Position Report on Tuesday 20th May 2014

The Alba Chronicles
Neville Howarth
Tue 20 May 2014 17:18

Position Report on Tuesday 20th May 2014 at 0800

 

13:02.0S 142:57.0W

 

So far, we've done 294 miles with 231 miles to go.  In the last 24 hours, we’ve done 155 miles.  We’re now bobbing along at 4-5 knots in 5 foot seas, heading on a course of 305 degrees towards Kauehi in the Tuamotus.  It's a nice day with nice white fluffy clouds.  Here's what we did yesterday and overnight.

 

19 May 2014   Daniel’s Bay to Tuamotus (Day 2)

 

The morning was overcast with the occasional shower accompanied by the same gusty winds that we had last night.  Unfortunately, the prevailing wind veered by 20 degrees putting us harder on the wind making it a bouncy ride and forcing us to put a second reef in the main.

 

I tuned into the Isabella Net, which I set up just before we left Isabella in the Galapagos and was pleased to see that it’s still going.  It was originally called the “Goodbye Isabella Net”, but as most people are already in the Marquesas and Tuamotus now, they’ve dropped the “Goodbye”.  The net seems to be dominated by Australians, who check in every day, so the nature of the net has changed to be a lot more chatty.

 

The afternoon was much brighter and the wind gradually backed 15 degrees allowing us to ease the sheets a little bit.  It was a more pleasant night with clear skies and the wind was much more consistent at 15-18 knots more or less on our beam. 

 

We’ve slotted into our three hour watch system.  It was a struggle sleeping the first night, but we’re both getting some sleep now.  Both of us are watching the clock waiting to go back to bed after each night shift.