[p]beale12.4
[s]
pos: 30 18.3s 177 20.5e
date: Monday, 23/05/17 1325 nz time

Hello again from the good ship Manutaki, 3rd class seaman Jeff writing this.
Alas, my early hopes of promotion were dashed after leaving the gas valve open ...

Current conditions : cloud cover 80%, air temp 17 deg at the helm. Sea is at a good angle to us and we're close reaching at 7 knots. Swell about 1 metre, we're heading on our target 007 degrees direct to Minerva Reef. Last 24 hr run 174 nm which is pretty good . John won the 'how far did we go today' contest with an estimate of 173.

The rest of the fleet departed yesterday so there should be quite a gathering at Minerva in about 3-4 days.

Crew is good, Kim now managing to keep her insides in and is feeling better after a bit of a rough start. She's been on the helm for about 3 hours, thoroughly enjoying steering the boat. Like a fat kid on a smartie (her words)

We started watches last night, me 6pm-9, Baz 9pm-12, John 12-3am, me again 3-6am , Baz 6 to mid morning. This was my first intro to night sailing... it's almost a spiritual experience. Being completely alone, apart from the stars, with not a light to be seen. Everyone else asleep below, the only sound of the water bubbling off our transom. Awesome.

Baz caught sight of a dolphin following us bathed in the nighttime phosphorescent glow ..

Yesterday's dinner was Jos beautiful CoqauVin, an ideal rich dish to keep the energy up. Tried to convince Kim that it'd look exactly the same on the way up as it would going down but she declined the invitation to consume it.

Lunch just now was another of Jos lovely dishes, a very tasty fish pie. Didn't attempt the same line with Kim...

So, we'll be half way to Minerva around 4 this afternoon, making good progress. Aiming to enter Minerva reef early Thursday morning.

3rd seaman Jeff signing off for now..[END]