1st Sept - Day 1 complete
SY Saphir -
Jeff & Doreen
Fri 2 Sep 2022 03:26
Noon position 15:16S 154:02W
After departing Bora Bora at midday yesterday we have been sailing in ENE winds of between 15-20 kts. That has given us good boat speeds and easy sailing with the jib and main with one reef. Couple this with a perfect cloudless sky and it has been the best start to this passage you could wish for.
Our first days run to noon today was 149.5nm in about 23 hours so pretty respectable.
Settling down to life at sea again for a passage of about two weeks always takes a day or two and involves a lot of sleeping and getting into our routines but we are well practiced at that now.
The routing I am planning is taking us NW for about 500nm to around 12S 160W and then we expect the wind to veer to the SE and we will Gybe. Hopefully then we can run down a more or less straight track to the N of Vitu Levu, possibly passing between American Samoa and Samoa. The Passage plan shows a distance to run via this routing of approx 2030nm, which is some 150nm longer than the shortest route but it should avoid an area of light winds which might be in the way if I went more directly. It will probably take 13-14 days sailing plus we cross the Date line so effectively lose a day. That gives us an eta Fiji of the 15th Local which is the day the regatta starts. Might be a day late for the start. Will see what we can do to make up a day. There does not appear to be a shortage of wind on this route at the moment but it is a long way to go so we shall see.
We had an easy to make Spaghetti Bolognaise last night and that will also feed us today so all good there.
Very little sea life around today except a few birds.
Good sailing, good progress and clear skys!!
More tomorrow
Cheers
Saphir