10 March 2010
Yesterday Voyageur got into her groove and so I think did we. Throughout the morning the winds gradually increased to force five. Now she really started to tramp across the ocean occasionally reaching nine to nine and half knots. By the early evening we were level pegging with Brown Eyed Girl. They cannot shake us off nor can we them. David replaced the accumulator tank and the repair would appear successful. Time will tell. We are still taking the precaution of switching the pump off after every use. We do not carry a lot of bottled water so it is imperative that we keep the tank topped up. I spend much of my time checking the fruits and vegetables and in food preparation and cooking. Lunch is a salad until the fresh stores are used up then I cook. Dinner is always a hot meal. The boats that motored throughout the first night have pulled well ahead. They caught the winds much earlier by doing so. Still we are very happy with our progress. Last time we spent much of the first five days motoring so the early arrival of sailable winds is both unexpected and welcome. By six o'clock in the evening we were on the rhumb line towards the Marquesas.
We make use of the radar much more than we did the last trip. We have it on from dusk to dawn. It means we can monitor squall activity, see shipping and other boats of course. Not having our wind speed we have to be so careful not to be caught out. During the day it is of course much easier to see approaching bad weather so at night if we are in any doubt we reef down early.
Susan Mackay