09:00 local time (UTC -7)

Distance to go: 1,460 nm

It’s a grey day today with no sunshine and 100% cloud cover. As a consequence  there is much more wind - between 16-22 knots, so we are travelling much faster.

We are doing 8.2 knots at this moment, which may not sound very quick if you are not a sailor (or if you sail a catamaran) but for us is really fast.

If only the wind direction would move more towards the south we would be going quickly towards where we want to go, which would be a real result.

Instead, we are in fact heading much further south than our destination, hopefully the wind will veer during the next couple of days to help us get there.

With the stronger wind comes bigger swell, the waves are currently in excess of 3 metres high and look like little hillocks coming towards us.

When they arrive we start surfing down them and speed up even more - top speed so far has been 10.4 knots!!

Our dry boat continues as does the associated weight loss. I’m now beginning to appreciate how much larger the Pacific is than the Atlantic…we crossed the Atlantic in 19 days but we still have at least another week to go before we reach Hiva Oa and I must confess that I could really do with a cold beer. Another week without any alcohol calories and I will be a mere shadow of my former self.