Half Way Point

Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Mon 7 Jul 2008 01:01
05:04.94S 116:59.15W

Yippee - we've passed the half way point yesterday! AND we did another 200
mile day. The wind has been a bit fluky. Sometimes light, sometimes
boisterous up to 28 kts. And also backing to ESE and veering to SE, which
meant either goosewing or broad reach. So the spinnaker pole which holds out
the genoa has been up and down a few times. During the downwind sailing
we've been surfing on the waves a few times, doing speeds up to 10.8 kts.
Any faster and we would need goggles.

Amazing to find that there are still birds out here, as far away from land
as one can be. None of them has found the urge to land on board so far; they
seem happy out here. Although they are curious and circle us a bit while
chirping away. Nice to know we are not the only ones out here. Since the
tuna boat we spotted a week ago we have not seen any other boats though. We
know the position of a few sailboats on the same route (through SSB radio
and email), most of them are ahead of us. So we're always looking forward
(literally too) to see one of them sooner or later. That will be a chatty
day on the VHF radio!

The moon is still very small, as you can see when you look out of your own
window. It is only there in the early hours of the night, though each night
about an hour more and each night just a bit bigger too. The stars are
omnipresent, as long as they have not been obliterated by the clouds that
pass on a regular basis.

Our 2,000 mile party is now less than 400 miles away....

That's all for now,

Geoff & Merel