POSITION REPORT ON WEDNESDAY 29 JULY 2015 AT 0800

08:20S   135:08E

So far we've done 775 miles with 250 miles to go. We did 175 miles in the last 24 hours.  We’ve got sunshine with scattered clouds and 25 knot ESE winds.  We’re on a starboard broad reach with 2 metre seas.  Here's what we did yesterday and overnight.

28 July 2015  Papua New Guinea to Indonesia (Day 5)

Another gorgeous day, screaming downwind at 6-8 knots.  The seas are steadily getting bigger and the endless rolling is starting to get very wearing, but we're making good time - 165 miles in the last 24 hours, which is an average of 7 knots.

Once again the days are becoming a blur - just a series of watches and sleeping, interspersed by meals.  Glenys made some Banana Bread today which will be very welcome on the night watches.

I've received an email from "Spruce" telling me that the scheduled events for the Sail Indonesia rally are all now happening a week earlier than was published on the Sail Indonesia website.  The rally started in Darwin last weekend and there were some presentations about the events, but I have no details about them.  I've emailed the organisers to try to find out more. 

Top of our list is an event in Pasar Wajo in Buton, where last year the town put on a spectacular event with 20,000 dancers.  I think that this is going to take place again sometime around the 18th August, so that's our target.  When we get to Tual in three days' time, we'll probably only stay overnight and then move onto Banda - it's nearly 700 miles from Tual to Buton, so we haven't got a lot of time.  I hate rushing through an area like this, but we should be able to slow down when we get to Buton.

Most of the night was lovely with clear skies and a bright moon. However, at three o'clock, a squall system sneaked up on me just after I'd made a 20 degree course change to starboard.  Using our radar, I could see that the system was to our right, so I had to change back to our original course to allow it go past.  The edge of it just clipped us and gave 35 knots for five minutes.  Then I had to wait fifteen minutes for the wind direction to settle down before making my course correction and gybing the main.  The rest of the night was clear.