In The Middle of Nowhere ~ Day 11 to the Marquesas

01 August 2015  ~  Position 05 19S 117 00W at 1730 UTC, 1130 Boat Time (Still on Galapagos Local)  0530 tomorrow NZ Time.

Course Over Ground 255dT, Speed Over Ground 7.3 knots,  24 hour run 169 miles 1 mile less than yesterday.  

Another cloudy night with more squalls overnight and this morning, winds to 28 knots and a little rain, seas increased and swell running about 3 metres, tiring 24 hours but skies now clearing and looking promising.  Still flying double reefed main, reefed jib poled to windward.

Passed the half way point overnight, hard to believe we have already been out here so long and we have only just made halfway.  I read on friends blogs and looking at the atlas seems to confirm that this is the furthermost point on earth you can be from land, not something our Mums probably want to know!!!

the little I in the middle is where we are, yep, it's the middle of nowhere

Bit of a set back overnight, our Ray Marine Autopilot has decided that 1500 miles in one go is all he is prepared to steer for and has developed a "Drivestop Error" and turns himself off.  Mark has spent the day bouncing up and down checking wiring, connections, reading manuals etc but as yet Ray is still on strike, we have had this problem about 1 year ago and Mark fixed it but the same solution hasn't worked this time.  We do have two autopilots so Arnie is now steering (actually right now Mark is steering) but we still have a long way to go so want our backup working.

A huge thanks to all of you that are emailing us regulary with weather, news, sports news, family and friends news and general chit chat, it truly makes our day and no matter how brief we appreicate them immensely.  So sorry we are not emailing many personal ones out, maybe when (if) the sea flattens some more, we live in hope.

You can see our progress  on a map on our mailasail blog.  

Position at 2300UTC when sent via satphone 05 21.69S  117 20.67W  Not a cloud in the sky, 18 - 23 knots, hoping for a better night