False Alarm

Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Tue 4 Nov 2008 20:57
28:29.36S 177:09.50E

Yesterday during daylight hours we kept waiting for the wind to fill in, to no avail. In the end the seas got so calm that we could see the Portuguese Man-O-War jellyfish sailing past with their little sails up. We had the most colourful sunset with deep pink clouds against a light blue background and a red wine coloured sea. Really a sunset to write home about! When nighttime came the wind finally filled in. We were doing over 8 kts while pushing a knot of current.

That current has gone this morning and the winds have picked up to 25 knots. Miss Molly is reefed down and sailing quite comfortably on a broad reach, still doing 8+ kts and still pushing current (speed through the water is 10 knots). While we were having breakfast this morning, the boat did a lurch on a big wave. After that Merel heard an alarm going down below. So Geoff came down to track it. It wasn't the generator. Looking at the switch control panels did not get us any further either. Then Geoff opened the games cupboard and the noise grew louder. It turned out to be the buzzer from the Taboo game that had tripped over on the wave! That was a problem even Merel could have fixed!

We now have less than 450 miles to go. Boats a few degrees South of us (about 120 miles) were having very strong winds last night, up to 55 kts. We are trying to sail around that area and hope that the winds have subsided by the time we get there. If not, we'll just have to reef more and take it. If any boat can handle it that would be Miss Molly, she's a strong girl. Keep your fingers crossed though that it won't happen because we like to keep it a comfortable trip if possible!

Cheers from
Geoff & Merel