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Luna Quest - Tuesday, 26 May, 2015



Noon Position: 17.29S 171.31W

Daily run: 70 measured miles

Squall after squall played havoc with us yesterday, making it extremely difficult to set a course and the sails. All day we wrestled with the appalling weather conditions and towards the late afternoon, I had almost given up trying to set the sails. The wind would come from the east, then from the west, now from the south and then from the north. To us it is important to have the sails set for the night. I don’t like going out on deck at night and Julia has a morbid fear that I could fall overboard. As she is a little deaf, she probably would not hear the splash or my cry for help. In our final attempt to set the sails before dark, the wind seem to stabilise from the Southeast, feebly at first, but becoming more robust just before nightfall. We took the poles in for a third time, but left the pole guys attached, something we have never done before as they can create a confused collection of lines and ropes in the cockpit. We plotted our position quickly on the chart: 140 miles to go to Vava’u. That meant night time arrival. The alternative would be to slow the boat right down to 3 knots and aim for landfall Wednesday morning. We chose the latter and have set a scrap of genoa only. All night last night, today and tonight we shall be sailing at just over 3 knots, rolling violently at times, but hopefully in the right direction.

Julia has been busy making more danish pastries, more bread and other delectables. We are not short of food or water, but we have been very short of good sailing weather this passage.

Eric


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