Position: 23 degrees, 40 minutes south; 158 degrees, 48 minutes west 67 nm day
Whew, thank goodness we got an easy day today. We’re both exhausted after last night’s events. This morning brought some unsettled looking weather (again), but it turned out pretty benign. All day, there has been little or no wind. We have been motoring since morning (it’s after dinner right now) and we expect we’ll continue to motor through tomorrow sometime, maybe even the next day. That’s probably getting pretty close to the extent of our fuel though, so we’re hoping the wind fills in for the final stretch. It should fill in from the south and then south east Thursday for a few days, so cross fingers.
This shows our planned route(s) versus actual. The "bottom" route was the original. The next higher was our modified for weather avoidance. The actual is shown by the triangle representing our boat and the dotted line behind it. Snarky weather and ENE wind are pushing us toward Tahiti instead of letting us go east to Tubuai...so we'll go where the wind lets us.
Oh, I don’t know if I mentioned we decided to just bypass Tubuai and go direct Tahiti at this point. We’re currently about 600 miles to go.
That and the beautiful almost full moon we see tonight for the first time in three or four days is about all the news for now.
P.S. Thanks to everyone for your comments. We enjoy ready them in the evenings. Some of you are either new or on new computers, so if you don’t see your comment, it’s because I have to “moderate” i.e. approve the post. I can’t do that until we get internet access in Tahiti and approve you. Once approved all your comments will go through with no further action required. Meanwhile we still are receiving them and enjoying them.
Glad you had an easier day! The full moon is beautiful here too. Will you have a bit of a rest in Tahiti?
Hi Bob and Ann,
My husband Shane and I are friends with Jon Eberly (and Heather). Jon introduced my husband to racing and they won the Coastal Cup last year! Jon introduced me to your blog last year and I’ve been following your adventures in Fiji and NZ. I figured it was time to stop secretly stalking you and introduce myself 🙂 We are planning a 5 year cruise on our 88 Tayana V42, starting in Spring 2017. We are in the refit stage now. It’s been a pleasure logging in and seeing what you’ve been up too, I especially enjoy when you are doing a crossing, your detailed writing about the sailing is educational and exciting… I’m glad to hear that you got through these last few “squalls” unscathed! I hope I never have to experience a night like you and Ann just did. Hopefully we get to meet you when you return to the states, my husband and I would both really like that, and we’d love to pick your brain about boats and sailing the Pacific!!
Fair winds and stay safe out there!
All the best,
Amanda
It sounds like you were riding some roller coasters! We actually were too – but I think the coasters at Disneyland are more my speed. Have a safe and hopefully uneventful rest of your passage. Looking forward to seeing you whenever you get back.
Moon over Charisma. Good vibe. Very glad that the weather gods stopped messing with you and you are getting a break.
I can’t get your lat/long position on Windyty. Found you on google (smile for the Google satellite.). Trying to interpret from one to the other it looks like all the really nasty stuff is SE and S of Tubuai. It looks like surface winds pretty much on your nose to Tahiti, though not heavy. Maybe a system coming in from NE of Tahiti at some point.
Fingers crossed for a little more wind propulsion from a helpful direction.
Sail on, sail on sailors.