Marquesas Inbound Day 14

Hi everyone,
At noon today we were at 08 37S 123 02W steering 310M, sailing under single-reefed main and full yankee at 5 knots.  The wind was 12G15 from the ENE.  Our noon to noon distances were 116nm by the log and 123nm over the ground.  Overall we've logged 2921nm and 3232nm respectively.  Our distance to go is 942nm. Down to triple figures!

Champagne sailing on starboard tack

The log is now reading more accurately after recalibration.  Since yesterday's post the winds have remained light with apparent wind of 6-12 knots - not a lot!  But we're continuing to make good progress.  We set the main with a single reef (remembering that it's cut as first reef size so this is double-reefed really).  With the light winds it's tricky balancing the boat and setting Kazi the WindPilot to steer accurately.  If we shook out the last reef we'd have to change to Kami the autopilot which we'd rather not do - too noisy and power hungry.

Single Reef

Last night was a very pleasant sail.  The moon was up and very bright for the first half of my watch.  Then it set and I could enjoy the star-scape.

Setting sun last night

Today Nicki baked a pizza for lunch.  Twas great.  Sorry but no photos - it went straight down the hatch!  We're also making our way through the two 'Xmas cakes' Nicki baked prior to departure.  Not really Christmas cakes but rich fruit cakes laced with rum to let them keep.  They'll nearly get us there!

Here's the usual screenshot.  It's from noon today and we're passing more than 100nm ahead of Xora and Onyx.  The orange area of better wind it moving towards us.  Looking forward to its arrival!

PredictWind GPS Tracking

Trust all's well where you are!