10:35S 130:46W

24 hour run - 145nm

miles to go - 467nm

 

The days are flying by and suddenly we can almost smell the land – we’ve less than 500miles to go so should make landfall by Easter Monday.  We can’t wait.  Since the boisterous winds and seas settled down last week it’s been really pleasant sailing.   The Pacific has shown us her gentler side and we’ve had day after day of consistent 15-18 knot winds and 1-2m seas.  The swell has still been a bit confused at times but we’ve only had to put up with a gentle roll now and then rather than the bucking bronco action Bandit subjected us to earlier.  We’ve had beautifully sunny days with puffy trade wind clouds and no night time squalls for some time.  In the tropics night time squalls are a matter of course and we expect to get more as we close on the Marquesas.  Their only benefit is the rain they bring –Bandit sure does need a washdown, the decks are covered in salt.

 

We haven’t managed to catch another fish since our 8kg tuna but plan to put the lures out again today.  The only problem with that is we have our towed generator out behind Bandit.  We only use it on long passages and it’s great at night as it gives us enough power to not have to run the diesel generator.  Our solar panels obviously stop working once the sun goes down and the wind generator is not as effective with wind from behind.   We like to have plenty of power at night and the towed generator gives us the added boost we need.  We need to pull this in before we put out the lures which means slowing Bandit down and sometimes we just can’t be bothered!  But fresh fish would be good so, after a morning nap, we might think about it.

 

Otherwise life on board just ticks over.  Biggest decision to make today will be what to have for dinner if we don’t hook a fish!

 

Highlight today was seeing the amazing leaping dolphins – they jump 5-6 metres out of the water doing incredible aerobatics.  They’re obviously after fish so our line is definitely going out.