UTC/Local Time: 200/1000
Latitude: 16 38.09 S
Longitude: 147 15/ 436 W
Course Over Ground: 240 degrees at 6 knots
Wind Direction: ESE 9-18 knots
Sea Swell: following/wallowing seas 7-9 feet
Sky: 100% cloud cover
Barometric Pressure: 1018
Temperature 81 degrees, 80 % humidity
Update:
Last night was probably our most uncomfortable night yet. The direction of the wind and direction of the way we wanted to go created a compromise route which placed the rolling seas right on our beam rocking us back and forth all night. In addition to the uncomfortable ride that had things moving about the cabin all night, clanking, groaning, banging, bell ringing, ther was some anxiety about the lightning we could see off our starboard stern and catching us. No one got much rest.
We ran all night with just a handheld gps, turning off all of the other electronic equipment and stowing the sat phone, computer and dongle (navigation software key) in our ovens to protect them from potential lightning strikes. We hand charted our position every hour. The thunder storms stayed to our starboard and passed us by early this morning. We were relieved.
Right now the sky is very cloudy and grey. We can see squalls coming behind us, but with the entire sky cloudy and grey already, they don't seem to pack the intense gusts, or maybe because we are running downwind we just don't feel it as much. We are all trying to catch up on rest today.
ABOUT POLYNESIAN WEATHER:
The followiing information is primarily for our sailing friends who are in our wake, but might be of general interest to others as well.
Bring a French dictionary so that you can interpret the daily French Polynesia weather forecast from saildocs. The areas are broken into sectors. We have a list of the most common phrases, but there are always some words that aren't there and need to be looked up...for instance "orage" which means thunder storm. The forecasts are pretty accurate. Here is an example of our forecast for today:
C45
TAHITI/OUEST TUAMOTU
SECTEUR EST 18/22KT MOLLISSANT CE SOIR 12/16KT ET DEMAIN 08/12KT, RAFALES 30KT, MER AGITEE, DEMAIN PEU AGITEE, AVERSES OU GRAINS ISOLES AVEC ORAGE.
We are looking forward to the less agitated seas, not looking forward to the light winds or isolated rain and thunderstorms.
ABOUT SLACK TIDES FOR ATOLL PASSAGE:
Getting in and out of atolls can be very tricky, particularly if the pass through the coral is narrow and currents are strong. The lighting (directly above)and calm seas are ideal, but obviously not always available. We bypassed some atolls with disappointment because we were not willing to compromise on the lighting and seas (which has been squally and high seas. We felt comfortable going into Fakarava because even though the seas and lighting were marginal, the pass was well marked and very wide. We also had some good rule of thumb information regarding how to calculate a slack tide to avoid what could be nasty currents. This is what we were told, and it worked for us.
First we entered the position of the pass we wanted to enter and checked the moon rise and set times for that location on our GPS. Then we used this local knowledge to get in and out of the pass.
Rules of thumb on moon set/rise:
4 hours before moon set - slack ebb
5 hours after moon set - slack flood
3 hours before moonrise - slack ebb
5 hours after moonrise - slack flood.
We came in on a slack ebb at 10:49 a.m. and left on a slack ebb at 1:00 p.m. The current was insignificant both times. The sun was high in the sky.
That's it for now.
All is well on Worrall Wind.
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