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Timshel - Vanuatu to Australia Day 1



I can't believe this is our last passage for this half of the rally. Sadly we left behind Misto who are cruising more of Vanuatu and New Caledonia before heading south to NZ for the Cyclone season. Fortunately we will catch up with them (and others) next year as we are taking a year in Australia and all joining next years World ARC rally to finish the trip. So rather a depleted fleet left Port Vila and started the leg, as Skylark and She who must not be named (TBC) are starting from elsewhere. It was great that on the first evenings SSB sked (Net controller Cesarina) Taistealai and Sandvita came up, they are sailing in company direct from Fiji as they were both delayed due to illness, and will catch up with us in Mackay. Much badinage between the fleet over the VHF while all still close together. No wind at the start, we drifted across the line (where there was a large turtle), then motorsailed until wind came, but from ahead - we are not used to this upwind sailing and tacking any more. By next morning, the wind had come round behind and we set the sails wing and wing -just not quite enough of it. The closing time for this leg has been set very tight, just 7 days and 10 hrs to get to the finish at the Hydrographers Passage and requiring an average of 6 . Stefano said this passage normally had good winds but this has not been so this year, so suspect we will not make the cutoff. We also seem to have a problem with the gas system/cooker which is giving very small flame and taking ages to even boil a kettle. We can't find a leak in the system, the burners have been cleaned out and the bottle should be full, but we had cup-a soup and sandwich for dinner last night. Bit of a pain!

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