[password] grace40

[position] 26 41.189s 173 25.392e

[weather] As at 1200hrs 16/11/19. Wind negligible, and what there is is variable. Sea state is silky smooth with long rolling periods of SW 2mt swells. Bright sunny day with 50% cloud cover of mostly cumulus, some cirrocumulus, and a few cirrus clouds. COG 174T. SOG 6.2kts average. Baro 1019, having risen last 24hrs. Believe we are in middle of the high. Don't have therometer but still warm enough to sun bath iin the cockpit.

[status] As at 1200hrs. Hallelujah! It's a miracle! Praise be to the satellite gods, EGNOS & GLOSNOSS. After two days laying in what I thought was a condition called, "dead", Mr Garmin rose up today and began navigating. For chuckles, this morning I turned it on, and through modern technology known as, "I haven't got a clue", it worked. So now I don't have to interrupt my sleep during my watch to trapse to the cockpit to confirm we're going in the right direction. I can go back to opening one eye every so often, but not too often, and glance at Mr Garmin at the Nav Station. That's a relief.

As the weather report above says, there's no wind, no waves, and silky smooth sea condition. That means we've been motoring for past 24 hrs. A trough that showed up on our weather grib yesterday that showed ugly weather in our path on Sunday / Monday, has broken up. That's good. I really don't like big wind and seas and rain. Especially while I'm out in it in a small boat in the middle of the ocean.

We stay in email contact with several other boats, including Panache, Andiamo, Bright Moments, and Aghavni. All of us left Fiji together, except Panache, who left a day after. We're too far apart to see each other or talk on VHF. But with Iridium Go, you can reach out and touch anyone anytime. Say, I should copyright that and sell it as a marketing jingle to Iridium Go. Or not.

Yesterday I found two small pumice stones on deck. They're probably from the pumice island that is making its way to Australia from the Tongan volcanoe a few months back. It was Leilani's impetus to get us back on the rhumbline to NZ.

I'll end with some trip statistics so far. We are averaging 6.25 kts for the overall trip so far. As 6kts is our target, that's good. With no wind for the time being, we are able to sail, or I should say motor, a rhumbline to Marsden Cove. Barring any surprise weather coming up, our ETA is Wednesday, 20 November.

Okay, I'm on watch, so back to sleep.

Cheers, John

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