[password] beeskiff
[position] 18 18.662s 177 04.563e
[status] Land ahoy!
After the rough start to the night it became easier although little rain squalls messed around with the wind a bit. Jolifou took it all in her stride but average speed suffered as we don?t do frequent reef changes at night, the staysail isn?t furling and too hard to get up and down.
Which reminds me of an incident not mentioned in previous post. When we hoisted the staysail earlier in the day the skipper/foredeck hand managed to run the sheet the wrong side of the lifelines and also the bottom soft shackle snared on the inner forestay adjustment. Whilst loosening the snag the sheet came loose completely without a knot. I?ve realized It?s not a good idea to try to catch such a sheet in your hands, and even if you do it?s probably already gotten knotted. Anyway the hand escaped major injury and after dropping sail, gathering sheet and re-running it we were all good. Lessons learned!
Just over 20 miles to go to Navula passage, this morning the conditions are beautiful as we reach along with staysail and 1 reef, surfing the waves.
Bula Fiji!
[speed] 7.5 knots
[heading] 10T
[weather] 17 knots SE, 2m swell from the SE. 20% cloud cover.

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