End of Day 1
Western Samoa to Fiji, 50o miles, 3-4 days?
Midnight, 06:00 UTC
pos 14deg03.3, 172deg41.1w
428 miles to Laucala Island, our Fiji landfall.
After much weather and grib file analyses we decided to set sail again. The wind was predicted to moderate from Sunday evening onwards to light variables by Wednesday, so we decided to use the last of these potent Easterlies, before they die all together.
We left Apia harbour with much apprehension, not quite knowing what to expect with the sea and wind. But our first day has been great. Still around 20 knots of Easterly wind as we left the harbour with around 4 ft of windswell, quite rolly as we reached with a single reefed main and full jib to clear Apia point. After that we turned dead down wind, set the spinnaker and were on our way. We sailed through the straight between Upulo Island and Savaii as the sun went down. Now we are south of these islands, back in open ocean. We are currently eating the miles on a near perfect spinnaker run, straight down the rhumb line at 247 degrees, doing 6-8 knots in 15-18 knots of wind. There is still some left over swell and we are still rolling around a bit, but nothing compared to 4 days ago. We are headed for the Fijian port of Savusavu.
Spirits on board shimmi are high. Kahlil finally managed to book and airticket home to New Zealand from Fiji. This put him in such a good mood that he cooked a full on gourmet meal: Raw tuna in a chilli marinade, fried chick pea and rice, re-fried beans and homemade mayonaise, all wrapped in a flour tortilla. Yum.
I have decided to rename Apia: Mullet Harbour. I have never seen so many polynesians with mullet hairstyles. Definitely no sophisticated French influence here. But it was great to chat with the locals, most of whom speak fluent English with a Kiwi accent.
Josh and Indie are both very happy, accepting this last leg to Fiji with no complaints.
We are so glad that we are not getting hammered out here!
Cheers
G
