Lombok to Christmas

Lydia
Donald Begg
Sun 23 Sep 2018 08:03
We sailed from Marina del Ray on Sunday 16th September, into the Lombok Channel with a good breeze from the SE running into 4 or 5 knots of stream from the North and churning up rough conditions. The sea was such that the nut securing the earthing cable on the generator was shaken free, full marks to Simon for finding and repairing the fault soon thereafter. Once clear, the wind faded, and the familiar rumble of the engine at endurance revs was with us again. But not for long. From there on we had useable winds all the way to Christmas Island, constantly changing in either strength or direction, so that we put up and took down every variation between cruising chute and deep-reefed main with pocket-handkerchief-foresail. Sometimes the sea was flat, sometimes quite uncomfortable. The reward was good speed with 24-hour runs of 155 and 176 miles. We had to dodge the occasional Indonesian fishing boat, lots of fishing activity despite the considerable depth of water, luckily all
with lines out rather than extensive trawls.
We covered the 610 miles to Christmas Island in 4 days, and rounded the point into Flying Fish Cove in gentlemanly style at first light on the 20th.