We continue to make better headway, with the winds gradually increasing until during the morning we are romping along with an average of 8 knots. This is the sort of sailing that we have been wanting for the last few days and now that we are nearly there, the wind decides to play ball. Unfortunately, they play ball so enthusiastically that in the afternoon we have to reef the main and the genoa in as if we continue at this rather nice speed, we will arrive in darkness.
The atolls are not the place to arrive in the dark. Surrounded by magnificent coral reefs just waiting for you to impale your boat on, a daylight arrival is imperative. Even inside the lagoons, reefs and rocks abound, most of them marked, some of them not, and of course there are the fishing markers to avoid too.
By early evening the winds are still strong, and even reefed in, it is obvious we are going to arrive too early, so Mike takes in the whole of the genoa, and we manage to slow the boat down to just over 5 knots. Typical. When we don’t need the wind, we get it!
Our position is: 13 deg 57 S, 145 deg 39 min W
Distance so far: 6209 nautical miles
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