[password] STUART32
[position] 24 40.000s 157 40.000w

[date] 2018-07-08
[status] We have 590nms to go. Had a great night of sailing in robustish conditions. We had SSE winds ranging from 15 to 30 knots, mostly in the 17-22 knot range, which we sailed at an apparent wind angle of 60 & 90 degrees. This allowed us to sail with a single reef in the main combined with our running back supported stay sail. The great thing about this sail configuration is that it is so forgiving in terms of shifts in wind strength and direction. Iolea just coasts along beautifully at 6-7 kts with this set up. Our challenge now continues to be trading off getting sufficiently north to avoid some lighter winds which set in around our current latitude and continue our progress to the east; as the easterly trades are not far away. Apart from the normal challenges that all yachts face when trying to sail close hauled in 15-25 knots, Iolea has an additional challenge due to our long keel. We are starting to see a meaningful swell from the SE, which will become a material head wind to making progress to the east as it will reinforce the SW based current. For example, when we sailed from New Caledonia down to NZ last Nov we had a 2m swell pushing us west, this swell was enough to increase the 0.5-1.0 knot westerly current up to 2-3 knots. The course correction necessary to offset that drift was a whopping 35 degrees. Here's hoping we can sail the rest of this passage close hauled without having to tack our way into Raiatae. All is well aboard; oh and yes our autopilot is still working.
[weather] 15-25kts SSE, course is 55T, 20% cloud cover, 2m SE swell and 1021s Baro
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