The engine went of at 01.00 this morning so we had a peaceful night with pleasant, if rather slow, sailing. The pesky adverse current meant that we were only averaging about 4 knots so were falling behind our plan but we are happy enough. The breeze increased to about 11 knots late morning and so we are now making a more respectable 5 knots and sailing almost south west.
The plan is to keep heading west of the direct route for another couple of days to be better placed to meet some SW winds that we are likely to encounter south of the 30 degrees south latitude. Bob the weather guru has also given us some more positive news that the strong wind front, forecasted for the 28th as we approach NZ, looks as though it might have been a computer anomaly in the forecast as it now seems less daunting in the more recent updates. Still something to watch for, though.
Otherwise, all's well aboard and we have twice-daily radio chats with other yachts on the same passage via the SSB radio. Ithaka have left Noumea so are ahead of us and the the west, Navara is a day ahead of us and enjoying faster sailing better winds and Obsession is about 15 miles on our port side. It's good to be able to compare conditions and it's motivational to know that other crews are out with us in the very empty-looking ocean.
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