Day 4 - Crossing the Honey / Golden Syrup Line

At the moment Maunie is happily romping along at 6 to 7 knots and we're living life at an angle. Now some people would find this strange to enjoy the challenge of doing everything on board heeled over to starboard; well not us, as life at an angle means sailing which is what Maunie does best. We're making the most of this as we may lose this wind in the next 24 hours and be back to motoring, or what our good sailing friends, Adam & Cindi refer to as 'burning dinosaurs'. (Adam & Cindi have had to sit out the season back in NZ but it's good to have them 'on board' as they kindly send through e mail weather update - cheers, mates!)

 

A key point in the passage to NZ is what happens with the weather north & south of 30 degrees south; ideally you want to get any challenging conditions out of the way north of this line. We've a fair way to go before then (currently 23 degrees south) but Bob, our weather and routing guru is guiding us to a position so that we can be best set up to handle the SW winds that we are likely to encounter south of the 30 degree line.

 

Another crucial line that is approaching faster than 30 degrees south is the cross over from honey to Golden Syrup or brown sugar on Dianne's porridge in the mornings (don't worry, she does add fruit too!) Again, some readers will be asking why we didn't just ensure that there was enough honey on board to avoid this dilemna. Well, it's not quite that simple as honey is one item that NZ biosecurity insist on confiscating, even if it was originally from NZ. Dianne had pondered whether to buy a small re-stock but Graham had insisted that we'd only end up handing it over so Skipper Keating ruled on that one! BTW, Graham has muesli!

 

Meanwhile, on the subject of food, our decision to depart on Tuesday meant a quick dash for pre passage provisioning. We should have plenty of ingredients (fresh and frozen meats along with fresh veg) and we did manage to make up some lasagnes on the day before departure to have as easy meals. Conditions last night allowed us to prepare a chicken curry so we also have that ready to go. As we watch the weather we'll make the most of any calm conditions to make up other meals ready for more challenging conditions if they arise. It's not that meal preparation is impossible at an angle - just slightly more of a balancing act. Plus, it's a treat to just fling a meal in the oven. One thing's for certain, the arrival of any calm conditions will see a batch of Dianne's choc chip cookies.