25:01.29S 162:38.68E

Monday 2^nd November 2015

Day’s run: 134 nmiles

Total distance run: 268 nmiles

Another reasonable distance run in pleasant, sunny conditions.  Tried talking to Rod and Mary on the SSB a couple of times but can’t pick them up at all.  They are due in to Bundaberg on Wednesday.  We used to have an excellent SSB setup, often relaying between boats that couldn’t hear each other, but since New Zealand it just doesn’t work so well.  It seems that people can hear us, but we really struggle to hear anything of them.  We’ve had people look at it, but can’t find anything wrong.  Very frustrating.

This morning I looked up and there was a sail in the distance, closing on us fast.  How can they be doing such speeds in this light wind, I thought, and started checking our sails to make sure they were set efficiently.  They were fine, but the yacht was still overhauling us steadily – it was a mystery.  Then their AIS target came up on the chartplotter and all became clear – they were 80 feet long, nearly twice our length.  I didn’t feel quite so bad then!

The weather forecast has changed a bit this morning, and it now looks likely we will get a front with heavy rain, followed by strong northerly winds for the last few days of the passage caused by a new low just beginning to form now.  Not entirely surprised, but we were hoping no further lows would form just yet.  We’ll need to get a wiggle on to try to miss it, but with the adverse current holding us back such a lot of the time, that might be a lot easier said than done.