can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Misto - Days 68-71: Pleasant sailing, no fish!



We now have less than 350 nm to go to Hiva Oa - it's almost a strange sense of reality to think that we will soon be able to be back on land again. The reality on board on a long passage becomes the weather, watch schedules, meals, sleeping and passing the time, when conditions are benign, interspersed by periods of frantic activity when sails have to be changed, wind rises, squalls come up or gear fails.

We are expecting the wind to diminish over the next couple of days and for there to be more squall activity. Currently we still have 15 knots of wind and a long 6' swell rising mainly from behind us. There is a nasty little swell that creeps in from the side every now and again throwing us a little off balance.

We are still flying our parasailor and keep debating when we will need to take it down, which we will have to do if there is a lot of squall activity. We did douse it last night for a squall and all got a shower in the process. The snuffer got stuck and Ros had visions of having to go up the mast again (not a happy thought) but eventually it worked free and we brought it down, to hoist it again after the rain had moved over us. We saw a couple of small rain cells to the north during the night hours and benefited from additional wind as they passed by.

Our fish tally is a big fat zero! In truth we have not put the line out for the past few days as slowing the boat down to reel in a large fish with the parasailor up is an issue which we have not wanted to tackle. Perhaps as the winds drop we will put the line out and have more success. Some boats have been lucky - but we have not seen the plethora of fish that I understood the Coconut Milk Run (as this passage is often referred to) can yield.
-----
At 3/18/2017 7:40 PM (utc) our position was 11°16.84'S 132°48.65'W


Previous | Next