[p]pjr4728
[s]
pos: 06 03.400s 133 39.9w
sp: 6.0
h: 236m
w: 18kn 079T, cloud 6/8 (40%), SS 1.0mSW
d: 11/07/20 10.00 GMT-0700
Today marks completion of our 4th week at sea, which has actually gone surprisingly quickly, given the routine imposed by watches - only 3 over each day! (we do 4 on, 4 off). Our boom 'repair', rather amazingly, is still holding, having now completed over 1,400nm!

The wind is now firmly on our rear quarter and the genoa is poled out. Winds have been a bit fickle in the past 24hrs, usually in the 15-18kn range but it did briefly get up to 27-29(T) overnight...No worries at all though, at around 22AWS. We do however continue to elude the current assistance we were hoping for down here, but still fairly pleased with an average daily run of 150nm for the week - helped greatly by the 70-odd free (current-assistance) miles we enjoyed over Tuesday and Wednesday!

Tuesday noon - Wednesday noon was a great day all around, what with the current assistance, a successful rendezvous with Moira in the evening and crossing the Equator just before dawn on Weds morning, albeit in seas that are rocking and rolling just a little too much for complete comfort (oh for those balmy days at 2N!). With Moira we exchanged gifts via a waterproof trailing bag, as the wind and seas were way too high to raft and have the sundowner on the poop deck we had been hoping for! Still, we got a restock of beer, among other treats, and Mili even got her own bespoke home-made dog-bone treats! I must confess that the excitement of the subsequent Equator crossing eluded me as I was asleep, but Sue gave Neptune his rum for our good luck.

All in all, we DO seem to have been incredibly lucky on this passage so far (yes, despite that wee boom thing, and a few other issues)...Many yachts behind (there are around 13 boats on passage that we know of) have experienced engine malfunctions (mainly due to filter/line blockages), torn sails, and either too much or too little wind and contrary currents on their route... whereas we seem to have got through with (mostly) favorable winds and current.

I was reflecting, as you do, on the nature of luck the other night, as yet another poor flying fish slapped into the bbq and came to a flapping stop at my feet on the cockpit floor. You have to feel so sorry for those buggers...Clearly evolved over millennia to glide over the water out of harms way below, they also have to run the gauntlet of boobies ready to snatch them from flight above. Then, in the middle of feckin NOWHERE, along comes sailboat right in their flightpath! What are the chances eh? I wondered, as this one was close to flapping it's last on the deck, what it may be thinking? 'Eric mate, you had some bad luck being born a flying fish in the first place, especially one afflicted with a cockney accent, but someone up there is just havin' a feckin' larf'!' Or maybe not. Eric's luck did improve a little though, as I managed to get him back in the briny before he carked it.

Anyway, I digress. We are now looking forward a little to getting into Nuku Hiva on Tuesday 14th, where I hear that Thomas will be arranging fireworks to herald our arrival. I think there may be a Bastille Day party happening too. While the increasing winds suggest the fat lady is exercising her larynx, she has however not yet sung, so we won't be counting our boobies just yet.

PS We have about 420nm to go!

Week 4 stats:
Day Latitude Longitude DOGnm Last Cum Av
24 Hrs Spd
22 05/07/2020 01° 27.3N 120° 33.5W 2893.3 122.9 526 5.50
23 06/07/2020 00° 53.7N 123° 04.8W 3049.4 156.1 550 5.54
24 07/07/2020 00° 13.6S 125° 40.2W 3221.1 171.7 574 5.61
25 08/07/2020 01° 57.5S 127° 56.4W 3394.2 173.1 598 5.68
26 09/07/2020 03° 19.1S 129° 48.1W 3534.1 139.9 622 5.68
27 10/07/2020 04° 41.9S 131° 38.7W 3673.4 139.3 646 5.69
28 11/07/2020 06° 03.4S 133° 39.9W 3820.5 147.1 670 5.70

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