Yesterday

As predicted the wind abated and yesterday the sea was much more benign, no white caps no rollers no agitation, and with wind 12 to 14 knots albeit still from ESE we sailed on. THere were squally showers passibng by nad I copped one, trapped in dense heavy rain and strong wind for a couple of hours. The sun didnt come out at all yesterday but the wind changed around a bit - at one point we wwere pointing right at Raitea, 90 degrees magnetic, an hour later we were still on 90 degrees but on thew opposite tack. AT 7 pm the wind abruptly died and I decdied as I wasnt too tired to motor till midnight which I did. This used 6 liters of precious fuel and at 2200 revs we made 4 knots, in total 45 miles closer! But I had to stop for sleep. The sea is a different place altogether now, barely a ripple just a low swell rolling us gently.

I then went to sleep and now its 6am and the sun will be up soon. The wind is still light and is expected to remain light today so I shall motor and hope it picks up.I figure I can motor about 60 hours in total on whats left in the tank and storage , maybe 200 miles if the conditions remained like this but thats not enough to get to Port so will need some wind eventually. In the meantime I think motoring in such calm sea will give the best bang for buck, but its excruciating waiting for decent wind.

So on we go...

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