And Closer

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sun 10 Apr 2016 01:37
Noon position: 15 07.2 S 178 59.2 E
Course: South West Speed: 6 knots
Wind: East Sou’ East, F5 – fresh breeze
Sea: moderate Swell: South East 1 meter
Weather: mostly sunny, warm
Day’s run: 142 nm

24 hours later and we have gone from Sylph wallowing in unsettled and disturbed seas, leading to a similar state of mind in her skipper, to a brisk steady beam breeze that has resulted in an excellent day’s run, and a much happier skipper.

Yesterday afternoon we had a strong rain squall go through that proved to be more of front than a thunderhead going over, for the wind did not abate. I ended up furling the genoa entirely, not trusting it in its deteriorated condition and setting the diminutive staysail in its place. That and a double reefed mainsail has kept Sylph going at over six knots. It is not a sail combination I have used very much but can see that I will be using it more often in similar conditions in the future. It certainly saves a lot of wear and tear on the genoa, and I am pleasantly surprised at how fast it has kept Sylph moving.

Just before midnight we crossed the 180th meridian of longitude, which means we jumped forward a day, giving Friday the tenth a miss altogether. I confess that for some reason I had it in my head that we gained a day – don’t know how that happened, my head in the clouds perhaps.

Just under 200 nm to Fiji. I am going to hazard a guess at an ETA off Vuda Point late in the forenoon of Tuesday 12.

All is well.