26:55S 177:03E

24 hour run – 120mls

conditions – 10 knots wind from the south, 1-2m seas

 

I know we are going to become very boring if all we do is moan about the weather.....but, it is getting seriously cold!  Having spent the best part of the last year in the tropics and the past 10 years mostly in hot climates we feel the cold very much.  Since leaving Tonga we’ve noticed every day is just a little bit cooler.  We had our last swim in Minerva Reef and it was hardly a swim – a quick dunk off the back of Bandit before a freshwater shower on deck.  The skipper was even seen to don his 5m wetsuit for our futile crayfishing expedition.

 

Yesterday David came up on deck in fleecy long pants (definitely not a fashion statement), polar fleece jacket, merino/possum beanie and leather sea boots.  When Alastair scoffed at him and I raised my eyebrows we looked at the thermometer in Bandit’s saloon and it was 23 degrees. David defended himself saying that taking the windchill into account it must have been less than 20 on deck.  I was nestled into the corner of the cockpit under the dodger and quite happy in my t-shirt.....although I did have an Icebreaker single on underneath.  As David and I prepared for bed, leaving Alastair to do the 8pm until midnight watch,  we noticed he emerged with a woolly hat too!

 

We’re now at 26 degrees south which is depressing as there’s still another 10 degrees of latitude to go to Opua and another six onto Marlborough – what on earth will we be wearing by the time we arrive?

You’ll be able to spot us when we do arrive home - we’ll be the ones well wrapped up!

 

Last night’s dinner of fresh tuna went down a treat.  To start with we had sashimi followed by seared tuna and salad.  We’ve got poisson cru for lunch and tuna steaks again tonight.  My pre prepared freezer meals are languishing.

 

We made slow progress overnight and were forced to motor sail for a few hours.   The wind picked up on my watch (4am to 8am) and I managed to get Bandit sailing albeit very slowly.  Right now we’ve got southerly winds hard on the nose and heading west hoping that when the forecast north westerly winds arrive tomorrow we’ll be in a good position to get them.