Monday September 10th
\nnoon local, 2000 UTC
\nPosition South 13.40 West 168.46<\/p>\n
We are completing our second day of sailing between Suwarrow and
\nWestern Samoa, a distance of 510 nm. We hope to reach Western
\nSamoa sometime tomorrow. So far we have had good winds – ranging
\nfrom 10 to 18 knots . We have the wind directly behind us and
\nhave our two head-sails up making for a very fast, although
\nsometimes rolly sail. As the boat dips in the swells the large
\njib which is poled out to the port side of the boat tends to
\nfill with air and then snap as it rolls off. It can be very
\nannoying. Other than that it is a good sail- we have made great
\ntime – averaging almost 8 knots per hour all day yesterday.
\nToday so far we are averaging a little less than 7 knots. We
\nwere sad to leave Suwarrov as it was really one of the nicest
\ntwo weeks of our trip. If anyone is interested in reading about
\nSuwarrow there is a great little book by a guy named Tom Neale
\nwho lived on the island alone in the 50’s and again in the 70’s.
\nIt is called “An Island to Oneself” and you should be able to
\nget it in any public library. The island really has not changed
\nsince he lived there – except now there are a dozen boats in the
\nharbor as opposed to the 2 a year that visited when he lived there.
\n The other yachts in the harbor were all so friendly, and the
\nisland caretakers were great. We fished, snorkeled, explored the
\noutlying motus, visited with friends, walked over coral reef
\nbarriers, shared dinners, and read a lot. I even played my
\nkeyboard for our friends – and am now planning to learn a couple
\nof popular pieces so that I can accompany Alexandra as she sings
\nthem. We had planned to leave Suwarrow at the same time as our
\nfriends on Rishu Maru and Yara, but when we tried to pull up our
\nanchor we found the chain was wrapped around a head of coral
\nsome 50 feet down. Rishu Maru and Yara had already pulled up
\ntheir anchors by then, and started out of the pass. Other people
\nwe know on the Norwegian boat “Menja” and the American boat
\n“Seafari” noticed we were having trouble getting our anchor up
\nand came over to help. Frank, the young guy on Menja even put on
\nhis snorkel fins and mask and went into the water to get a good
\nlook at how the anchor chain was wrapped and he called out
\ndirections for us to move the boat. We spent quite some time
\nmanoevering around, but were firmly stuck. Frank then went over
\nto another boat where he knew that they had diving tanks. It
\nlooked like we might have to have someone dive down to free the
\nchain. But Mark tried moving the boat backwards which gave a
\ngood pull on the chain and after a few more minutes we were free.<\/p>\n
Just outside the atoll we came upon a couple of whales – the
\nfirst ones we have seen for months. They were cavorting like
\ncrazy in the water – lifting up their fins and slapping them in
\nthe water and then leaping staight out of the water several
\ntimes. It was fantastic to see. We soon caught up to Risho Maru
\nand Yara and for the first day we were all in sight of each
\nother and could talk on the VHF. Our boat is quite fast when it
\nsails downwind with the two head-sails out and by the end of the
\nday we had passed both of our friends and are now about 30 miles
\nfarther west than them. We can still talk to them on the SSB
\nand we have scheduled calls twice a day to check up on each other.<\/p>\n
Hannah is now in Madagascar and we are hoping to hear from her
\nsoon. Ben has purchased plane tickets to come visit us in late
\nSeptember in Tonga. An exciting last couple of months of this
\ntrip await us.<\/p>\n
L.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monday September 10th noon local, 2000 UTC Position South 13.40 West 168.46 We are completing our second day of sailing between Suwarrow and Western Samoa, a distance of 510 nm. We hope to reach Western Samoa sometime tomorrow. So far we have had good winds – ranging from 10 to 18 knots . We have … <\/p>\n