30:02.540 S  169:14.498 E

3/11/09

16:00 

The wind has gone WSW, which is a good wind angle for us, but there’s not a lot of it. We’ve set the full sail rig and are motor sailing almost a knot faster than under engine only. Normally I would have turned off the engine by now and sailed gently but we need to be as far South as possible before the South Easterlies return so we need to keep boat speed up.

18:00

The wind in now Force 4 and we’re sailing again on the Starboard Tack for the first time in many months. We’re making 7 knots on track.

19:30

Well that didn’t last long.  The Sun has set and taken the wind with it. Boat speed dropped to 4 sometimes 5 knots so we’re motoring again.

4/11/09

07:30

Still motor sailing. Good boat speed. 445 miles to go which means we half way between Noumea and Opua.

12:00