[password] rachel25
[position]36 12.100s 121 03.400w
[status] On passage to Valdivia, Chile from Auckland NZ.

Day 25 We've managed to avoid that tropical low, thanks to Bruce, our weather guru. Instead of thunder storms and blustery strong winds, we've had a cracking day of sailing, with blue skies, steady winds and flat sea, taking us eastwards. Today I decided to have a go at sextant calculations, and what with Lucas plying us with Spanish words, my head now hurts. It hasn't had to work like this for a long time.

At 0600 utc each day we give our position on the SSB radio to Taupo Maritime Radio in NZ, after which we've been chatting to various sailing friends with similar radios. It's been a highlight of the day. However the reception is getting scratchy, and we're definitely feeling like Captain Tom, losing contact slowly with Control. The distance now is over 3,000 nm to NZ, and even more to Hobart, where Jim and Isabel of Sonsie of Victoria, are currently moored.

Fresh vegetables and fruit are now of the basic kind. We finished off the cauliflower & corgettes (wish I had bought more of these, because they kept well), now down to cabbage, carrots, parsnip, turnip, and of course those vegetables that keep really well, potatoes, onions, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and squash. Just apples, oranges and lemons now. I go through all the above very carefully every second day, checking for any that might be turning rotten. The vacuum packed meat (whole pieces with no bones) of lamb, beef and venison is holding up very well, and we usually have some usually every second day. Yogurt and bread were made today. So, we are still eating well, and haven't had to turn to the tinned foods yet.

Colin here. Not a good morning but it turned out well in the end. Came on shift at 0600 to find the cooker lying at a ghastly angle and not a sign of life, like a drunk in an Aberdeen gutter. I looked for vital signs - nothing. It usually dances and swings in time with the boat, sometimes offering its comments on the size and shape of individual waves. The very crude aft gimbal on the ENO cooker had failed, the pin sawn through by the ss support bracket. Ana and I got the cooker on the saloon floor (not an easy task when healed over and punching into the seas), all tools out including the electric drill, and managed to fabricate a replacement from a bolt and a piece of ss tube. By lunchtime the cooker was again swinging gaily in time with the waves. We had a well earned cup of coffee - the first of the day.

[speed] 6.5 kts
[heading] 090 true
[weather] Wind NNE 15 knots. 0.5m waves. Sky 50% cloud. Baro 1014
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