Friday  28th  June, The Coral Sea, South Pacific Ocean  20:10.5S  151:17E 

Today’s Blog by David (Time zone BST +9.00; UTC +10.00)

It is an established rule of life that:

1                     No battle plan survives contact with the enemy and

2                     Whatever can go wrong , will go wrong

These can be translated into sailing speak as:

1                     Stuff happens and

2                     Never trust a forecast

So who among you read  our last Blog without a wry smile when I said we were going too fast and had to “try” to slow down?  Because YOU all knew that whatever was forecast would not happen; that if we did slow down (and we did manage it) the wind would die (and it did) and so we would end up wasting fuel by motoring (as we did).  Didn’t you? 

May be one day  ……

Anyway, the weak trough passed us by and at last the Sun came out.  It also got cooler at night – so long sleeves are required as a minimum.  

The South Pacific Scrabble Championships continued  yesterday; very competitive, no-one giving an inch nor letting a questionable word go unchallenged. It proved to be another close fought round which hinged on the count back at the end.

In a couple of hours we should reach the Great Barrier Reef and – provided we find the gap – we should be in Mackay by this time tomorrow. 

Note: Time Zone change to UTC +10 ; British Summer Time +9 hours.