18:32.468S 158:42.709W

Position at 0000UTC 31/08/10

63nm to go to the pass at Aitatuki, a daily 'motor' of 86nm.

 

I came on watch at 0600 this morning (well, 0600 would be in the morning, wouldn't it? Pay attention now) and it seemed to me that the wind, or what there was of it (about 3.5kts) had swung round to the East, i.e. behind the boat. We'd left one spinnaker pole up after our last attempt to get the gennaker to set in wind that reminded one of a guard  duack quacking in a thunderstorm (ineffective), so I rigged the other pole, made sure all the sheets ran through the blocks smoothly and deployed both headsails (one on either side of the boat, for those unsure of 'wot I speke'). Hurrah, both sails filled nicely and I switched off the motor. We were sailing nicely at 3.8kts over the ground, which was almost exactly what we needed to make the pass in perfect time.

Shortly before luncheon (cheese on toast, garnished with mustard and Worcester sauce in case you were wondering....my we do eat well out here) the watchkeeper, a certain Miss Williams, spinster of this particular parish , reported that we were now doing 5kts and would come prematurely (I think she meant arrive early). Rolled the gennaker half away to no avail (a massive reduction in speed to 4.6kts) so furled the thing away. We are now proceeding in a South Westerly direction at a more appropriate velocity, and should arrive around mid-morning tomorrow. As I said, typical!