23:20.609 S  149.29.238 W

1/6/09  15:15

The wind has actually gone North so on the new tack we are almost able to make course.

I wonder how long such a miracle will last. 

16:30

Well the miracle didn’t last very long as the wind has now died completely.  There is no sea and we’re motoring again.  Less than 100 miles to Tubuai. 

22:30

Still motoring. Wind NE  7-8 knots. Broken cloud lit by a half moon. If we carry on motoring the next  70 odd miles, we’ll be in early morning. 

2/6/09  03:15

Damp clear night. The moon has set.  Steve managed to sail for an hour and a half on his watch but the wind such as it is has gone ESE Force 3 so we’re motoring again.  Just over 30 miles to go, so we’ll be in by 08:00, a good time to arrive. I’ll have to take my chances on the South Easterlies when we go to Raivavae.

09:00

We dropped anchor at 08:00, after 12 days and 20 hours at sea.  The official distance to Tubai from Auckland is 2010 miles.  We logged a total of 2211 so in crow flying terms we didn’t do too badly. 

We averaged  173 miles  per day and 7.2 knots/hour
(I usually do passage planning on 165 per day.)

We also logged a total of 57 hours 40 minutes of engine time accounting for 469 miles or  20 percent of the total distance.

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