Almost there
My Way
Mike Kopman
Sat 22 Nov 2008 20:54
Gidday Everybody,
We're now in the Torres Straits, north of Australia, weaving our way around reefs and between other traffic. We forgot to mention in our despatch of a few days ago that we had just crossed our original outbound track from Australia, the very course sailed by us on our first trip on My Way, to the Solomon Islands. This morning we hoisted the 'Q' flag to signify we've just arrived in the country and require clearance, and above it the courtesy flag, in this case the Australian national flag or 'Waltzing Matilda' as Mike likes to calls it. The flag has been lying in the flag locker since leaving Aussie shores in May 2006.
Fortunately the sea has flattened out so much so it's like we're cruising along on a great big lake. Unfortunately, this lake seems to be cursed with a persistent current coming from exactly where we want to go! Not only has this really affected our speed, but it's put our fuel consumption through the roof. In fact, at the last calculation it was touch and go whether we would make it under power alone. So, apart from giving a sacrifice of dried banana leaves to the wind gods, we've also had to throttle back a little to improve fuel efficiency, which has of course slowed us even further! (What were we doing with dried banana leaves you may wonder? Well, in French Polynesia certain things purchased from the markets come wrapped this way. We've been finishing off various perishables before we have to surrender them to Aussie customs, so banana leaves were to hand. Whether they make a good sacrifice or not only time will tell.)
Well that's it for now. If we want to get there anytime this year I better get back to paddling... Sarah's moaning that I'm making her do all the hard graft.
xxx Mike & Sarah