Sorry we have not written for 36 hours but the weather changed
\nquite suddenly. Yesterday morning we had calm seas and light
\nwinds. I downloaded GRIB weather files first thing after waking
\nto check on the wind forecast and look for any approaching
\nweather issues. I was surprised to see a low pressure system
\nforming to the north and west and a five day forecast that
\npredicted that it would move quickly southeast and intensify as
\nit went. I quickly charted our course relative to this tropical
\nlow pressure system and realized we would come right into to it
\nby Monday just a couple of hundred miles north of the North
\nIsland of New Zealand.<\/p>\n
We immediately abandoned our course south to New Zealand and
\nheaded due west so as to stay above 30 degrees south. The grib
\nfiles suggested that effects of this system would not be strong
\nabove 30 degrees south and by moving west, we could only
\nintersect the system when it was not well developed and could
\nnot yet interact with a high pressure ridge south of us in the
\nTasman Sea. I emailed Bob McDavitt at the NZ Meteorological
\nService and he quickly wrote back affirming that going west was
\nthe most prudent course.<\/p>\n
Two hours after changing course we ran into a mini-weather
\nsystem that knocked us around for about 14 hours with 30 knot
\nwinds, rain, and big seas. Heading west we had the wind from
\nbehind but that meant we had no protection from the cockpit
\ndodger\/windscreen. It was freezing and wet out there. I had on
\nlong underwear and four layers of clothes on top plus two wool
\ncaps. Today Laura and I remembered that we had purchased a zip
\nin place “succoth” of clear plastic that fully enclosed the
\nfront half of the cockpit from winds and rain coming from
\nbehind. We put it up and it makes a huge difference — it’s our
\nown little three-season porch.<\/p>\n
The grib weather files today show that the minimum pressure in
\nthis system will not be as low as thought yesterday, so it will
\nbe less strong, but it is tracking further north. The bottom
\nline is that it will be uncomfortable but not dangerous. We
\nwill come under the influence of this low pressure system
\nstarting after midnight Sunday\/Monday and into the day Monday
\n(local time). It is fast moving and its effects, except for
\nsloppy seas, will be gone by Monday night. It is quite
\ndifficult to send emails under these conditions so do not worry
\nif you do not hear from us for a spell. We need to save our
\nconcentration for sailing the boat and downloading and
\ninterpreting weather information.<\/p>\n
This afternoon we spotted a sail a few mile astern and hailed
\nthe vessel on the radio. It is the American sail boat Bahati.
\nWe sat with Bahati at the Tongan Feast along with Ben. They are
\nare doing the same “go west” course as us and report that Roxi,
\nanother boat we know well, is behind them and a few other sail
\nboats are within a couple of hundred miles all heading west as
\nwell. As this rate we will be in Madagascar before New Zealand.
\n All of this will add three days to our trip but we have all
\nthat we need on board.<\/p>\n
We caught up on sleep during the day today as conditions
\nimproved. It is now 4:10 pm local time on Saturday Nov 10,
\nwhich is 0310 UTV Nov 10. Our position is<\/p>\n
S 27 degrees 18 minutes
\nE 177 degrees 22 minutes (yes, that is E for east)<\/p>\n
course is 270 degrees magnetic, wind 20 knots from the ESE,
\nspeed 6.7 knots.<\/p>\n
M.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sorry we have not written for 36 hours but the weather changed quite suddenly. Yesterday morning we had calm seas and light winds. I downloaded GRIB weather files first thing after waking to check on the wind forecast and look for any approaching weather issues. I was surprised to see a low pressure system forming … <\/p>\n