25:02.972 S
16:44.920 E
1/11/09
16:00
Sunday morning we took on 457 litres of diesel, turned
the clocks forward one hour, and headed out into SE5/6 on the nose. As we left the harbour the grey descended with a rain squall. Two hours later we were able to sail
through a pass on the South Western side.
The wind actually went East and for a hour and a half we were able to
more or less make course. Then a
squall came through and stole the East Wind leaving only the Southeast wind
pushing us Southwestward.
The generator situation is not ideal. The AC generator relies on a box of
capacitors to excite the alternator and charge the batteries. Three years ago
they failed and the genny wouldn’t charge.
We think the same thing has happened again and were unable to locate the
correct ones in Noumea, so it’s out
of action. The DC generator which
is the main workhorse has managed to break two of its four flexible mountings.
Steve has had to remove the soundproof housing and make a temporary fixing. The genset was moving so much it was chewing through
the housing.
20:00
The wind has now gone ESE which means we can make a
course just East of South. The wind
will probably die away in the next 36 hours and we’ll then be
motoring.
2/11/09
12:30
The wind went back to SE which is not great for us. In
our first 24 ours we logged 178 miles but we also acquired a 98 mile cross track
error which puts us substantially West of our direct track. We still have 758 miles to go but in
effect we are only 142 miles closer to Opua from
Noumea. The wind is predicted to decrease
soon and when it does we will motor to make up some of the Westing. At the moment the cross track error
gallops apace as I type.
For the moment the squalls have passed and the barometer
is rising. Its reassuring to see
some Sun again as we thought it might be lost
forever.
