Marquesas Inbound Day 9

Hi everyone,
At noon today we were at 08 09S 113 08W steering 260M, sailing under double-reefed main and single-furled yankee at 5.5 knots.  The wind was 16G21 from the ESE.  Our noon to noon distances were 119nm by the log (third day in a row) and 143nm (two days in a row) over the ground.  Overall we've logged 2370nm and 2579nm respectively.  Our distance to go is 1540nm.  Just a Fremantle to Indonesia race/rally!

Yesterday afternoon

Yesterday afternoon continued cloudy.  But the wind held in nicely.  Overnight we had a series of minor squalls with 20G25 winds and drizzle.  The squalls kicked up a sea, with waves going every which way.  Not the most pleasant ride but Zen Again ploughed through and the crew hung on tight.

This morning Nicki cooked up a set of fruit buns.  Wonderful!  And today the clouds started lifting and we got a little sun.  Hopefully that trend will continue.

Fruit Buns!

Touch wood, our nav/com systems are performing well.  We keep our SignalK data on the main bulkhead mounted monitor.  That allows the off-watch crew to keep an eye on things.  On the main display in the navstation we usually have the OpenCPN chart plotter visible.  OpenCPN runs 24/7 and records our track.  OpenCPN shows AIS traffic too, although we haven't seen much recently.

OpenCPN on screen, SignalK data on monitor

Here's the usual screenshot.  We're now over 60nm clear of Xora and Onyx.  Our broad reaching strategy is driving us further S than the others in our group.  At some point we may have to gybe, but probably not for some days.

PredictWind GPS Tracking

Trust all's well where you are!

ps - The latest edition of the FSC Fremantle to Indonesia Race & Rally starts on Saturday week.