17:33S 167:44W

 

We always knew it was a long way across the Pacific but now we’re out here clocking up the miles and doing endless night-watches we’ve realised distances across the Pacific really are huge.  We’ve virtually been on the road home since leaving Nantucket in July last year.....roughly 11,000mls ago!  In the intervening months we’ve done endless night watches as Bandit has eaten up the miles on her way to New Zealand.   Doing night watch is never easy but we reckon we’ve got a good system going now.   After lots of experimenting with two/three and four hours on/off we now do six hours on/off and find it works  really well – the off watch person gets a good 5-6 hour sleep which is enough to keep one sane.  When we did shorter watches we just never got enough sleep. 

 

Last night we both slept really well.  In fact on our 8am SSB net I called in with our position and when asked if all was well I replied “it is with me but I haven’t seen the skipper since 2am”.  David usually gets up when it’s light (7ish) but this morning he was out to it and didn’t groggily appear until around 8.30am.  For me the night went quickly – I watched a great movie – Bandits with Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett.  It’s a good movie to have on board and shows that not all Bandits are bad!  Watching movies, making bread and writing emails and blogs helps night watch pass quickly but we still routinely do 10 minute checks upstairs and always have our ship warning alarm set.  We often wonder how our single handed friends cope – guess they just set the alarms and go the bed, taking the risk. 

 

We’re coming through the South Pacific Convergence Zone now which is where the equatorial easterly winds converge into the southeast trade winds.  This area is notorious for strong winds or no wind, big seas and torrential rain but, thanks to regular reports from weather gurus Mark (Balvenie) and Bob McDavitt, we’ve managed to slip through when it is slightly less vigorous than normal.  We motored most of yesterday until dusk brought winds which gradually increased all night.  At midday we’ve got a steady 20 knots with gusts up to 25, two reefs in the main and a partly furled genoa.  With the seas moderate, Bandit is comfortable and racing along towards Nuie at 7knots plus.   We’re expecting more squalls but hoping it won’t get any worse.   All going well we will reach Nuie tomorrow.