transited navula reef into the sunny west side after 18 hrs

17:53.93S 177:14.01E Transited navula reef into the sunny west side after 18 hrs Well, here we are; in the It was another glorious sail; broad reach with 3 reefs and one
third jib speeding at 9 knots in a 25 knot breeze. The evening was again
beautiful; three quarter moon, clear sky to show stars, wind with a new light
humming in the rig, and of course the ever present sounds of water whooshing
and trickling along the hull. Your body gets into a rhythm so it
anticipates and moves with the boat motion; so even while sleeping last
night during some big rollers, I managed to sway in peaceful swinging, as if in
a tree. We feel good about successfully crossing this reef as there is no
land to mark it; the danger is all under water. There is one mark but the
narrow break in the reef is one third of a mile wide and 2 miles long so it is
critical to have the precise and correct angle of approach; made a little more
challenging with side waves whipped up by the 25 knot wind. And of
course, I loved the note on the chart that mentioned that the reef is moving
and narrowing the opening from what is shown. Another cheery note on the Some other thoughts on our approach to It was very sad going by Marita on the reef on the way in
and out. Humbling, you think, but for the grace of god. On the way
in, it was very apparent that the charts are off; we had to adjust a quarter
mile to stay in the entrance channel. We heard the couple looked stricken
coming ashore with their possessions. Last night at 2am I thought I had lost it and put the boat
into a reef when all of a sudden I saw this repeated flashing white light
directly ahead. Just on the verge of spinning the boat around without
taking time to release any sails, I realized Ken was standing up through the
forward hatch taking pictures with his flash. I didn’t need any
coffee to stay awake the rest of the night. And of course, another treat of the evening was sleeping
amidst the whooshing water; last night I dreamt of floating under a waterfall,
with the water rushing all around me but without touching. More later Babelfish |