Latitude: 17 51.935 S
Longitude: 173 47.350 W
Course Over Ground: 200 @ 3.0 knots
Wind Direction: SE 15 knots
Sea Swell: 1 meter East
Sky: 10% cloud cover
Barometric Pressure: 1013
Update: Last night of passage. Landfall tomorrow.
Well as usual we have poked along on this passage, and will be arriving as we expected tomorrow morning which will actually be Wednesday, September 29. Through out this entire voyage, the wind has been coming from the south, southeast, almost the same direction we need to travel. We have been pinched tightly to stay on the course line due to reefs and obstacle on either side. Because of the strong winds the first two days out, we reefed down our main and let down the traveler to spill out some of the wind and to reduce the heel. We also had 12-14 foot seas on our port beam rolling us more into the heel. We found a good sail combination that kept us moving (although slowly) forward and kept the ride as comfortable as possible. In those conditions, it was not comfortable, but heeling more and going faster would have made it worse.
As the wind decreased, we have been putting up more sail, but again we are pinched tight. For the last couple of hours, we have tacked to get well east of our course line, knowing that we will drift west with the lighter winds and a half knot of west-setting current. Today even though we have been poking along at 4 knots, the sailing has been very pleasant. Seems we don't get to utter those words often enough. It's always a joy to open the doors and hatches a bit when the weather permits.
Tonight, we are within 50 miles of landfall, and as usual we don't want to arrive in the dark, so tonight we will really slow down, timing our arrival for dawn. We have had such a wonderful cruising season, that it is hard to believe that the season is coming to an end here in the South Pacific. All of us are beginning to feel an urgency to get where we are going to be November. Many of the boats are already making landfall or will be making landfall in Fiji, Tonga, and Australia within the next couple of weeks. It was sad to hear that our Polynesia Breakfast Net, which has become our daily contact with other cruisers and weather reports, will be signing off the air October 2, this coming Saturday as the primary organizers have traveled further and faster west than the rest of the fleet.
We are looking forward to making landfall in Tonga, a few weeks of cruising in these waters, then heading for Fiji during the last week or two of October. That passage will also be about 500 miles and take a week, but will be the last for this cruising season.
All is well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind.
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