Tuesday 22:00 UTC or Wednesday 10:00 a.m. local time
Postion:
South 28 57
East 173 10
COG: 140 degrees
Speed 5-6 knots
Wind SW 15
After a couple of frustrating days where we have not been able
to make much progress towards Opua due to strong winds in our
face and high choppy seas , we are finally getting the
southwesterly breezes we hoped for. We ended up doing at least
400 miles of sailing just to get away from the storm and then
get back to where we wanted to be, and then two days just
tacking back and forth making negligible progress towards our
destination so our one week trip will probably end up being at
least 4 days longer than anticipated. Also our mainsail ripped
two days ago so now we are sailing with just the jib and mizzen.
Still all is well on board – we are warm and well nourished and
taking turns sleeping. More details on the sail in a few days.
We hope to arrive in Opua by Friday or Saturday –
Although we have not seen any other boats for days now there is
a SSB net that we call in on twice a day – sometimes more. It is
made up of the 15 or so boats who all got stuck out here with
this bad weather on route from Tonga to New Zealand. Having the
SSB net is really helpful.
L.