Great Sailing
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Noon Position: 35 32.1 S 150 33.0
E Despite the wind having been a bit all over the shop over the last 24 hours, Sylph has made excellent progress, much better than I was expecting, and we have enjoyed some very pleasant sailing. Yesterday afternoon we continued tacking up the coast until 2130 when the wind died and then shifted into the west. It was light and I was worried that it might be a bit of a drifter as the forecast was for only around five knots of breeze, which is generally insufficient to keep Sylph moving if there is any sea or swell running. Nonetheless it was a nice beam reach so I set the code zero and was pleased to see the sails drawing and Sylph making good a couple of knots despite slightly choppy seas from ahead. Around midnight I was even more pleased to see Sylph picking up speed to a steady six knots as the wind freshened to a steady force three. And we continued thus all through the night. This forenoon, the wind has backed around into the south. At 1000 I gybed, dropped the code zero and set the spinnaker and we continue to make steady progress of around four and a half knots. The forecast is for the wind to continue backing into the SE this afternoon and pick up to around 15 knots, so we should continue to make reasonable speed up the coast, until around midnight when the wind is expected to die out. Then tomorrow it will be back to headwinds from the NE which will slow us down a bit but by Wednesday morning it is expected to return to the west, again at around 15 knots. So I reckon, all going well, an ETA at Port Jackson of Wednesday is looking good. All is well. |