Sunday
A day of no wind, or too much wind, rain, big grey clouds, squalls, blue skies ... a real mix! Kept me busy! And often wet! Wind was all over the place - but always in the 'East quadrant' I even poled out the genoa in light winds this morning, only to find we were, by the time I'd finished, on a beam reach... grrr!!!
After sunset, we finally escaped from the belt of bad weather & have been sailing closehauled, beautifully fast, ever since.
Been busy finalizing my passage plan to & beyond Australia in detail - weather permitting!
1800GMT position: 02deg 50'S, 133deg 32'W Just 88mls run by log (actually 113ml over the ground) - too little wind! Distance to go to Fatu Hiva: 544ml.
Monday
More grey clouds, rain & strong winds. Had a fast, close-hauled ride overnight, with reefed main, putting in a 2nd reef during this morning when winds went up to around 25kn & gusting - we've been making excellent speed! And that lovely Equatorial current is still doing its bit, helping us along often by over 1.5 kn!
Now (3.35pm PDT), the wind has backed to the NE & we're running goose-winged under white clouds. So much for the 'SE Trades'!!
And now (6.20pm PDT) - pole has had to be taken down - wind veered to E and we're on a beam reach.... it's all go!!
1800GMT position: 04deg 47'S, 135deg 08'W Just 114mls run by log (actually 143ml over the ground). Distance to go to Fatu Hiva: 400ml. (ETA Thursday?)