26:44.065 S  113:53.273 W

10/6/08  17:00

In the end I didn’t sleep.  I prepared  some pix to send but we don’t have a strong enough signal. AORW (Atlantic Ocean Region West)  gives 2 bars and you need 4 to send data. POR(Pacific Ocean Region) only gives a speech connection at this point.  So we may be betwixt and between for a few days.

Shortly after midday the wind went on the nose but weakly so we’re motoring again.

The main sail has shaken itself out with no help from us and is now fully operational.

This is a welcome side benefit of the squalls we went through.

When we get to the other side of this low we should have reasonably strong Southerlies for a bit.

11/6/08 04:00

We hade some 4 bar contact with AORW so I was able to send the pictures from Easter Island.

The wind and squalls came back at 18:30.  We sailed well for an hour or so when everything suddenly increased pretty violently. While Steve and I were furling the main we managed to gybe and what was a hole in the sail became a substantial rip.

When the wind subsided a bit we managed to furl most of the main and have been continuing under Yankee alone. The wind has gone S/SW Force 4/5 so were doing over 5 knots most of the time. The wind that blew out the sail was more than we’ve seen the whole trip and completely unpredicted.

Whether this sail is repairable is open to question.  It needs replacing, something

I planned to do this winter in New Zealand.  We will look at it more carefully in the daylight and also explore the possibility of rigging the staysail in the mainsail position.

Just had another squall come through and now the wind is NW so I’ve tacked.

11/6/08 12:00

The wind which was contrary and weakening finally died at 8:30 this morning so we are motoring again.   The sea is still rolly from last night and we will wait a while longer to look again at the main.  There are now patches of blue sky. The wind remains West Force 3, when the newest forecast says it should be East Force 3.  At least they got the Force 3 bit right.

We managed 173 miles in the last 24, half motoring and half sailing, wasn’t too bad considering the main sail situation.  Pitcairn is another 880 miles.