[password] Ridingmore
[position] 8 25.45S 137 58.7W
[weather]ESE 15-20 knots
[speed]5-11 knots
[status] Somehow the wind has mostly hung in there, only backing 15 deg to the E over night, so we've managed to keep (mostly) going in the right direction, doing great time towards Nuku Hiva over the last 3 days. We've just ticked off 4000nm on this journey, and with less than 120 miles to go the excitement is palpable! (or is that nutritional neglect and social isolation combined with extreme over-tiredness artificially stimulated with too much caffeine? Who would know!).
The last few days of breeze has also come with several different swell patterns, which has added some challenges to getting sleep, and we're all feeling it now. With an early prediction of a dawn arrival tomorrow (I know I know, churlish, fraught with danger and likely to be regretted!), we may hove to tonight for 3-4 hours and get some kip, which would push our arrival time back to a far more gentlemanly time of late morning tomorrow. Buuuut we will see what the weather gods deal us over the next 18 hours or so.
Right now we're still broad reaching in 16-22 knots, as we have been for the last few days. The miles have been really good, but the rollyness of the last few days not so! We've been sailing pretty much on port tack for the last three weeks, so for the first time In forever we are contemplating our first gybe for the trip, probably later on tonight! Or maybe we'll avoid that 'extreme' hardcore manoeuver and just bare away on the other jybe after hoving too! Oh, tis so nice to have choices!
I'm amazed how little water the five of us have used, less than 250l thus far (mind you, we've only been showering weekly, and only using fresh to wash the salt off!). We're fortunate enough that we haven't had any major breakages yet (I'm really asking for trouble saying that out loud!), but have a long list of small repairs to do when we arrive.
There has been a small fleet of boats that have left up to a week before us, and the first of them made it in yesterday, with another arriving today, and us third in the pack arriving tomorrow, with several more due over the next week or so.
Another friend has not been so lucky, Paul from Ohana stopped at the Columbian island of Malpelo to repair his halyard and headsails, but over night the mooring he was on broke, and Ohana hit the island, damaging his bow, destroying his pulpit and breaking his forestay chain plate, but amazingly he's still afloat with a standing rig. He managed to motor off avoiding rocks and a catastrophe, and has motored to the Columbian mainland and is hoping to undertake repairs in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed for him that can happen, and he can get back out here and get across the Pacific..
Anyhoo, on that cheery note, we're looking forward to a beer, some fresh fruit, and a bit-of-a-lie-down!
Patea Cryogenically Deprived Club signing off for the 2nd to last time:)
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