17:46.27S
177:22.90E
Arrival by plane in fiji
Bruce and Tony arrived at 5am Thursday and did lots of work
with Thom on the boat.
It is now 6am Friday morning.
I guess this leg really started during my phone call with
Alan Baines when I was still in Toronto
last Tuesday. Alan, reminded me that this is likely to be the windiest leg and
we should send Thom up the mast to check all connections as well as at deck
level. Then, as I was exiting the cab at TO airport, Thom phoned me from
Babelfish to say he talked to someone who has done the trip 20 times and he was
leaving that day. So, I stated thinking about the trip and specifically, the
departure time. Part of the problem is there is so much info, it is data
overload. The trick is to avoid the squash zones between high and low
cells that accelerate the winds significantly. Also, it would be nice to
miss the series of storms that seem to cross New Zealand every week. We just got
a forecast that says the wind will be southerly the whole trip (ouch;on the
nose) so have to investigate whether delaying makes it any better. I am approaching
this leg with a bit of trepidation as the stories include tales of sinkings and
60 knot winds, but I have met elderly couples (meaning older than me) who have
done this frequently and seem not to fussed. Yet, have to watch the
classic British, Kiwi, Aussi understatement when listening to descriptions of
winds. One gentleman calmly talked about 60 knots as a walk in the park.
Some park!!
Hot and humid here.
Babelfish
