We began the day as we ended the night with just the jib out riding the rough swell and continued in this manner all morning. Paul got the first sighting of land and we all rushed out to peer into the distance and see the island of -Matuku through the mist. The sight of land switched us all into a feeling of arrival, out of our passage mode. Excitement was rising.
After lunch we raised the main keeping in the 2 reefs from our previous days surfing experience. As the afternoon progressed and into the evening the seas showed signs of calming. This set the stage for a fantastic night passage.
The sea temperature is now 92F and the air temperature over 70 all night long. For my 8-11 watch I just sat outside with nowt on but my undies (all but one of my shorts are soaked with salt water) listening (and often singing) to music. The moon lit the ocean. I was sprayed a couple of times but nothing major. A shower, at the end of my watch, cleaned me off.
I understand from Paul that Helen had a great watch too. I’m pleased as she’s not overly enjoyed this passage. Night watch can be miserable but sometimes it can be a thrill.
Paul was pooped a couple of times. I think he has a different relationship with Neptune.
Our ETA for Savusavu is currently sometime after 1pm. This may change when we make our turn around the island of Koro as the wind will be more behind us and the main is likely to start shading the jib.
All in all the passage hasn’t been too bad but certainly this tropics down and back to NZ has been our toughest two legs. We had expected to take eight days and it’s taking us nine. But then we did slow down to under half speed for a couple of days to try and avoid some bad weather – putting us into some other bad weather later.
A full and good nights sleep will be an excellent reward. A beer on arrival will be an excellenter reward. They’re in the fridge. Ready.
When we stop I will have to pull up our bunk and attend to our port shaft seal. It has leaked all the way over at varying rates. It’s never really got any worse but the alarm tends to go off once or twice an hour. Because of the noise of passage we don’t hear it downstairs. It’ll drive us mad once we’ve stopped. So some more grease will be squeezed in. I know this stops it until we move on. One of the things we’ll do ashore today/tomorrow is research our options to beach the boat and replace the seal.
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