Yes it's true; we are motoring
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26:57.0S 173:12.0E Yes it’s true; we are motoring Friday at 8am First some facts; Both Thom and Robert seem to have been
under the weather with sore and irritable stomachs but report they are on the
mend. Bruce, as usual, feels no pain. Our meals have included rice and the wahoo we caught, pasta
with pesto, pasta and tuna and tomato sauce, and again, breakfast including
Bruce’s French toast and tony’s fried eggs. I think I have been less expansive this leg due in part to
my anxiety about the weather. It seems difficult to get a fix on it; some
locals say to start out with a good 3 or 4 days forecast and then hope for the
best, and when you are at 30 degrees latitude (about 60% of the way) look at
the weather, decide to make a beeline for NZ or divert and stay above 30
degrees latitude until the bad weather, which can be very bad, passes. So
here we are. It is sort of like everyone raiding a pantry before the big
bear returns, only here it is making a mad dash from We had been sailing on a course that took us west of NZ because
of the wind direction. Last night on one of the single side band nets (SSB)
we learned that our neighboring boats were motoring to get a direct line
and to hasten their arrival. That was good news in one respect because I
was wondering why our neighboring C and C 51 was pulling ahead 2 miles each day.
Now we are motoring along with many others. The wind is down to 12 knots
for today so the water is flat and the ride is fine. We are heading
directly for our NZ waypoint and are 450 miles away. It feels good to be
going in the right direction. There is conflicting info about whether the
weather will be good or bad when we approach NZ, so I am still a little on
edge. More from Theroux’s Great Railway Bazaar; In Also; sightseeing is based on imaginative invention, like
rehearsing your own play in stage sets from which all the actors had fled. And last one; the difference between travel writing and fiction
is the difference between recording what the eye sees and discovering what the
imagination knows. Last night was another beautiful night; full moon and stars
and the familiar lazy swoosh of the water being pushed out from under the
leeward side of our gently rocking vessel with Clapton’s Layla,
drowning out the sound of the motor. SSB nets are informal groups of sailors using this radio to
check in at prearranged times to compare notes, weather, and offer
company. We found our best one by accident. The boat, Mufasa (lion King)
heard us talking to someone and called us. Going to call him in 10
minutes. babelfish |