Position: 28 degrees, 58 minutes south; 163 degrees, 51 minutes west 110 nm day

This voyage plan had two parts. The first was to “run” (broad reach) with the west winds along the top of the Roaring 40’s, between 30 south and 35 south, on the lows that march across the Southern Ocean. That part has worked out pretty well, except for getting a little too close to one of the lows that was stronger and came further north than expected. We’re been sailing downwind on course due east for a week and a half. Not bad.

Part Two of the voyage plan was to get to roughly 155 degrees west and turn “left” about 50 degrees and sail direct from there to our destination. Typically the westerlies run out about there and you “catch” a southeast wind from there up to Tubuai. We’re heading into part two of the plan in another day or two. Problem is, there’s an uncooperative weather system moving into place to squelch our plan. Just as we’re ready to turn the corner this system is going to bring us northeast winds. In other words, wind from exactly where we want to go. Since we can’t go straight into the wind, we’ll have to “tack” back and forth at about a 55 degree angle to each side of the course, in order to get there (with 55 degrees being the cruising version of “close hauled” in ocean conditions). So, the next few days will be interesting to see how this plays and out whether there’s a system on the “other” side of this one that will bring back some more favorable winds. For now, my available data such as weather faxes and gribs don’t go out far enough. So, we sail on and see what the weather will let us do just like sailors have done for centuries. Even with all the high tech stuff, some things don’t change.

By the way, if you want to see some of this stuff in “real time” and maybe even be a step ahead of what we can see, go to www.windyty.com. It is a pretty cool application that shows real time wind flow across the globe. Or, if you want to really waste some time, go to www.noaa.org and dig around and look for South Pacific weather charts. You’ll want the Surface Analysis, or 24 Hour Prog chart of the area of the ocean we’re in. These are essentially what I’m able to get via weather fax. It’s all about bandwidth.

Back on Charisma at dawn. The sun is stretching and yawning getting ready to meet the day. His orange glow gently nudging aside the stars and the night sky, sending them back to the other side of the world. Right on schedule, as the stars disappear, the morning squallies are marching down behind us. Fluffy, billowing white no doubt soon to bring our daily dose of early morning wind and rain.

It’s just another part of our day.