Calmer Waters
Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Thu 14 May 2009 03:36
179:35.50E
A difference like day and night. Only it's just a different day. Very
different. From all that wind only 7 kts from the WSW are left, not enough
to sail, so just motorsailing. The best improvement is that the seas have
calmed down. Molly is just gently rolling, hardly worth mentioning. The sun
is out again and the temperatures are still climbing. We could skip 2 layers
of clothing last night! And today the socks have come off too. Looking
forward to sailing even further North.
Despite all the motoring we did not do too bad - 174 Nm in the last 24
hours. Before too long we will be back into the Western Hemisphere.
It's only 250 Nm for us to North Minerva Reef and we will probably arrive
there Saturday morning. There we will wait out the forecasted headwinds
until we can sail up to Tonga. It's still a wonderful thing to be able to
anchor mid-ocean, since Minerva Reef is nothing more than just that - a reef
inside which you can anchor, hundreds of miles from anywhere. If only the
wind would pipe up a bit, then we would not have to motor all the way there!
Cheers from Geoff & Merel