26 37S 179 32E

Wildfox
Anthony Swanston
Sun 17 Nov 2013 21:03
Well, almost half way down to New Zealand from Tonga. So far the weather has been very kind with winds of 12 to 14 knots just abaft of the beam. Wonderful sailing and just starting my fifth day of glorious sunshine. The morning radio net has about 20 boats on it and it takes a long time to listen to everybody but boats are now arriving (and therefore dropping off the net) at a rate of three or four a day and anyway it is good to hear the weather ahead. In the meantime I have been making great speed and keeping south of a nasty weather system coming down from Fiji. But nothing is perfect and I have had current against me of as much as 1.25 knots. It is not supposed to be there but then the the currents do not always read the Pilot Charts.


I crossed the Tropic of Capricorn a few days ago and last night at 2030 GMT I crossed 180W/180E the true International Date Line and the half way point around the world. As I head south the air and water temperature drop but not drastically. As I approach New Zealand its summer time is heating up. It will be nice to be in an English speaking country where I can buy anything I need...at a price.

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