18.15.62S 164.54.47W 28 July 2010

The Adventures of Sunboy the Sailboat
Al Sparkes and Deb Swain
Fri 30 Jul 2010 02:23

Current stats as at 0800hrs 28 July 2010 local:
18.15.62S 164.54.47W
282 Miles east of Nieu
Wind 14 knots E - E.N.E due to veer to the S.E to 25 knots
Seas: 1 - 2 metres and rising
Cloudy, rain and squalls developing.

Well hello everyone. We are currently enroute to Nieu. We were going to stop at Palmerston yesterday but the
weather report from Mads on Go Beyond showed that was not a good idea. There is a front developing that will
bring winds of 35 knots and seas of 4 plus metres, with associated heavy rain and lightning, to the area, due to arrive in Nieu about Friday night, Saturday morning and Palmerston around that time as well. As we went past
Nieu we called up the boats that were there including Sea Level, Small Nest and Elena and they were all leaving Palmerston and are also enroute to Nieu with us as well. The front should pass Nieu by Monday night we hope.

Up until now we have had just superb sailing conditions with steady winds, very slight seas and have been able to have the full main up and a full headsail poled out with the boat and crew all very happy thank you very much. The forecast for today is for the winds to increase to 22 knots and the seas to get to about 2.5 metres and some rain about. All well on board, really disappointed we couldnt stop at Palmerston as the guys on the other boats were saying just how fantastic it was but if the forecast was correct then it just would not have been safe to stay there so onwards to Nieu it is in our little 5 boat regatta!!!

All being well we should get into Nieu early Friday morning and will post some news about that place after we get settled in. Just hoping the seas calm down so we can do some diving with the humpbacks in that 70 metre visibility, yahooo...........