Greetings from yacht Ensemble.
Today we have only 120nm to go. Unfortunately - that is just a bit too far to make it in daylight - so we'll pace ourselves and try and get in on Monday morning.
The weather has been unpredictable - with wind ranging from 5 to 25 knots, from the North to the South - blue skies to grey, and the temperature from a comfortable mid 20C to a stifling 35C. If I didn't know better I'd say we were in Melbourne!
As we are in no rush we sailed the whole day (We normally will put the engine on when we drop to less than 5 knots for more than 1 hour). The Parasailor worked well - but in the evening just at the start of Magali's watch we thought with the number of squalls around - and the wind direction went from the East to the North - making it a difficult sail angle for the Parasailor. So we brought it in and put up the jib and main. No sooner done than the wind shifted again! (Murphy's law of sail changes). We endured through the night - then I changed it back - only to have the wind drop to 6 knots. My next boat will have crew! Still - it was a 150nm day - so no complaints.
There are several things about sailing across an ocean that appear odd. One we've noticed is that you completely loose track of which day of the week it is (well - maybe not that odd). We also find it strange that every evening when we have our 'sunset rendevous' we are surrounded by birds (boobys) - reminding me of the seagulls in Manly whenever you have fish n chips). And finally - and in my view - most weird - how you can be in the middle of the biggest ocean in the world and more than 500nm from the nearest island - and still be surrounded by fishing boats.
So far this trip (from Bora Bora) we have seen 5. These vessels are all Asian - sit low in the water - have no AIS, a very low radar signature - and won't answer the radio when hailed. Yesterday afternoon we nearly ran into one. It was sitting there 'dead in the water' - with no engines running, no NUC or other signals up - and wouldn't answer the radio. I assume they were just sleeping before another night's fishing - (or a ghost
ship) - but they were sitting right on the rhum line from Bora Bora. Because of the low profile (and the heavy swell) we saw them before we picked them up on radar. Thank goodness it was during the day!
Fishing boats are like cockroaches - for every one you see there's twenty more - so maybe that explains why we haven't caught any fish (excuses excuses...). So - be vigilent!
Cheers
Dave & Magali
20May2012 013