5:00:31S 113:09:43W

The Adventures of Sunboy the Sailboat
Al Sparkes and Deb Swain
Mon 31 May 2010 16:26
Day 8

Current time 8.00am

Good morning all, bit rocky and rolly this morning, wind came up during the night accompanied by some pretty big swell, I would estimate the biggest would be getting up around the 6 metre mark and winds topping out about 22 knots true but the Arthur the autopilot is doing his best to keep up with the conditions. We are sailing off the wind a bit to try and make the ride a bit more comfortable.

Had a pretty good day yesterday, winds lightened off in the morning so we hoisted a big bright blue gennaker that helped us keep a reasonable boat speed which was all going well until the bloody thing got wrapped around and I mean got wrapped around the jib and foil. Now isnt that a bunch of fun trying to untangle that mess. It took us about an hour but we finally got it free and and got it down, repacked and back up again. Got a few little holes in it for it's trouble but nothing that a good sailmaker wont be able to repair in a jiffy. Due to the lighter winds we made 181 miles for the day so we were still very happy with that.

Sea life for the day include seeing a big old turtle lazing about on the surface, so far from anywhere, these animals are just amazing, I would love to know how far they have been tracked, it must be incredible. We still have our little feathered friends accompanying us along the way and most mornings we find at least one flying fish dead as a maggot on deck somewhere. We did have a pod of dolphins play along with us for a while and that is always such great fun. I was able to share a very special moment with Layni yesterday when we were obviously looking at the same dolphin off the port aft that suddenly lept out of the water, did a spin in mid air and then crashed back down into the sea. It had to have lept at least 2 metres out of the water and the spectacle was matched by the scream of excitement from Layni!!

Nikki donned her chef's hat on yesterday and baked a superb big batch of bread rolls that I have to say were the best homebaked bread rolls I have ever had. We had minestrone soup for lunch and the bread rolls were the perfect match.

We have adjusted our course slightly and are now heading for the island of Nuka Hiva where we can check in, get some local currency and grab some fresh provisions and have a little spell before heading for the Tuamotos and then to Tahiti. Going to Nuka Hiva has added about 70 miles to the passage but in the context of things that really doesnt make too much of a difference. As such, the rhumb line from the Galapagos to Nuka Hiva is 3050 miles and we should, all being well, hit the halfway mark tomorrow morning.

Still no other boats have been sighted. We are keeping contact by email with Stardancer 3, owned by Keith from Mooloolaba and they are a bit to our south. So our visual is clouds, sun, blue sky, water, water everywhere, bit like being on the moon really, with our boat as our starship, can see lots from it but just cant get off it and have a wander around!!

Hope all is well with each and everyone of you,

till next I blog...............