Saturday 21 June
Mid-summer’s day at home! …. Does that mean it’s mid-winter here?
By dawn, the wind has dropped to 15 knots. It’s a clear blue sky with a few puffy white clouds and we’re doing 6 knots in 12 – 15 knots wind, still goose-winging. There’s a problem with the deck speaker which has stopped working. Ian,( who’s condition is improving), gets to work to try and fix it but to no avail – we’ll try and get it looked at in Fiji. By 10.30am we’ve covered 174 miles since leaving Vava’u. As the day progresses the wind eases and we average about 5 – 6 knots SOG, wind-speed 10 – 12 knots. It’s slow progress but very pleasant, relaxing sailing; the sun is shining, the sails are still goose-winged and the wave pattern is settled. Stewy puts out the fishing line. We run the engine for 3 hours to top up the water tanks and keep the freezer frozen. We’re in no rush and now expect to arrive sometime Sunday evening. The sun sets at 6.30pm, when there’s 2 hours of darkness until the full moon rises at 8.30pm. It’s a beautiful night, the stars are out, there’s moonlight on the water and we’re all enjoying our single watches. We reach our way-point - the entrance to Lakemba Pass – at 10pm. The 15 mile wide entrance is sided by 2 low reefs barely detectible on the radar. We’re keeping a close look out as the C-Maps are not always accurate!