14 39.602 S   145 27.030 E

Great day of sailing….averaged over 8.5 kts for the 65 nm…arriving here at Lizard just after 3 pm. Lots of wind …20 to 26 kts True….with wing on wing sail configuration for the first 15 nm and then pole-out, broad reaching for the last 50 nm. I was just thinking: the Brits whom we have sailed with always speak of the wing-on-wing configuration as either “gull winged” or “goose-winged”….somehow, us North Americans call it wing-on-wing. No matter what the label, it is still boom/main out on one side and pole/head sail out on the other side.   Vessel stays in balance with the wind close to dead behind….so with 25 kts of True Wind, you end up with 15 – 17 kts of Apparent Wind as the boat is moving forward at a speed of 8-10 kts.

Enough of that technical crap…..the good word is the continued improvement in sea water temp….found it to be 26 C (78.2 F) when we arrived here at Lizard….>>>>…..snorkeling tomorrow!  Only difficulty will be strong surface currents as the wind at 20 – 25 kts coming out of the bay is moving a lot of water past the boat….and therefore past the reefs that we understand are really great to see……we will find out!

Had a great regular “cruising sundowners evening” on-board S/V Kilkea II ….4 boats in company: Kilkea II, Imagine, Shapirit and Sea Mist…..a good time had by all 8 of us !!

Tomorrow we will start out with a planned walk/hike to the top of the island/mountain/hill….and follow that with a mid-day snorkel to investigate the reef that has, reportedly, some giant clams that are most interesting…..will report after we explore.