the rough sea and slamming waves, we were reassured by Golf Harbour
Radio this morning, that it will get better and soon the sun was shining through
the broken clouds.
Unfortunately we will not manage to avoid the next front
coming through from the Tasmanian Sea on the week-end, expecting 25
gusting 30 knots but this should be through quickly and compared to the 40
gusting 45 of yesterday not so worrying. We hope to approach Opua in
Westerly 10 to 15 knots around Monday.
As I write the wind is down to 21-25 knots ESE,
with still rough seas, but moderating. We are sailing under fully reefed main
and staysail, close hauled in about 70-80 degrees off the wind.
After eating tinned food and crackers
yesterday, I managed to cook a lovely fresh pumpkin soup, bake
two large multigrain breads and a yummy almond cake to cheer us up.
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