0430 am (21:30UTC)
60 miles to Isles des Pines
position: 21deg42.4S, 168deg15E
course 225 degrees
Its our 6th day since leaving Wilkes Pass, The Voelklip of the tropics. Always a wave, side onshore on the south east, always nos, once every two years it really cooks.
We have been motoring with the jib up the whole night in a moderate sea. Right now there seems to be enough wind to warrant hoisting the main sail, but that can wait until daybreak when Chantal wakes up. I can hoist it myself, but its a lot of moving around deck in the dark of night, and I don't fancy a lonely swim right now. We have 60 miles to go and we have a good 12 hours of daylight ahead to do these miles and get the pick down in a good anchorage before sunset. That means we need to do a constant 6 knots plus which is doable once the main is up. Lets hope for the best.
Guess what last night's dinner was? Yep, fried rice with seared tuna. Ahead of us lies New Caledonia, an Overseas French Territory. Noumea, its capital, is apparently quite sophisticated. What that usually means is "expensive baguette". Yours truly does not have a French visa, so we are not sure what's going to happen on that score. But Chantal has a whole torrent of excuses which she will unleash on the unsuspecting immigration official: unforeseen emergency stop for sick kids, engine failure, fuel up, broken radar, "Is this New Caledonia??!....OH No, I thought this was Vanuatu!" You know how bad Chantal is with directions. 'Course up' versus 'North up' on the GPS has remained a big challenge for her, hahaha.
We are still battling it out with our 3 on 3 off watch system, at least we are learning how to fall asleep quick quick during those 3 hours off.
Can someone please send me a swell report for New Caledonia? Its exposed to the swell which comes up between Oz and NZ.
0800am update:
A nice light breeze and a mellow ocean. We are trundling along under full sail, doing 6-7 knots, our arrival before sunset is assured! Caught a massive bull Mahi-Mahi (Dorado, Dolphin Fish), had to gaff him to get him on board. Chantal had to hold him with the handline whilst I go down to gaff, it almost pulled her over the back of the transom! Took a pic of Chantal with the fish, not sure who is the biggest. We are trying to decide whether to go through the whole rig-marole of checking into New Caledonia (with all its related time wasting expenses), or just keep going for Brisbane (850 nautical miles away/6 days sailing). We are going to anchor tonight at Isles des Pines, download a weather report, then decide. Problem is that we only have 5 apples left, 20 vrot bananas, 3 zucchini, 1 small block of cheese, 1 so-so pineapple.... on the upside we have enough potatoes, and a whopping 8 big carrots. Our freezer is full of fish and we have plenty of rice. Enough flour to bake bread. A pack of stale biscuits. My fuel situation is OK. Our water tank is three quarters. What to do? Suggestions?
Cheers
G
