[password]quitox
[position]31 27.12S 176 44.36E
[weather]40% cloud cover, wind 16kn WSW, bar 1014 (up from 1007 yesterday), water temp 68F
[speed]8.8kn
[heading]019T
[status]All well on board. Quite a bit of SW wind all last night, 20-25kn, with some periods of 25-30kn. All as expected. But only 2m seas, which was nice. Had the main down and our jib and staysail out when the sun set, so we went with that setup overnight. Still managed to maintain 7-9 knots, and hit 11kn once while surfing down a wave - a new record for us.

Earlier, before the wind came up, we'd been flying our Code 0 - the apparent wind was well within the workable limits for the sail - when a gust came and Bam! the Code 0 exploded. The clew pulled out, the remaining part of the sail that was still attached to the furler flapped in the wind, and shreds of sailcloth fluttered down to the ocean. It was a sad sight. Admittedly, our Code 0 was old and on its way out, but we didn't expect it to go out with a bang! We were able to furl in what remained of the sail and pack it away in its cover, though this required some acrobatics, and quite a bit of effort on both our parts. Aided, of course, by the incessantly rolling deck. Harnesses were a must!

This morning the wind, which had been West, now seems to be backing through WSW on its way back to SW. The main and jib are up, we're on a port tack now, instead of rolling downwind. It's sunny, and we had a nice breakfast, so we're happy. An albatross did a flyby, too, which always thrills me. Damn, they're big birds!

[END]