29: 34.9 S

177: 17.4 E

 

Distance last 24 hours:             143     nm

Distance since Nuku’alofa:      748     nm 

Distance still to go:                379    nm                                                 (All distances are in nautical miles:  1nm = 1.8km)

 

Good progress again, the boat is really going well, and if you are wondering how we now are into the three hundred miles to go I explain below.

 

It all happened again as I came on watch at 03h00 this morning. The relatively steady and strong-ish trades  gave in to the interference from down south, and we suddenly had very light winds and more from the south, then SE, so the reach became a beat to windward! Before that the night had involved a bit of reefing up and down as the wind went up and down, but the boat speed was at 7+ knots. I was expecting this change to light winds with the High Pressure we were unavoidably sailing into, but not as early as this. Anyway, this change set the scene for a very interesting and consuming day at ‘the office’.  For those of you who are sailors, you’d understand how beating to weather in a light wind, with a course not exactly where you want to go, and a flat sea, makes for an interesting game of sailing..... I was saying to Ruth that these conditions, require a feel for ‘The Art of Sailing’, and sadly it’s where a lot of wannabe sailors lose interest. Well for me, I haven’t played this game for a few years now, and also it was the first time with ALLONE, and yeah I’ve had a ball, it takes one right into ‘the now’ of sailing and consumes one, so the hours just fly by.

 

The wind today has ranged from 3 –15 knots, and its direction from SSE to due South, and given our course to Opua is 191 degrees, we were tight on the wind the whole day, and not always heading directly to Opua. I freed myself from my racing rules, which don’t allow motoring, and so in the times of real light air, we motor sailed. (About 20%)  All in all a great day, and ALLONE with her large mainsail rig, performed fantastically.....Pointing upwind well and good speed for her cruiser displacement.  (Bill, if you are reading this, you’d know what I mean....great stuff!)

 

After a cloudy start to the day...(No sunrise for us... Well of course there was one, but we didn’t see it!), it all cleared up around midday, and this afternoon has been cloudless sky, flat ocean, and deep purplish blue colour. Air traffic controllers banned flying in the whole area today! Due to light winds, there was very little swell and no waves so the sea birds had nothing to soar on....  Not a bird in sight today, and i missed them.  We did see a whale about half a mile off, a strange light brown one heading south, but quite late for the journey to Antarctica. I never really got a good close up to see what type it was, as it took cover underwater as we had the engine on and probably scared it off.  Tonga is a big whale breeding spot, with fantastic whale viewing, but the season is over now. We saw many whales in a six weeks in the Tongan islands.

 

The weather was so lovely, we both decided to take showers today. I had my salt water one outside in the cockpit, and Ruth had hers in the bathroom’. So we both feel like new people..... Well particularly me!

 

I know you can’t wait for the fish news:   Haha, two dead flying fish on deck this morning! Sad, I felt like reporting us in to the SPCA for cruelty to fish!  Once again no REAL fish, and we have been trolling a few different lures all day. Oh well still a few days left  for that big one!

 

Given these head winds and the weather forecasts I have been getting, I have decided to take the direct, rhumb line course to Opua, rather than the recommended, head west first strategy, that is the classic route. The reason for this is I don’t see us encountering SW winds, around the feared North Cape at the top of New Zealand, and it looks like we will have Westerlies and North Westerlies. This all means a direct course strategy is shorter and more favourable. There is a low pressure passing through New Zealand on Tuesday, but it should be farther enough south for us not to get SW winds. Anyway, this is a bit of a gamble, and we shall see how it pans out.

 

The game with the lighter headwinds will continue through the night and probably the next two days, so more tomorrow...

 

Cheers for now

 

H