01:15 UTC May 30, 2009
S 26 degrees 7 minutes
E 163 degrees 39 minutes
COG: 56 degrees
Speed: 7 knots
We are still motoring along. The weather is actually very beautiful and the seas are so nice and calm that it makes the trip easy (relatively). It is amazing that we have not had wind since the first day and we are now starting our 5th day at sea. The grib files promise a good wind should pick up later today and then we should have at least a couple of days of wind in our favor. We need three days to get to Vanuatu so it looks like things should go well. We are both now in the rhythm of the trip and have actually been able to do 7 or even 8 hour shifts, allowing the other to sleep. It is amazing how much sleep one needs at sea. The first couple of days were very hard – just in terms of natural rhythms being thrown off – rocky seas and not enough sleep. But for the last 2 days it has been much better. You adjust to anything – and the days go by so quickly. We are both listening to good audiobooks at night and there are lots of stars. No sea-life at all except for the phosp
horescence in the water at night. The sun sets before 5:00 p.m. and isn’t up until 5:00. We have a radio net set up twice a day with another boat “Wombat of Sydney” – and we keep track of each other’s positions. Our friends from the boat Priscilla left Australia yesterday and they will join our radio net starting tonight we hope. All is well….. L
Passage, Australia: Day 2
After a rough night of squalls and big seas, we are now in calmer conditions. We are motoring east(85 degrees (magnetic). Our position at 1622 EAST (0622 utc) is:
South 27 degrees 3 minutes
East 155 minutes 46 minutes
winds are east at 5-8 knots with 1.5 meter swell. Partly cloudy skies.
M.
Depature from Scaborough Marina
We are departing in one hour (Tuesday morning local time, which is 0000 utc) from Scarborough Marina, heading for the island of Anatom in southeast Vanuatu. The course will be far from a straightline. We will start off heading northeast but then turn due east after a day or two when the wind switches and go about 400 miles or so that way until we turn northeast again. It we get tired, or the forecast changes, we will divert to Noumea in New Caledonia. The trip to Anatom will take 7 or 8 days, a day less to get to Noumea. The weather forecast looks good. The winds will start off as moderate SE with a largeiish swell leftover from the past weeks storms. We will zigzag with the wind shifts.
We are excited at beginning another season of adventure in the South Pacific. M.