Position Report on Monday 14th April 2014

The Alba Chronicles
Neville Howarth
Mon 14 Apr 2014 15:50

Position Report on Monday 14th April 2014 at 0800

 

09:33.2S  130:43.0W

 

So far, we've done 2,550 miles with 480 miles to go.  In the last 24 hours, we’ve done 145 miles.  We’re sailing at 5-6 knots in 6 foot seas, still heading on a course of 265 degrees, but now heading for Fatu Hiva.  It's another lovely sunny day.  Here's what we did yesterday and overnight.

 

13 April 2014   Galapagos to Marquesas (Day 18)

 

I seem to have a very busy  routine in the mornings.  I was up just after seven o'clock to find that our boat speed was well below five knots, so the first job was to roll away the stay sail and pull out the main.  Glenys served up breakfast, then I went down to my laptop on the chart table, finished off yesterday's blog and sent an email to post it to our Passage Blog.  I also sent an email to Karsten, our weather router, and a request for a GRIB file.

 

After waiting for a couple of minutes, I  reconnected to the email server and downloaded the GRIB file.  The weather looks to be consistent for the next 5 days, with winds from the ESE at 10-15 knots. 

 

I went for a stroll around the deck, checking for any signs of chafe or damage.  Today was good - all I had to do was to tighten the ropes lashing the dinghy onto the foredeck because it's deflated a little.  On the way around the deck, I threw five Flying Fish over board.

 

At ten o'clock, I tuned into our small SSB net and chatted to some of the other boats, making a note of their positions.  I've continued to plot everyone’s position every day and we've all settled down following the rhumb line  - our tracks look like a set of meteorites streaking across the ocean.

 

Having done all of my chores, I spent the rest of the morning at the chart table, editing photographs and creating the pages for our web site, so that I can easily publish them the next time that we have an internet connection.  Occasionally, I climbed into the cockpit to have a quick look around, checked the wind direction, checked our course over the ground and went back down below.  Thank God for autopilots.

 

I received some more information about the Easter weekend and Fatu Hiva.  Dave from "Baraka" received a reply from his agent in Hiva Oa, who says that the gendarmerie is open on Friday, Saturday and Monday over the Easter weekend, so we can still clear in there.   I also received an email from our friends on "Vanupied", who have just visited Fatu Hiva and had no problems.  So, we've decided to make our landfall at Fatu Hiva, stay for 3 or 4 days and then go to Hiva Oa to clear in.

 

The afternoon was very peaceful, sailing at 5-6 knots in relatively calm seas.  Glenys even felt motivated enough to get the sewing machine out and made a Marquesan courtesy flag.

 

The weather has been very consistent today, so we didn't bother to reef for the night, but carried on with the full main and genoa goose-winged out.  Once again we had a full moon, which makes the night watches so much more pleasant.  It was another lovely night - long may they continue.