[password] Tsar12
[position] 30 24.976S 162 14.318W
[weather] SE 20-22 knots seas 2-3 M with surface chop . Sky generally bright but some cloud and grey on horizon
[status] yesterday was quite special having the 3 boats within 2 nm for quite some time . As the day progressed the wind freshened until just on dark we were getting gusts 25-30 and pretty bouncy seas . Put in a deep reef and everything was good - during the night we felt it wise to get a bit of separation from Surreal 2 as at times we were still within 800 m in conditions that we were both deep reefed so we bore off and sailed to leeward . Early morning the wind dropped but were loathe to take the reef out in case the wind freshened again ( radar was clear but increases in wind often weren?t accompanied by rain . For 4 hours we suffered as the wind stayed 12-14 and with sloppy seas barely making 4 knots so threw one reef out and then on daybreak the other - back to full sail in 18-20 steady wind . We dropped quite a few miles on Surreal during the night when we preserved with the deep reef and cat see either them or Taranoui this morning though Taranoui seemed to drift off behind a Little last time we did see her. I suspect we are all within 10 nm however with our mcguiver vhf aerial our range on the AIS is is probably limited to about 4 nm we suspect.
850nm to Raivavae- the weather grid this morning suggests the wind will turn more to East as we approach so at this stage starting to ease north but maintaining as much east as poss whilst sailing at around 60 apparent wind angle - a good angle for the prevailing wind/sea state and still allowing us to maintain 8-9knots .
Coen is in the galley this morning making some fresh bread .
Another day at the office - the days tend to run into each other - hope we can regain sight of Surreal 2 and Taranoui
Note: Sending a brief description of the weather you are experiencing is a great help to David and Patricia (Gulf Harb
our Radio) for monitoring the weather.

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