[password] Savanna54
[position] 31 51.800s 169 53.350e
[status] Night #5. I had to count that on my fingers to figure it out.. it all turns into a bit of a blur after a few days.

We had a good days sailing with the spinnaker. The wind kept picking up, and created a little bit of swell ..enough to pick up regular short surfs around 9 to 10kn, with a top speed of 12kn.

We took the spinnaker down around 3pm when the wind was getting up to 24kn. We wrestled it down and put out the furler. Soon after, the wind was up to 28kn, and has stayed between 20 to 30kn since. We now have a reef in the furler, and doing around 6-7kn+ (just surfed up to 10kn)

We're still staying a bit west of the direct rum line course. Current course would put us in New Plymouth, but don't worry, we'll start curving around towards North Cape sometime tomorrow, perhaps coming in past Three Kings islands north of NZ. 220nm to North Cape, and a first glimpse of home!

Port engine is back in action after tightening the house batteries alternator belts.

No big full moon rise tonight - It's pretty grey out here as the front approaches. I wonder if we'll get some rain!? I've used a tarpaulin to create some shelter around the helm station, to keep a bit of wind out, and any rain.

Ok, a few light drops of rain just tested out the taupaulin right now as I'm sitting out here typing..

Frozen quiches from the Casino supermarche went down well for dinner.

All well on board. Time for a cup of peppermint tea.

[speed] 6kn+
[heading] 144M
[weather] 20-30kn NNW, 1.5m N swell, 100% cloud, 1017mb dropping

[END]