Author: john

This was one of the possible land fall dates, when we were going fast.

When we were doing 8,9-10 knots, ok for 24 hours a day, we were getting a bit bashed about, had sleep deprivation, constant 90 decibel roar of the sea, which is very close to white noise.

Add an orange jumpsuit, oversized sack cloth hat and a daily 15 minute water boarding session and it would have been the ideal CIA extradition package holiday.

I would rather have all of that, plus the CIA extras, than sit here plodding along at 2-3 knots. We sometimes touch 4-5, but not for long. Very very bored with this now.

May the 4th seems to be the land fall day. Totally rubbish.

On the upside, during mum’s morning watch, a tuna decided to have a fight with our boat, flew out of the water and head butted the deck, one of the metal poles, then the deck again. Steve promptly gutted it and put its bashed in head/body into the freezer.

In the evening we actually caught a tuna on one of the lines, but didn’t realise until Steve brought them in for the night. That too has been gutted, de-tailed, beheaded and is in the freezer awaiting a date with me and the filleting knife tomorrow.

If we can get our speed up a light bit and catch more tuna/fish, I just might be happy with the crap arrival date.

Mum’s dream of having a quieter ride has been granted.

The winds are down to nothing and we are moving at less than 4 knots, sometimes begging for it to stay in the 3’s and not to drop back into the 1’s and 2’s.

Our average trip speed is now tumbling and will start crashing in to the 5’s soon enough. A long fall from the 6.5 it hit during our fast days.

To top it off it not really a smooth ride anymore. The swell, even though small, just knocks us around and the winds are so light that the boom is banging and crashing around, the head sail is also flapping then snapping once it get a breeze.

Everyday we are here at sea is a day less at the islands. I’ve come to the realization that I probably will not make it to Bora Bora and will only see Tahiti out of all the Society Islands. Shame as I was hoping to see them with my own eyes, take some photos and was one of the things i was most looking forward to doing on this trip.

Truly a boring and miserable day, Steve actually got the Code Zero out of it’s grave and started to patch it up, after a few hours of stitching he came to the conclusion that a main stress point in the sail was beyond repair.

After dinner we had some tea and watched the full moon rise.

Grib file said that there would be wind tomorrow, I hope it come during the night.

Bored of the sea.

The winds have really died on us and the forecast doesn’t show it’s going to be any better for a couple of days.

We are now doing rubbish speeds.

I might just sell my soul for some sleep, wind, booze and fish.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Not much happening, we’re still off course by about 20 degrees and winds not playing nice.

The fishing lines were not out and I suggested that we put only two lines out and put them up on the line hook things, as we would then have a visual indication when we get a bite, as they would pop off them. Steve went one further and put a mental nut on each so we would also have an audible warning.

After a few false alarms and the massive lure out about 20-25 feet, still no fish, but we have all the lures back on board safely.

We went “wing on wing” today for a few hours, just to see how the boat handles. Very smooth as we are going nearly totally down wind and with the swells. No longer in a mechanical bull rating scale for ride, it is now like a very lame little children’s fairground ride or the ones you get outside supermarkets, you know like the Postman Pat ones.

We are now back to the normal setup for the evening, but will go back to “wing on wing” in the morning.