2nd Sept - Day 2
SY Saphir -
Jeff & Doreen
Sat 3 Sep 2022 03:18
14:07S 155:58W
We had a noon to noon run of 145nm today which is a little lower than I was expecting mainly due to the weather we had overnight.
At about 22.00 last night a huge rain squall came through with about 30 knots of wind and a lot of rain. The wind subsided quickly but the rain continued for an hour or two which made the evening watch (Doreen’s !) rather unpleasant. After it had passed the wind dropped and veered to the SE so it slowed our overnight progress somewhat. By about 08.00 this morning the wind had backed round to the ENE and increased to about 18/20 knots which is what we have had all day. In that sort of breeze Saphir is very happy and we have been producing good speeds for most of the day.
The only other overnight event was picking up a passenger who refused to get off. When he, or maybe she, did leave this morning I noticed it had left a nice calling card all over the outboard motor cover. A cleaning job for the list!
The weather is looking like it is still keeping to the forecast we based our route on and I expect the wind to veer to the SE over night on Saturday/Sunday. That is when we will gybe and be able to make more or less a direct course to the top of Fiji. Fingers crossed the wind gods are looking at the same information as me.
Roast chicken for dinner today - It is in the oven as I write and we are keeping a close eye on it because the gas has a habit of running out when you are doing something like this in the oven and I know we are getting to the end of the bottle in use. Unfortunately we could not find any stuffing in Bora Bora to go with it and received a strange look when I tried to explain what ti was to the shop assistant.
I would say we have already settled back into the sea life which has been helped by two terrific days of Pacific trade wind sailing in blue skys and fresh winds. Long may it last.
It seems strange that we are now treating this leg, which is the best part of 2000nm, as a substantial but short trip on this voyage and have not really made any special preparation for it apart from stocking up with supplies, fuel and water. I feel that the boat should always be ready to take to sea and try to keep on top of the maintenance and checks so that is the case. We can already see Australia in the distance (not literally)which will mark our half way point on this circumnavigation and I wonder what our thoughts will be as we get to that point!
For now though we are really excited about getting to Fiji and hope to be able to have about 6 weeks there. Looking at the numbers today we might just make it in time for the start of this regatta on the 15th.
That is all for now. I need to help Doreen get the chicken out of the oven!
Cheers
Saphir