09 August 2015 ~ Position 09 48S 136 25W at 1730 UTC, 0930 Boat Time (Alaska Time) 0530 tomorrow NZ Time.
Course Over Ground 265dT, Speed Over Ground 5.1 knots, 24 hour run just 112 miles sailed for net gain of 105 miles. Clear skies and starry night but total cloud cover early morning now cleared. Wind dropped out entirely yesterday afternoon so we dropped all sails and bobbed about going nowhere until about midnight when we drifted off under poled out headsail Not putting main back up, going fine like this with staysail sheeted in to leeward, even more rolly but easy.
This has been such a long haul and our admiration goes out to those that have done this before us, and those still to follow in our footsteps. You can have no understanding of the enormity of this ocean until you undertake this voyage, there is nothingness forever.
Our very special thanks go out to John on Osprey, currently land based in England, who has sent us daily updates on all manner of current affairs, sport and especially weather, don't know how many hours you have spent of it John but you have done and amazing job and we thank you greatly, still awaiting the arrival of the steamroller though, you've let me down on that one! John did this trip single handed some years ago, we take our hats off to him.
Huge thanks go also to fellow cruisers David and Brenda on Bandit who did this trip last year, Bandit is now home in Picton, New Zealand and David and Brenda are in the UK enjoying summer. They have sent us lengthy daily emails that have entertained us immensely detailing their daily grind of walks along canals, through National Parks, visiting National Trust manors and castles, museums, farmers markets, cosy pubs, trendy cafes ..... maybe there is life after cruising after all.
Still no more fish, not at all impressed.
And now to the big question ...... ARE WE NEARLY THERE YET? Well, it's 4.30pm Balvenie time now (3pm Marquesas time) and the GPS tells us we have 120 miles to go and we have fair winds from behind forecast for our final push, we will be in before dark tomorrow, so the all important answer is YES ~ WE ARE NEARLY
THERE, just one more night!!! tick tock, tick tock.
You can see our progress on a map on our mailasail blog.
Position at 0100UTC when sent via satphone 09 55.08S 137 05.48W
1 comment:
Bravo! Thank goodness you have been able to get this far without Ray. Nearly there! The Gillinghams.
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