[password]quitox
[position]30 24S 172 10E
[weather]Cloudy and cool. Wind 8kn SSW. Seas 1m SE. 1017mb. 73F
[speed]5.5kn motorsailing with full main and staysail. On a starboard tack, hard on the wind, with Yanmar the Magnificent helping us to make our course.
[heading]131T
[status]Fewer than 300 miles to Opua, hoping to get there in under three days. We're still tacking back toward NZ, making pretty good progress. As of today, the seas and wind have diminished enough for the motor to help. Our current plan is to take this tack as far as we can, and then, when the wind diminishes even more tomorrow, try to make a beeline for Opua. We'll see how it goes. By the way, we crossed paths with Taliesen a little while ago. They were less than a mile from us, also tacking toward NZ. But they don't have a motor to help. We were the first boat they'd seen since leaving Tonga two weeks ago. Two weeks! And they still aren't in NZ! Kinda puts those two extra days we added on to our usual weeklong passage into perspective....
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