Firefly - Firefly approaches Suwarrow

Its 1000 local time on Saturday 17th May and we will be making landfall shortly. The 690nm passage has gone really well - helped by good steady tradewinds of between 15 and 20 knots, a favourable current and 4 nights of incredibly bright moonlight.



This has been a good introduction to sailing two handed - everything working out well, particularly once Susie and I had worked out our best sleep/watch patterns.



The 690nm passage will have taken 96 hours so an average speed of 7.2 knots. We have been goosewinged nearly all the way apart from a short section just after we set off when we motored out of the lee of Bora Bora. We have towed the aquair generator and this has provided enough power for everything, autopilot, instruments, fridge, lights, radio etc - apart from one 20 minute charging session using the engine, this mainly because we needed some hot water.



This mornings radio net has just been completed and with a few of our group 2 yachts just arrived in the lagoon at Suwarrow we have had a very useful rundown of the pass into the coral atoll we are about to enter - as well as knowing what things to look out for we also have confirmation that the Navionics charting is accurate regarding GPS positioning. The other thing that was confirmed - is that its absolutely beautiful! and full of small sharks! In our next posting in a few days time we will describe what we see at Suwarrow.



Paul and Susie