Monday, May 12, 2008

So far, so good...Classic weather window!!!

The weather window we left in, last Sunday, was said to have been "Classic"...meaning it was so good...having enough "wind oomph" from the west and south to carry all the boats that left for Fiji and Tonga to the eastern trade winds about 300-400 miles north. Mainly it didn't have northern winds that are miserable to drive into....blam, blam, whomph!

The only discomfort we got was in the first 36 hours with western wind and eastern swells....boosch, right on the beam...back and forth. It was like trying to sleep in a big tumble dryer. We got more than a few bruises. Lynn got tossed from the cockpit seat right into the floor on her backside, the galley rearranged itself and we were so glad to have those fixed meals!!!

Now in the third day with 850 miles to go we have nice steady but soft 12 knot ESE wind and only a small swell....just right for some "rock us to sleep" movement. We are not breaking any speed records...we were the last boat to leave the dock. Chuck accidentally inflated his automatic life vest and we were trying to install a new co2 cartridge but it never got working again so if he uses it he will just have to blow it up with the mouth pump backup straw.

Our navigation lights stopped working and we checked them before leaving when they worked fine...probably wiring corrosion...since the bow and mast lights all died at the same time. We do have a stern light and foredeck mast lights but we will keep a good lookout for other boats and ships. A big freighter from NZ passed right through the fleet of boats on the first night.

Position is 175.14 E, 32.06 S

Crew is finally sleeping well and listening to all the podcasts we downloaded.

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