[password] rachel25
[position]38 16.900s 153 43.900w
[status] On passage to Valdivia, Chile from Auckland NZ. The effects of the cold front lasted all day yesterday. We had 25 knots gusting 30 until early evening when it began to moderate. The seas were only 3 m but very short and confused. This made for an uncomfortable ride but worse, meant that neither the hydraulic autopilot, nor the windpilot could help us and we resorted to hand steering. This is where Lucas came into his own with an amazing 6 hour stint on the wheel in the morning while Ana and I recovered from our disturbed nights. He has also developed a relationship with the windpilot and managed to coax her out of her hissy fit yesterday evening so at least she is on side again. The seascape yesterday was quite dramatic. Sunny with loads of bubbling cumulus clouds, deep blue heaving sea with breaking white caps, Ithaka surfing, bumping, crashing through it all, sending spray high into the air and often back on to the unfortunate helmsman. For a brief few minutes a large albatross (Royal or Wandering -not sure) soared into our patch of ocean, his massive wing rigid, riding the updraft on the waves, banking and swooping, perfectly tuned, silent. Compare his smooth effortless ocean transit with our own lurching, creaking, effort. I hope he will grant us another visit.
I was unable to send e mails by SSB radio yesterday, this because we are moving away from the strong Australian shore station and are not yet in range of Chile. The radio propagation is better at night so from now on we will update YIT just after our local midnight. The good news was that we were forced to test the Sat Phone, our reserve, which worked well.
[speed] 6.5 kts
[heading] 120 true
[weather] Wind SSW 22 knots. 1.5m waves. Sky 80% c
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