[password] cloud&sun
[position] 23 05.28S 175 06.87E
[status] As of 2016-11-18 15:00 UTC: Continued to sail to the ESE with triple reefed main for most of the day as the seas and wind built (most we saw was 25 knots of wind). No squalls, though. Made the turn back to the SW this evening as the wind shifted to the SSE. Shook out a reef and are sailing slowly under double reefed main. We are curving a gradual arc toward NZ as the winds back around to the SE and E. We’re sailing slowly to avoid pounding into the big seas and because we’re steering toward Tasmania, rather than New Zealand (the winds are still too southerly). Autopilot failed early this afternoon. Ken spent several hours in the aft steering compartment looking at the autopilot brain (hard duty with the big seas, especially since he had to keep the hatch closed so it got pretty hot and stuffy in there). Ken thinks the problem may be due to a bad network cable fitting at the control box. We will try to rewire the box when the seas subside. We put the monitor wind vane back on and after a couple of hours of use that failed, too (gears decoupled). Beth hand steered for an hour and a half while Ken repaired the wind vane. Luckily he got it working again.
[heading] 220T
[speed] 4.3
[weather] 12 knots SSE. Baro 1013.5. 90% cloud. 3 meter swell.
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