19.14S 176.33W
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Thu 29 Sep 2011 02:03
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Pretty solid start yesterday with us knocking over
119NM in the 24 hour period to 8.30am. Things are not looking as bright today
however as we motor-sail as close as we can to the westerly wind that has
developed.
Late yesterday we made good progress with just the
genneker in a 12 knot north-easterly. We hit a large squall with torrential rain
at midnight so continued through the night with just the genoa. By morning the
wind had shifted west, as Gerard had suggested would occur, so we put up the
mainsail. By mid-morning the wind continued to swing further and futher west so
that now it is bang on our nose. Thankfully the wind speed reached only 15 knots
and not the 24 knots that was forecast earlier. We are looking forward to a
southerly change to come through later tonight.
Tomorrow we will sail past the north side
of island of Vatoa and will then have a fairly clear run across the Pacific
to Australia. I am considering staying reasonably close to New Caledonia as some
security should some bad weather develop.
It is a bit of an eerie feeling sailing towards a
patch of bad weather. You know it is coming, can't do anything to get out of
it's way and just have to deal with it when it arrives. I think the
waiting is actually harder than dealing with the reality. As we found
out off Galapagos the forecasts are not always accurate
either Thankfully the system fizzled out before it reached us.
Another low looks to be forming off the coast of Australia but hopefully it too
will not amount to much.
We are very glad now that we left Tonga when we
did. It wasn't particularly comfortable sailing out into a
miserable morning with strong winds but we have gained valuable miles,
especially given that Rob needs to be back in Albany to start work on the 17th
October.
At 3.45pm we have 1746NM to go to reach
Brisbane.
Go the Cats!!
Andrew.
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