[password] abcisme
[position] 32 39s 172 10.1E
[weather] 15-20kn NNW, mostly cloudy, 2m swell
[heading] 130 T
[status] Hey there YITSters! Whats happening?
We've spent the night and day riding the waves with a pleasant 20 knot Nor westerly blowing us vaugely toward NZ.
Its actually mildly inconvieniant and we are having to sail the angles. (Remember when everyone had the briefest understanding of VMG when the Amercias Cup, God rest its soul, was happening?) So, a northerly or Nor easter would give us better VMG, but we're not complaining!
Today is a big day... tonight, after 5 days of sailing, we are going change tack! Yeah baby, if this were windward leewards, we'd be getting ready to round the bottom mark with all the other boats yelling about buoy room and who has rights and “Starboard” and "Get outta there!"... yep, the addrenelin would be pumping, the senses keen, the body ready for action! It's going to be a bit like that, but only a little bit… When the time is right, I'll have to put down my miloffee, don my lifejacket, meander around the boat making sure everything will run smoothly, release the barber hauler, wander back to the helm, stretch, yawn, stroke my 5 day shadow, and steer the boat through the wind with my foot as my hands pull on some ropes. In fact, to be honest, I'll probably start the engine an hour before hand and roll the headsail away to make things easier. We will be gybing in a passing weak front. It will be raining, and I expect the wind will be a bit all over the place for a
while.
...and remember, we haven't changed tack at all in the last 120 hours of sailing - we're out of practice! With a little luck (always useful out here), there will be no yelling and there will not be a boat within 100 miles to see us make our turn. I think I'll call for water anyway.
I recall that I'm supposed to remember our non sailing audience when I write. Our audience is comprised of Mum1 and Mum2 - seriously, Shell calls it the battle of the Mums :-P. ...but today, I write, mainly for my own enjoyment, and the whole parallel of the way cruisers and racers sail is a subject of some amusement for me. Both are sailors, but much in the same way that lawn bowls and kickboxing are both sports.
I told Dave (Yeah, I know there's non Mums out there secretly watching!) that I was going to try and make it all the way to NZ without tacking. Given that a downwind gybe is not a tack, I think we're still on target!
I'm hereby creating an award for a boat that reaches NZ from another country without ever tacking!
The prize is a mystery, but it will be awarded by Libertalias admiral, who shall also give the winner a kiss! BoooYaah!
Oh, and all is well aboard and we’re alive and all that other stuff.

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