I am very pleased with myself on my second watch. We have the two genoas goose-winged out and they start to flap around as the wind shifts. Not wanting to wake Mike I make the decision to change course enough to make the sails fill again. This is the first time I have ever made such a decision. Normally I don’t interfere with the ‘raggy bits’ (as one charter guest referred to the sails last year).
Sleep, or rather lack of sleep, continues to be an issue today. I don’t manage to get back to sleep after my two watches in the night, then when I try in the afternoon, I have just drifted off when Mike comes down and says he needs my help with the sails. Naturally, when we have finished, I can’t get back again. Bugger. At least there are only two more nights of watches then I will be able to sleep uninterrupted all night. I can’t wait.
I manage at last to talk to Victoria on the satellite phone. She had a fabulous time in Abu Dhabi and I can’t wait to hear all about it when I last manage to get to land and to use Skype. The lack of communication with the outside world is the one thing (apart from the sleeping business) which drives me crackers on a long passage.
We play cat and mouse with Ronja and Dreamcatcher all day. We overtake them, then they overtake us. All this ocean and there is a little gaggle of boats in a three mile radius.
There are a few squalls today, one of them with quite a lot of rain, but at least it gives the boat a bit of a wash down to remove some of the salt. Apart from that, it’s a case of same old, same old.
At midnight there are just 189 miles left to Hiva Oa. Nearly there. Nearly there.
Our position is: 09 deg 35 min S, 135 deg 50 min W
Distance so far: 5374 nautical miles
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