Thursday 5th July

Grey sky, rainy, cooler air ... Bands of rainshowers and gusty clouds with patchy blue sky from time to time in between. Wind stronger....

Email from Raymarine Hawaiian agent in Honolulu didn't make me happy this morning - but after an email from me in reply, he's making a big effort - and coming to fix the replacment pump on Sunday...!

2pm - Certainly knew we were getting near high land even though I couldn't see it for cloud - wind well over 30knots and rough seas..!! Tied in 3rd reef and reduced genoa - a lot!! Wind direction changed by the land rather, so now from E which makes it more of a following wind so feels more comfortable - until a big wave catches us on the beam and tosses us on our ears...!. We're approaching the S.Cape (Ka Lae) of Hawai'i - 'the Big Island' they call it, to distinguish it from the other smaller Hawaiian islands nearby.

By 5pm we were rounding the SW of Hawaii and getting into the lee of the land slowly - seas down to 2m from the oough 3.5-4m seas of just before and wind down to 25 from 30+ kt. Still making good speed but very little seen of the land - too much grey cloud, with a long plume of cloud downwind from the high mountain (volcano) in the middle of the island.

3 hrs later, as we passed Puu Nahaha (!!), the wind dropped quickly - from 13 to 11 ...to 7 .. and not long after that - to 3knots -which it remained at for the duration. A bright moon finally made it out from behind the clouds. I tried motor-sailing but that didn't work so regretfully furled away headsails, centred the main - and turned on the 'iron sail'

During the Pacific Seafarers Net, Randy (KH6RC), who lives on the island, went over the mooring options and the entry into Kona Hbr, and Howard, on 'Holy Grail', also gave me some useful tips. The hope was that someone would already be tied to the fuel dock and all I'd have to do would be to raft up to him, rather than having to pick up a flimsy mooring buoy. The method here is a 'Med-moor' i.e. pick up a stern buoy & tie off to it and then head for shore and tie off the bow with lines there as well (or bow to buoy and stern to shore - is more usual) Since I was expecting to arrive after midnight, when everyone would be fast asleep, so no helping hands available, the rafting-up option sounded far preferable - only problem was not being sure if a boat would be there - and which side I'd be able to tie up to.

In the event, after a highly cautious approach to the narrow entry channel, not finding the lights quite as expected, I found a boat at the fuel dock - so rafted up. (I had lines and fenders on both side ready.... having heard a comment about 'not much space inside' I'd done that out in deep water!)

So here we are - ready for sleep at the end of our passage from Tahiti - just under 19 days in all and over 2560 n.ml... It's 2.30 am and Customs are due first thing to do paperwork... Good night!

PS We made DMG of 169 n.ml. up to 2pm today!! Not bad, eh?

Wednesday 4th July 2012

Greetings to my US friends - hope you've had a good Fourth July!

Posting here the lovely photo mentioned on Day 11 (27th June) which a friend took recently, showing Venus before dawn, with Jupiter above and Aldebaran below... Looking over River Derwent, just S of Hobart... (Courtesy John Gardner):

I forgot to mention yesterday all the flying fish I keep finding on deck each morning - unfortunately none quite big enough to cook...!

Overnight, and into today, grey rainclouds gathered ... None too dark or threatening.... mainly with wind gusting up to just over 20 kt and a quick shower, but sky hasn't been as sunny as I've got used to! In fact, overnight, I had to cover myself with the sleeping bag to keep warm...! Clouds have now cleared away so might be sunnier tomorrow - if so, solar panels will give up to 16A or so - excellent input, adding in to wind generator input to batteries.

Still making good speed - I've got used to seeing 7.3-7.6 kt SOG displayed and start looking for ways to increase it if speed drops for long! DMG today slightly down with overnight lesser wind and genoa furled in a bit due to gusty conditions .... so 'only' 157 n.ml. - still a respectable distance over the 24 hrs! Wind has been fairly consistent around 18kt from ENE. Windsteering is going well - Fred is happily in charge, steering a good course most of the time, with just the occasionsal tweaking needed as wind varies a little.... On a longer passage, wouldn't be needed so much but I want to get in as soon as possible, so a tighter course is required.

PC is continuing to test my patience ... Have missed several weatherfaxes because it has decided bluetooth needs to be disabled... Each time I re-boot, after uninstalling the bluetooth, the Com Port number shoots up - we've now reached 48!!! But at least the precious bluetooth icon reappears, giving radio communication again ...

We're making for Kona on the 'big island' of Hawaii to clear Customs and Quarantine and obtain US Cruising Permit - ETA is very early Friday morning... Have emailed 'Dept of Homeland Security' (what a title!!) to let them know in advance. Shouldn't take long to do paperwork, since airport is quite close and that's where officials are based. Then I'll make for Honolulu (140 ml away - about a day's sail) - either immediately or early Saturday, depending on paperwork, sleep and whether friend living close by is available to catch up with.

Tuesday 3rd July 2012

Into yet another glorious day of fabulous sailing in the NE Trades - and still no squalls in sight!! I could get used to this! So unlike the sailing I've got used to in the Southern Ocean...

Midday
Just got back down below after an hour on deck in bright sunshine - hot, sticky & salty.... Finally decided it was relatively calm enough to lower pole and stow it - always a bit of a struggle in the swell with no-one else to stand either in the bow or at the mast - so some to-ing and fro-ing needed... (and always with a few curses!) Had already unfurled remaining genoa and trimmed all sails .... all prompted by seeing speed down to (only!) around 6 kt .... so action was needed to get it up again. Wind is definitely down a bit now, though - 14-17 kt, rather than the 18-20kt we've been seeing over the last few days.

Have persuaded PC to behave for time being - think I might have conquered its quirks & know what to do when it turns sulky! So back to emails/weatherfaxes - although for quite a time yesterday, Honolulu was NOT transmitting - as confirmed when chatting to 'Charisma' later in the day.

The SHTP racers are finishing their Day 3 now. They started around noon on Saturday and are headed to Kauai. Looks as though conditions are set for a fast race with the High in a good position for their sail down from San Francisco - unlike when I did it in '06 when we went N to Pt Reyes looking for wind - and got becalmed...!! (The High was playing all sorts of tricks that year...)

Last time I headed up to Hawaii (from New Zealand in 2010), I managed to meet up with them all in Hanalei Bay on their Awards Night - Friday 9th July - last official day of the race ... and party night! It was good to see them all again! This year, my timing has worked out similar, but the 3-week Race will unfortunately be finishing too late for me to wait around for it - I need to get N to prepare for October... (My original plan, before weather and repairs got in the way from Cape Town on, was to be in SF for the start of the race...! "The best laid plans o' mice and men..." ?!)

DMG at 2pm LT was 161 n.ml.! Distance to Kona: 400ml; Honolulu: 533ml

Lovely moon again tonight... Just let out more genoa to keep up speed- wind still down a bit...

Monday 2nd July 2012

Before dawn .... Bright Venus like a spotlight in the E sky with Jupiter above and Aldebaran lined up below ... a great sight!

10am 'Bluetooth USB Adapter' in Device Manager:- "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)" Just great! Meaning no possible use of Pactor modem bluetooth for sending/receiving emails and weather info... grrr!!! Had re-started computer because it was giving error messages when tried to connect to radio to download wxfax this morning... Device Manager showed problems... Updating driver and disabling/enablng doesn't help... Spent a good hour on the problem.... Means I have to get into back of modem (behind instrument panel at chart table) to make a hard connection with PC using USB cable.... Oh well ... and it seemed such a lovely day ... Think I'll get my breakfast first...after adjusting Fred...! At least there's blue sky and not a grey cloud in sight... We're sailing well in ENE5 wind.

2pm Found PC closing itself down - and when I re-booted it - the bluetooth icon was sitting there quite happily... So tried bluetooth radio connection - worked fine .... grrr!! Glad I hadn`t started taking instrument panel to pieces... So now I can relax !

Later: Still playing up - sometimes there, sometimes not... Keep having to re-boot it.. Need a solid, enclosed, salt-in-air-proof computer... with chip/motherboard that doesn't heat up and can take tropical temperatures without complaining...

DMG - Unbelievably - it's up again! ... 166 n.ml. over the 24hr period to 2pm! And it`s still not due to fair current - display tells me boat speed is even higher!!
Distance to Honolulu: 694 n.ml.

Computer apart, it's been another lovely sailing day - good wind, excellent speed .... and not too many bigger waves to knock us on our ears...!
And tonight is just beautiful - full moon - so bright it's lighting up clouds, sea and boat.. a time to sit out in the cockpit and simply enjoy the moment.

Sunday 1st July 2012 - Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends!!

Brown booby... chased after shoal of flying fish that suddenly took off across the waves while it was circling high above 'Nereida'.

Continued fast sailing under sunny skies, if cloudy at times...... Regularly seeing SOG of 7.5 kt or more - and still rough 3+ m seas!

Occasional sail trimming to keep up speed and try to reduce heeling, as wind varies between NE and ENE 18-21kt over the day.

Without the constant need to download weatherfaxes just now, I had some spare time and actually took to my bunk while being tossed about and started reading a book: "The Rum 'Uns". Quiet amusement reading of Barbara McDougall's humorous episodes in her life in rural - so far - Tasmania (she gets into Dragon racing later, I know - she met up with me in Hobart, took me around and gave me her book!)

DMG today ..... a fabulous 164 n.ml. - making superb progress!! That relates to a sustained speed of 7 knots over the 24 hours... impressive! (And there's NO current help...)

Distance to Honolulu: 860 n.ml. .... although I'm looking into pausing briefly in Kona on the 'Big Island' of Hawaii, simply to Clear Customs etc on arrival in the USA within 'office hours': M-F 0800-1630 LT.

I'm passing close by Kona on my way to Oahu, so it makes sense to do the paperwork there and not incur extra charges or complications by arriving in Honolulu well over a day later - maybe Friday evening/over the weekend.

Moon shining brightly - and waxing for several more days - always nice to be able to trim the sails at night just by moonlight!

Saturday 30th June 2012

Consistent NE Trades (around 18-19 knots) all day, making for good,fast sailing, but heeled often and seas still tossing us around at times so having to take great care moving around.

Dull, grey clouds cleared away soon after dawn, to be replaced, after a nice sunny gap, by broken light cloud for most of day - until skies cleared again around mid-afternoon. So waxing moon can be seen shining brightly in early evening along with Southern Cross high up in S.

Fresh eggs from Tasmania (turned regularly, never chilled...) are still OK! Having an omelette tonight! Enjoyed fresh grapefruit this afternoon , also from Tasmania - I find grapefruit often keep well. Both stored out of fridge...

Sooty shearwater and prion seen several times, also a black-headed booby (my naming!) - circles around near sunset as though looking for a roosting place.

Today's position/weather report:

TIME: 2012/07/01 00:00 GMT/2pm 30th June LT
LATITUDE: 08-46.30N LONGITUDE: 145-47.71W
COURSE: 318T SPEED: 6.6
WIND_SPEED: 19 WIND_DIR: 054
SWELL_DIR: NE SWELL_HT: 3.0M SWELL_PER: 5
CLOUDS: 30% BARO: 1009 TREND: -1 SEA_TEMP: 34.0C
COMMENT: Bright & sunny. Fast sailing continues!
DMG : An excellent 154 n.ml.!! Honolulu: 1024 n.ml.

Friday 29th June 2012

A day full of incident....

As half-expected, another big rainsquall - just before dawn... AIS showed a fishing vessel, 'Ningtai I' passing astern - no problem.... but soon after, I saw another ship on AIS - clearly heading our way and expected to pass very close - well within one mile - that's a collision course in my book! Eventually, its name came up on the screen - 'Cap Pasado' - and the watchkeeper finally responded to my VHF calls. "I'm keeeping an eye on you and will turn to starboard," he said.... (meaning he'll pass ahead of us, way too close...!) I asked him please to pass astern of me, as a sailing vessel under sail.... He agreed to turn to port.... situation resolved... It was a big cargo vessel, headed to Auckland, N.Z., and came close enough to see clearly in the grey light of a stormy dawn, with the long sausage of the grey, rolling ITCZ rainclouds just ahead of us.

We were making good speed but being tossed about in the rough seas and about to be engulfed by a rainstorm . Passing through the main ITCZ axis, we somehow managed to avoid a lot of the rain falling fom the towering clouds but the winds were strong... and once through, the heavy grey rainclouds continued over the day and into tonight - we're still being tossed around by the close, steep 3-4m seas ,while keeping up a good speed in ENE 20 kt winds, despite being well reefed down. In fact, there was a pleasant lull after passing through the main line of grey clouds and I shook out the 2nd reef - but I soon regretted that and had to tie it in again - we were well heeled over!

Looking at the satellite picture I downloaded early in the day, it seems we were lucky in passing through a less active part of the ITCZ - no black clouds, no lightning...and not so much heavy rain either! But it's certainly been rough saiing all day long.....

So now, we're finally headed directly for Hawaii in good ENE winds - we should be in Honolulu in just over a week's time.

DMG today: 128 n.ml. Honolulu: 1178 n.ml.

Thursday 28th June 2012

Strong Equatorial Current flow varied between E and SE up to midday when it turned to ENE.

Lovely sunny sailing conditions this morning - 90% cloud but it was broken and light.. Making over 7knots SOG. From satpics, axis of TCZ has moved slightly to 7-8N - so 1-2 days away, but we're clearly into the cloud around it and have been since yesterday. Hopefully, we'll miss the really strong convection the ITCZ is noted for... fingers crossed... by Saturday, we'll know for sure!

Munching one of the last Gala apples from Tasmania as I downloaded weatherfaxes, satpics and emails just before midday ... Have been busy trying to organize things while in Hawaii - Kirk, VE0KRP, on 'Silk Purse', already in Ala Wai Boat Hbr, has been very helpful - Hawaii Y.C. have agreed to let me stay wih them for the few days I'm on Oahu, despite a major Fishing Tournament taking place and filling berths.

Still good sunshine - no squalls in sight so far...

Around sunset, small group of dolphins came and played around 'Nereida" and earlier, along with dolphins, there were lots of birds - clearly a shoal of fish nearby!

We'd just changed course to 320T to head directly for Hawaii - prompted partly by arriving at 5N and partly by seeing clump of convection dead ahead when I downloaded satpics showing position of clouds in ITCZ - would be nice to avoid strong stuff if possible! Spent a time poling out the genoa, being on a very broad reach. By nightfall, speed was still down around 5kt or less, not helped by wind down to 13 kt and ENE-flowing Equatorial current - would have shaken out 2nd reef if it weren't for mass of grey cloud ahead and darkness coming on ... Decided 5 kt was fine and 6 kt could wait for tomorrow!

On seeing later satpic, it was clear that my plan to avoid convection by heading on 320 T wasn't going to work (it would have kept us in convection for twice as long!) - so changed to 'Plan B' - head due N again - so as to get through the ITCZ's clouds and nasty weather as soon as possible - there was also possibly a thinning of the cloud to the N. Had to take genoa off the pole and back over to port - but left the pole out, it being night-time...

Just before midnight, the wind increased & we heeled over ... went on deck ... raincloud .... surprise, surprise...!! De-powered the mains'l and thought about reducing the stays'l ... but the squall was a small one and passed quickly ....so all was well. ... I sheeted in the mains'l again so we picked up speed. I imagine there'll be a few more of those over tonight and tomorrow...

DMG: 162 n.ml. .. wow! Honlulu: 1296 n.ml.

Wednesday 27th June 2012

Good sailing overnight at over 6 knots consistently, with mainly clear skies until before dawn, when the entire sky became overcast and it became grey & rainy. No sooner had I finished a regular 9am radio 'sched' with 'Charisma' and got up on deck than I saw the wind increasing & tied in 2nd reef just before it got over 20knots, with some rain ... The ESE 20 kt wind continued on over the morning, finally reducing to 16kt mid-afternoon by which time the 90% cloudcover was light and broken. The wind has stayed ESE so we're still able to keep, or slightly improve on, our Easting.

We're definitely into the ITCZ now - satpics showed me that we were no longer headed into a nice gap - but straight into a big clump of cloud! I'm hoping for no big squalls in it. We'll take 2-3 days to get through this cloudy area, unless it decides to dissipate or move away.

Thre's an E-flowing Equatorial current now - quite strong, so helping us to stay East.

Hopefully, you'll see here the photo a friend in Tasmania sent me when I commented on the dawn sky and two possible planets in the E. John, VK7ZZ, happened to take this shot from his back door, overlooking the Derwent River, just S of Hobart, a few days before my comment - hence the waning crescent moon is also in the picture, whereas it was newly-appearing in the W at sunset the night before I saw the two planets at dawn -they're Venus and Jupiter, I'm told, Venus being the lower of the two and Aldebaran (in Taurus) is also in the shot, to the right.

Relaxed on deck having my food under moonlight - half-moon struggling through a light, broken cloud-layer - very pleasant , refreshing evening making good speed north in ESE wind...

DMG : 146 n.ml. Honolulu 1407 n.ml.

Tuesday 26th June 2012 (and Monday 25th)

A lovely day's sail today, crossing the Equator just after 1pm in good sunshine at well over 6 knots.... later I saw SOG of 7.1kt! Perfect timing for an enjoyable party! (I gave Poseidon first tipple, in gratitude for safe passages, of course.) There were even lots of flying fish taking off across the waves soon after and a booby circled around curiously.

I was having my lunch of tuna & sweetcorn with mayonnaise, so accompanied it with a cold Hinano beer from Tahiti, followed later by 'kir' made from some Cassis from Tasmania (thanks, Sithu & Deb!) added to white wine from New Zealand (actually obtained in Tasmania - a gift from RTCC after my talk in Hobart!), together with some biscuits from South Africa (found some, Eileen!) and finally a touch of Argentinian whisky from Ushuaia..... a round-up of my Southern Ocean travels over the past months passing the Five Gt Capes! All set to music (with some dancing...) from the Gypsy Kings, Ian and Sylvia, Habib Koite (African), Pink Martini and many others ... with an energetic rendering of 'Bamboleo, Bambolea...' as we crossed over the line ... ( A movement from B's Choral symphony also turned up - seemed rather appropriate... very triumphant sounding... my Ipod has a complete mix of music!!)

Yesterday saw the same lovely sailing weather - what we all dream of when we don't have it! Good wind, good speed under almost full canvas in bright sunshine with some swell but not too much.

I'd had a bit of unwanted excitement just before midnight, after a couple of squally showers earlier. With a raincloud producing wind rising rapidly to over 25 knots, fortunately with already-reduced genoa for overnight, I went to tie in reef 2 - but the (leech) end of the line got tangled and knotted itself at the far (aft) end of the boom, by the sheave. It felt far too precarious reaching out to the end in an attempt to deal with it in the darkness.. so I ended up tying the bight down to a cockpit winch which seemed to work fine, holding the slab of sail down temporarily... (The luff was already tied down separately) By morning, I found it had disentangled itself - great!

8pm tonight, I had to turn on the radar after I'd gone up to adjust sail trim and found a bright light on the horizon off to port - a small ship of some kind... showing one white light and a starboard light... so seemingly motoring across our path ahead... which way & how fast? Not on the AIS screen, so no info there... To find out more, I 'tracked' its signal on the radar screen - then the MARPA function gave me what I wanted - it was headed East at around 20 kt - so not a problem, with its closest approach of 4.3 mls happening just then ... always a relief not to have to worry about a ship getting too close!

On Monday, wind was E, backing to ENE - NE overnight with the rainclouds around,but this morning it veered to E-ESE. It's been fairly consistently around 12-14kt, overnight rainsqualls apart, and we've continued to make some more Easting, preparing for the NE Trades beyond the ITCZ coming up soon (4-8N). Plan is to head N from tomorrow, unless the ITCZ dictates otherwise... I'm still regularly downloading satpics via Honolulu to check on where the convection is!

DMG on Monday: 141 n.ml. and on Tuesday: 132 n.ml. with Honolulu 1505 n.ml. away at that time

Saturday 23rd June

Another motor-sailing day in 2 knots of NE wind, hot, bright sunshine and calm sea - which became glassy again this afternoon with a long, slow ENE swell... Sea temperature reached 36.9C at 2pm - body temperature is 37C!!

Gribs are indicating the wind will be mainly from the East & slowly increasing tomorrow onward, as we get closer to and cross over the Equator - will be nice to be sailing again, without the noise of the motor running.

Threw papaya skin overboard after breakfast this morning - and frigate bird appeared from nowhere! Long tail and beak and distinctive outline as it hung overhead later.

Found some more laundry to do which I'd overlooked - all dry by tonight!

Keeping an eye on big clump of cloud forming on ITCZ ahead - would rather avoid nasty squalls/downpours if possible! Those satellite pictures are so useful...

DMG 105 n.ml ; Honolulu: 1809 n.ml. away..... at 2pm

Just checked our fuel level and usage over the last 24hr to 11.45pm - roughly 35 litres, 10l less than yesterday - had reduced revs to 1200rpm last night .. approx1.5l/hr

Sunday 24th June ... and into Monday morning...

Had problem with sending report to website - but I've now heard all is OK there, so posting two days in one report now.

Just before first light, well before dawn, two bright stars are in the E, forming a line with the Pleiades above them - one is probably Venus and I wonder what the other is - another planet? Not Mercury, since that only appears low down within about half-an-hour of sunrise (or sunset), not well before.

Wind had veered to E from from y'day's ENE and slightly up, at 8kt - so with apparent wind not so dead ahead, I was able to unfurl a lot of genoa to good effect - our speed motor-sailing (at minimal revs: 1000rpm) went up nicely. When I tried cutting the engine for a bit, speed dropped dramatically to well under 3 kt, rather than over 5 kt- just needed that touch more apparent wind that motoring gives!

Morning saw lots of cloud around - but no dark grey rainclouds or squalls - and the cloud gradually dissipated over the day ... as the wind continued to veer very slowly and increase - until finally, by midday, we were able to kill the motor & sail well in 10kt of ESE wind - at last!! :-)) .... peace and quiet, in bright sunshine and just a small E swell... lovely!

One problem I came across was that the first reef line was badly chafed (almost cut in half) where it exited the boom from under a sheave at the gooseneck to be tied onto a shackle at the luff reef cringle... The reefed sail has clearly been holding the line forward from the sheave so it had been touching a sharp edge in the gooseneck boom end which, to my mind, should be far more smooth/rounded than it is... It's a single-line reefing line, unlike reefs 2&3. I must cut the line at that point & re-attach it - but still have the problem of what to do to avoid the chafe recurring...

As well as the usual daily contact with the Pacific Seafarers' Net, I've been chatting daily to the crew of 'Charisma' whom I met while in Papeete - they left some hours after me last Sunday and are headed to Seattle via Hawaii. 4 on board are skippper Chris, wife Alexis, 9-yr-old son Seth and Chris' brother, but they're two days behind me now, so it's possible we shan't meet up in Honolulu. They've been slower due to a gearbox problem meaning they've not wanted to use the motor much. (Just heard they've caught a mahi-mahi - tasty meals for today... BBQ tonight!!)

Downloading satellite cloud photos as I write this - showing small areea of cloud ahead, just S of Equator, and showing where the ITCZ convection is - not looking too bad just now, but we'll take another 3days or so to reach it - get to Equator maybe late Tuesday afternoon and then 2 more days to reach 4N & the ITCZ (Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone - where winds converge and direction of winds changes from SE Trades to NE Trades) - often full of nasty, big, squall clouds with strong sudden wind & windshifts & heavy rain - so we'll be lucky if we have an easy passage through the region where it lies! (I still remember sailing S from the Canaries through the ITCZ in the Atlantic ... Had heavy rain & saw lightning bolts dropping into the sea not far from the boat - nasty! I don't expect that here since ITCZ is not too strong to the N of us at present)

Finally cooked ratatouille - before fresh aubergine etc go off in the heat. Added potato and had an enjoyable evening meal with plenty left for Monday's meal.

Have been in contact with Simrad UK by email about AIS display switching off with overheating....... Tip I got from Tim (who kindly responded to work emails over the weekend!) was to reduce screen illumination (backlighting heats screen a lot, even under normal room temps, and ambient temp now is ~32C in the cabin) - that seems to be working fine, at 40%, and I can still read it OK.

DMG Sat: 105 n.ml.; Sun: 120 n.ml. Distance to Honolulu on Sunday at 2pm: 1717 n.ml.

Friday 22nd June

Another hot, relaxing day of gentle motor-sailing - in wind mainly 2-4 knots from all around the compass! One tiny bird spotted (storm petrel size and behaviour) but no other life seen.

I enjoyed sitting on the sugar scoop (stern) steps dangling my feet in the water for a bit - delicious!!

Papaya with breakfast and one of the few remaining Tasmanian 'Gala' apples this evening

More weatherfax and satellite pics downloading over the day - have been keeping my eye on a clump of convection not too far ahead - pleased to see it dissipating as we draw closer... Shan't be able to avoid passing through the ITCZ at 5N, with its often-nasty squalls, but, hopefully, it's not too wide so we should get through within a fairly short time.

By sunset, the sea was glassy smooth, except for small ripples on a long swell from the E.... so the few clouds were reflected in the surface with dramatic effect as the sun went down and they turned pinky/grey... contrasting with the indigo sea and silvery crescent moon.

DMG 122 n.ml ; Honolulu: 1889 n.ml. away

Alarm just went off to remind me to check our fuel level and usage over the last 24hr - roughly 45 litres, same as yesterday (It's nice having a sight-glass for a direct, accurate reading, swell apart!).... So plenty for a few more days yet... Just as well, with grib weather files and weatherfaxes showing little wind expected until getting nearer the Equator when it might reach 10-12 kt, increasing to NE 16kt as we head further N and reach the NE Trades beyond the ITCZ and on to Hawaii.

Question in an email today: "Aren't you headed a bit too far East for Honolulu?!"

Answer: "" NO - expecting quite strong NE winds , near to and Nth of Equator - so need correct positioning so as not to be headed by the apparent wind (which is always further forward than actual wind)....otherwise, we won't make Honolulu!

Wednesday 20th June 2012

We kept sailing quite well over the day, although overnight I'd had to use the motor for a time in light ENE winds to keep us heading NE rather than NW... We can't afford to lose any Easting just yet - in fact, I'd like more. With the ENE-E wind, I had to accept heading N at times, but we mainly managed to keep sailing NNE at ~ 5kt, albeit in slowly lessening wind. From E 10-12 kt at midday, it went down to N-NNE 4-5 kt near midnight .... definitely time for the 'iron sail', so we're now motoring again - a luxury I shan't be able to use in the calms when I head S later this year, when it'll be 'sail only' allowed!

We managed to avoid any strong convection. As sunset drew close, there was a dramatic band of rainclouds in the W, very close by, which we managed, despite being very close-hauled, to steer clear of - just! With the sun dropping behind the towering cumulus, it made for some great photos, especially with a slim, crescent new moon just visible for a very short time above a cloud top. If I can, I'll get a photo or two posted here - but that might be impossible just now - last time I tried my Iridium data connection, I couldn't get it working and I need it for the bigger files involved.

Saw several birds - a solitary Frigate bird, several boobies near sunset and a small land bird - on migration, I wondered? - seems an odd time of year for that, so maybe just a young one that had got lost? The atoll of Karoraina was 175ml away to the W, the Marquesas are just over 400 mls away to the ENE and the nearest Tuamotus just over 200 ml away to the SSE - so plenty of possibilities for land birds losing their way!

I enjoyed my cold leek and potato/Vichyssoise soup & had some Kudu biltong (dried S.African antelope meat - very tender and tasty!) with the soup later in the evening.

I had several contacts on the radio over the day. In the morning, I made contact with Tony's Net, on 14315kHz at around 2120GMT (11.20am here!), and during & after the Pacific Seafarers Net, on 14300 kHz at 0330-0415GMT, I had enjoyable chats with several people. I hadn't realized that 'Charisma' with four people on board, were also on their way to Hawaii - met Chris in Taina last week.

Thursday 21st June

Seas have slowly calmed down as the wind has died away.... Makes for a much easier life on board without the perpetual lurching in big seas, heeled over! It's calm enough that I decided to do a small wash of clothing - easily dried in cockpit in no time!

Found a goodsized flying fish on deck this morning -so they are around ... just not seeing the numbers in flight from predators that I'm used to seeing... Also spotted a shackle pin - fortnately not critical - came from shackle holding end of staysail pole in place on deck, so quickly and easily put back in place.

The downside of running the motor is the constant noise and heat generated, but there are definite bonuses - lots of power to run fans, for instance! I've one above my bunk and one at the chart table, partly directed on to the AIS to keep it a bit cooler - seems to be working in that it hasn't gone down since yesterday evening. I also don't have to keep my eye constantly on the computer power level nor on the battery-bank voltage reading, to make sure they're powered up OK.

Ofen, I've sat up in the shade in the cockpit, enjoying the fresh air - especially overnight... the stars are amazingly bright and I suddenly realized I could see the Great Bear well above the northern horizon (but not the N. Star!) and, turning my head just slightly, the Southern Cross, high up.

Honolulu weatherfaxes are showing fairly clear skies ahead for now.... no nasty convection or squalls to worry about...

DMG Wed: 104 n.ml ; Thurs: 97 n.ml.
Honolulu: 1982 n.ml. away at 2pm LT Thursday/0000GMT Friday.

Sunday 17th June 2012

Set sail this morning towards Hawaii from Taina marina after a windless motor along the well-marked channel inside the reef, around to Rade de Papeete and the Passe de Papeete - the reef entrance leading N..... Once well away from the wind-shadow of Papeete's volcanic heights, the wind kicked in and I was able to cut the motor - and soon had to reef down. The wind got up very strongly and quite suddenly, although it died down a bit later to a steady 18knots. There's quite a swell, not far apart, so we're being tossed around quite a lot - especially being on a beam reach.

It's very warm, especially below decks... around 35C (the AIS screen kept going blank, and having to be switched on again, it got so very hot...but it seems fine now the night air has cooled down a bit). It's refreshing to get up on deck into the cool night air. 4 hrs out, I kept to leeward of the 5-mile wide atoll of Titiaroa - I thought it would be deserted, since there's no boat passage through the reef shown on the chart, but it had lots of greenery and clearly people are living there. Later, at 0320Z, I checked in with the Pacific SeaFarers Net on 14300 kHz and will do so daily.... It was good to make contact with familiar voices!

I've lost all emails (in and out!) from Hobart to Tahiti (from 1st May until 14th June) - including some replies that were 'posted' but never got sent..... frustrating when a laptop suddenly goes down..... It was the laptop I'd been using since the screen on my other one cracked just as I was about to leave Tasmania. Edouard, on the dock at Taina, tried to rescuscitate the dead computer without any luck but reckoned he could help me by removing the hard drive , putting it into a case and then I could use it just like an external hard drive so I could use its data etc... but somehow, when copying and pasting my emails from 'old' to 'new' laptop's Airmail system, the emails I particularly wanted went missing....

So if you're one of the people whose email reply is lost - you now know why - please re-send your last email so I can respond to it!

It's a good thing I've a remote screen at the chart table, so I can use the damaged laptop on board for emailing via the SSB, otherwise I'd be stymied.

After complications arose, the new autopilot system was finally finished by Patrick on Friday - the day I did the long tour around to Clear Out ...... Immigration at Faaa airport, 'le Truc' into town to the Port Authority office for their clearance paper and then the long, hot, dusty walk around to the Industrial Zone at the far end of the Harbour to find the 'Douane' offices - so they could add their stamp to my Clearance Certificate... the same very good-humoured French official I saw when Clearing In there dealt with me again, despite it being his lunch-time...

Last time I was lucky in getting a lift part of the way back - so I tried hitching a lift this time also - no luck for ages, but finally one very kind woman stopped - and took me all the way to Taina - brilliant! She also insisted on giving me a bag of ripe papaya - lovely!

Patrick had kindly taken me on to the airport for Immigration paperwork after taking me to the nearby Total station to pick up my filled propane tank - I'd wheeled it there from the marina in a Carrefour 'cart' early on Wednesday in the hope it might be filled, but was rather dubious as to my chances.... More good news - 11kg of propane - that will last me a long time!! I'd been unable to find any of the blue 'Camping Gaz' butane bottles for sale that I'd hoped to get while in Tahiti - so this was excellent compensation.

Wednesday also found me in the Carrefour supermarket stocking up on UHT milk - virtually unobtainable in the USA or Canada - and pate and vegetables - thanks to a lift from another cruiser with a hire car for the day. Unexpectedly, I met Anne of 'Uhambo' there - and later husband Alain was at the marina to greet me - they became good friends and helped me a lot when we were together in Ushuaia last year after my knockdown.

Using two large buckets on deck, and the plentiful supply of fresh water on the dock, I've managed to wash lots of lines, some laundry and all my salty foul-weather gear, in between servicing several winches over the last few days. It's been sunny and hot & I had to rig up shading while I worked on the winches.

When I went to pay my marina bill on Friday, Phillippe, the manager and my neighbour on the dock, reminded me I was expected at their barbecue Saturday evening - as it turned out, I had plenty of stowing and clearing up to do before leaving, so I was able to enjoy their hospitality last night with several others - a pleasant end to my stay at Taina.... It's been good to be able to practise my French again!

Sunday 10th June (Tahiti time!)

My present berth is in a lovely spot - looking out over breaking surf beyond the anchorage inside the reef, towards Moorea and its dramatic outline, behind which the sun sets every day. The concrete dock beside me has its own bit of coral growing - a mini-reef, with lots of different, brightly-coloured fish all around!

Wasn't feeling too good last night and this morning - decided it was a touch of sunstroke from having been on deck solidly all day Saturday - a productive, long session, with lots of lines having been thoroughly rinsed of salt, whole boat rinsed off and tidied on deck & damaged mainsail traveller line and staysail car lines replaced (there's a good shop in the marina for buying new line, fortunately, and owner Michelle is an expert at splicing).

Topping lift was found to be badly damaged - so that was replaced today, with help from neighbour Phillippe after I found I couldn't pull the new line through the mast-top sheave using the mousing line I'd attached. He kindly offered to go up to help the line through the sheave... so the new topping lift is now in place. He also had a look for me to see why the genoa halyard was so badly chafed where it exited the mast-top through its sheave .... On Friday, I'd lowered the genoa and, with Patrick's help, folded it ready for Laurent to pick up later to take for repair - that's when I'd noticed the badly damaged halyard. Fortunately, it's long enough for me simply to cut off the damaged length & not to need to replace it. But the sheave needs to be replaced at the first opportunity - it's worn badly and is very loose, hence the chafe problem.

Friday morning, Patrick came and spent some time with me, firstly dealing with the genset - as I'd suspected, the impellor had gone and the reason I'd had trouble removing the seawater pump (to get at the impellor more easily!) was that a metal plate was corroded in place, needing some 'persuasion' to move. So a new impellor is now in place and the genset is running fine after he'd removed & replaced the old grease from the actuator spindle at my request - it had been sticking and causing a problem. I showed him the hydraulic fluid I needed for the autopilot motors coming in - a couple of phone calls later, he'd located someone who could supply it - excellent news!

He told me he'd spent fifteen years in a sailmaker's loft - which came in useful when I showed him a mainsail car which had come adrift with its tape having come unstitched - he spent a time part way up the mast, sewing it back on & then I spotted that one of the tapes holding the head board to its car was looking badly worn, so he replaced that tape also... a good job done!

A priority job I got to on Friday was to remove the bolt on the Hydrovane ratio knob, which had been coming loose, and put plenty of Loctite on its threads before replacing it. I noticed I'd lost one of the locking pins from the end of its 'safety' string - nuisance!

After walking around to the nearby 'Carrefour' supermarket (busy!) for softener for the lines I'd rinsed off, I've now nearly finished with them, along with some handwashing .... the marina machines take 8 x 100fr pieces per wash... that's a lot of coins!!!

Tonight I had a surprise visit from a group of surfers here on holiday from Sydney (Southside Malibu Club, Cronulla) who I'd met up with here in the marina restaurant/bar two nights ago - they're being well looked after by their local host and clearly enjoying the surfing here. They seemed to enjoy looking over 'Nereida' and had plenty of questions about her (only one was into sailing - originally from Hobart!).

In order to 'post' this, I might have to walk over to the 'Pink Coconut', hoping they're still open so I can make use of their wi-fi Internet access, if I find I can't connect by SSB radio - often difficult in the marina environment. Tomorrow, we'll see how well (and how quickly) the autopilot issue will be dealt with - hopefully, the parts are here, ready for collection.

Tuesday 5th June 2012 (GMT)

At 10am, I wrote: "ETA Papeete tomorrow is receding fast ... best course we can make in present ESE wind of 14 kt is 035T at 4.5 kt - but need 055T to lay entrance through reef near to Taina marina... Should have kept heading East for another day, yesterday... Grrr!!!"
By midday, wind was SE but had dropped to just 6-7 knots, so motorsailed for couple of hours, then sailed gently in SSE, but although course was good, speed was too slow ...only 4 kt at best...
By 9pm, we had about 90M to go to Papeete. However the wind had slowly backed to almost E and increased to 11-12 kt, so we were being forced to head N of Moorea on NE course. and unlikely to make Papeete by the following evening.

Looking at the weather info I had, the next day was forecast to have light winds, followed by stronger SE Trades the day after, so I felt that that my only chance to make Papeete was by motor-sailing there in the light winds, before the stronger SE winds set in. But without a working autopilot, I'd have to sit at the wheel all day solidly.... I decided to get a good 6 hours' sleep so that I could be awake well before we bumped into the small island of Maiao, 45-50M away to the NNE. So long as I could make Taapuna Pass through the reef by sunset, I could always then anchor overnight inside the reef and wait for daylight to get to the marina but I knew from past experience that I needed to be alert when at the wheel for such a long time - it was all too easy to lose concentration....

Wednesday 6th June (GMT)

In fact, the wind sent us NNE --- so it was a good thing I had several alarms set - we were 10 miles SSW of that little island when we started motor-sailing at 1500Z, well before dawn, ....managed a nice sail for about one hour when wind went NW! There was an interesting long N-S line of raincloud across our path - I wondered if it showed a trough we were in... the reason for the mix of winds, perhaps? Luckily the wind WAS very light, but it was coming from all over, NE and E included.

Unfortunately, there was no way I could take time out to try to see the transit of Venus across the sun's face ... and Venus Point here in Tahiti was named after Capt. Cook's expedition's reason for being here then - for a similar transit of Venus!!

We passed Moorea, getting a good view of its SW and SE coasts and its dramatic mountain peaks, topped with thick raincloud. I managed to keep out of the sun to an extent - didn't want to end up burnt to a frazzle! We just made Passe de Taapuna soon after sunset, having had 3-4 knot wind since early morning .... dropped the mains'l beforehand. Found us surrounded by LOTS of surfers, longboarders, scullers, big canoes with outriggers full of teams of energetically-paddling guys (and gals) - clearly practising for racing soon ('quatorze juillet' coming up soon!) Made my way cautiously down the channel towards Taina Marina and its anchorage inside the reef, as dusk fell.

I was called from the marina dockside by manager Phillippe who'd been given the 'heads up' that I was arriving and planning to tie up to the fuel dock overnight (not a good option, as it turned out!) - he directed me around to an empty berth for the night ... very kind of him. After tying up, I had a relaxing time, chatting to nearby boaters who treated me to a celebratory drink and pizza (!)

Small group of boobies, or so they looked to me, flew around boat this morning. One flew close yesterday around dusk - light too poor to be sure what it was, but looked similar. Dark brown with black markings on top, pale grey underbody,darker/black tips to wings. Two had a paler head than the rest. Later saw some with distinctive blue bill and white body....Blue-footed boobies?? Also saw the solitary bird again - definitely different - grey all over, but darker above.)

Thursday 7th June (GMT)/ Wednesday 6th June (Tahiti time)

Tidied and met Patrick, Fischer-Panda agent, who's taking me in tomorrow to airport for Immigration paperwork and coming the following day to deal with genset. Also had visit from Laurent - good friend of absent friend Mike, who gave me all forms to fill in prior to seeing officials - useful (he's a ship agent so into all that)

This evening walked to nearby Carrefours to get simcard for phone and visit ATM for cash - Polynesian francs still - notes looking big and colourful like old French franc notes used to be!!

Slowly sorting out boat - lots to do! Glad to have wind blowing and fans inside boat to cool me down!

Thursday 7th June (Tahiti time)

Up by 7am - checked far end of dock to see if boat there had sailed off around dawn ... gone..... so I moved around to new alongside berth, opposite fuel dock.

8am, joined Patrick in his van for trip to airport, finally found Immigration, then walked over to the bus-stop to catch 'Le Truc' into town... found Port authority in spanking new, very 'swish' terminal building and then long, hot walk around into Industrial Zone to find Customs ... so all initial paperwork has now been done, including paper for duty-free diesel on leaving - important, in view of exorbitant prices here!

On looking in Industrial Zone for correct hydraulic fluid for new motors expected soon, discovered none available at Raymarine agent's shop - nor expected within one month at specialist hydraulic workshop nearby.... Might be able to use something similar... still working on that - Patrick thought he might have some...

Seems the replacement motors and ram have got as far as Auckland, N.Z., today.

Satellite photos have just been added to the previous log report (2nd June)- go and have a look!

Sunday 3rd June 2012 (NZT) A pleasant day but very slow much of the time.....

"Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow" - that's been 'Nereida" overnight and today! I kept having to get into the cockpit to 'tweak' Fred to keep us on course as the wind continually shifted around.. It's still important to keep heading E until I get closer to Tahiti, when the SE Trades are expected to kick in finally but then they could well prevent us from getting any further E ...

By midday, the SW wind was back down to ~7knots from the 10kt of earlier & it was more fickle, so speed was often down to 4 kt, rather than the consistent 5.7kt we had been making for quite a time in the morning.

There has been a slow but erratic backing of the wind over the day. We're under full canvas and I'm constantly trimming the sails to try to get every last bit of speed possible - but overnight we dropped to 2-3 kt ... grr!!

But all in all, a very relaxing day, albeit under constant overcast - not much seen of the sun and later the full moon tried to shine through the cloud cover giving an eerie half-light effect in the dark of night!

Monday 4th June (NZT)

I went up on deck just after sunrise to turn on the engine to charge the batteries (a regular event) - we were making the same 2.5 kt in 5-6 kt of wind as during most of the night - but the wind had backed into the S.... good news....

Suddenly, just before 7am, with grey clouds around, the wind increased from 6 to 15kt - and we were speeding along at 6-7 kt.... well overpowered! Fred couldn't cope until I finally tied in the first reef to reduce sail - we still had full genoa and stays'l. We settled down at a steady 6 kt and I saw the pressure had jumped from 1011 to 1013. Shortly afterwards, the wind had backed to just E of S and the sky was clearing, the dark grey clouds had gone - we were heading away from what is referred to as the SPCZ (so-called "S.Pacific convergence zone") and making for where the SE Trades were expected to re-establish soon. Talking to David on Tony's Net at 9am, he confirmed my thoughts - I was clear to make directly for Papeete, Tahiti, .... no need any longer to keep heading due E.... We could finally 'head for the Barn' at last!! YIPPEE!!

Since then, I've been constantly tweaking Fred so we don't wander too much off course - the wind is still shifty, although backing very slowly E. Broken, light-grey clouds are back again ... having not seen any squalls yesterday, I'm expecting to get one or two before landfall - hopefully, nothing too dramatic! The air is warm and humid and the sea is deep blue (and lifeless...). I feel I'm into summer weather at last.... shorts and bare legs....no fleeces now!

ETA Tahiti, at Taina Marina, near Papeete, is sometime during daylight hours on Wednesday 6th June GMT (Tuesday 5th June Tahiti time!! - I'll finally have to adjust my dates and time!)

DMG(all dates are GMT): Sat 2nd June - 121 n.ml. Sun 3rd June - 100 n.ml. (broad reaching in 8-10 kt of W-SW wind) Mon 4th June - 104 n.ml. (speed well down overnight!)

Distance to Tahiti: 243 n.ml (at 0100 GMT) and to Hawaii: 2360 n.ml. (3 week passage)

My track is being continually updated (courtesy Exact Earth in Cambridge, Ontario) via low-orbit satellites receiving my AIS signal. Go to:

http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/

Dave and Patricia on 'Chameleon kept a close eye on the Low that got in my path to Tahiti, causing me a major problem getting there, and sent several photos of it, showing how nasty it was - and why they worried I might get too close to its centre!

----- Original Message -----
Subject: Jeanne's low
Date: 31 May 2012

This is the Satellite picture of the low which we have dubbed Jeanne's low.

(The picture shown in log report for Day 28 from Hobart (29th May) shows Low when 'Nereida' was at 21 23 s and 168 37W on 27May at 0513UTC.... 'Nereida' was right on the edge.)

The picture of the 28May is when it dropped below her but the sat pass shows it in all its spendour. We did not get such a good picture when she was skirting around the edge of it but I have given one (which) has her position marked.

David sweated this one as it was a nasty low and he did not want Jeanne to experience it in all its glory. She was very lucky to keep the boat going well and really dodged a bullet. Amazing really given the autopilot problems she had/has.

Patricia and David
sv Chameleon

----- End of Original Message -----

Saturday 2nd June 2012

Well the N edge of the that Low gave wind to help us get East as it headed SE slowly, but the Fronts and troughs from another Low following caused a lot of rain and squalls all day long yesterday and on into the night.
.
I spent a lot of today catching up on sleep - just over three hrs last night due to a fear of being driven N in the dark onto unlit Mauke in the S. Cooks group, part of French Polynesia. I'd got up around midnight to check on our progress, knowing we were passing through the group of islands, although they were well off, the closest, Mauke, being over 20 ml off our path. I heard a change in the wind, which was rising in a rainsquall, and when I looked at the chart-plotter screen, to my horror, I saw that we'd changed course and were heading NNE at 6.5 kt - directly towards Mauke. 3 hours like that, and we'd be on it.... We'd headed up in a squall, our windsteering being overpowered by the sudden change in wind strength and direction. I hurriedly donned my foulies and headlamp - it was pitch dark out there...

Heaving to overnight, as I'd done before, wasn't an option, since I couldn't be sure we wouldn't drift into danger... I needed to gybe - but had both headsails out as well as the double-reefed main .... I furled in the genoa.... got the stays'l sheets organized, centred the main, ....all in a torrential downpour! Tried to steer off the wind - very difficult... the boat seemed to want to head up all the time.... Couldn't see the instruments clearly to show me the wind direction or our actual course, only the compass, lit by my headlamp. I needed to sheet out the main on the other tack but if I left the wheel, it turned rapidly to head us up again.. it needed tying in place... but that wouldn't work either - I had to keep turning the wheel to counter the boat's turning either way... In the back of my mind was the thought that if we gybed, maybe we'd start heading to another island I'd seen to the S ... a fair distance, but ...

Suddenly, it occurred to me that I could use the engine! Switch it on and I could steer us safely eastward... just for long enough (maybe 3-4 hrs, I calculated) to get us clear of the problem and then I could sort out the sails, probably in less wind by then, and get us sailing again... I really missed having an autopilot to turn to, to hold us on a fixed course and release me from the wheel while I saw to the sails.

So I sat at the wheel steering VERY actively for well over 3 hrs in continual torrential rain, trying to keep us headed E, rather than N where Mauke lay - a fair distance away, but it felt far too close! Kept coming to with a jerk, finding my eyelids had closed - I was very tired but just had to keep going...!! When the wind eased and settled in direction, the squalls having finished, I realized that Fred was happily in control again if I held the wheel still at a certain point - so we were finally able to get back safely onto windsteering headed E once I'd sheeted out the main and trimmed the stays'l. I was soaked through - it's a good thing the air is not too cold hereabouts .... but I still felt chilled and was pleased to put on a fleece again, once I'd dried off, and my warm bunk was sheer bliss...

Wind this morning was fleetingly from WSW - thinking it was staying there (as forecast), I changed over the pole - but it immediately veered back into WNW... and stayed there, dying slowly, all day long. Only around sunset did it back to W and by late evening, to WSW. I left the genoa pole where it was and sheeted the stays'l on its pole to port - got interesting trying to do that without an uphaul... but I managed it finally, after a fashion! (Wasn't for long, fortunately, but was an interestinhg experiment!)

Wednesday 30th May 2012 (NZT)

Lovely blue skies all day, with just a few small white clouds lined up in wind direction. Good wind - WSW veering slowly to WNW by evening - time to gybe - which meant changing over the genoa pole to port .... As expected, it kept twisting & jamming again, but took less time (but no less cursing!!) than yesterday to sort it out under a lovely starry sky with bright half-moon.

Red-tailed tropic bird came by early in the day- circled a few times, as though wanting to land, but then flew off. Found a good-sized flying fish in cockpit in the morning - almost big enough to fry in olive oil for a good lunch - but not quite. They're quite tasty, but with lots of bones, and have very large scales, making it easy to de-scale them.

Thursday 31st May (NZT)

Rainclouds and almost total light overcast, after a lovely sunrise followed by sunny skies for a while - enjoyed breakfast in the cockpit, with a fresh Australian grapefruit! Frequent showers, some heavy but mostly light... continual 'tweaking' of the sails and Fred as the wind varied, trying to keep on our preferred course of 080T. Tried motorsailing, when charging batteries in very light winds, to see if Hydrovane could cope - we were swinging about rather a lot, trying to keep course with great difficulty... but more-or-less OK. Then suddenly I realized wind had backed to WSW - glad I hadn't taken down pole yet, so genoa was poled to port and we headed almost DDW... at all of 1.8-2.1 kt in 4-6 kt of SW wind...

This is where I missed the autopilot - I could have turned on the motor to make reasonable speed, keeping on course without a problem... After several hours of drifting around in almost no wind, coming from all points of the compass, which had me really worried about the next few days to Tahiti (visions of having to sit at the wheel for long periods, steering in no wind, under motor), the wind suddenly began to fill in - from the NNW.... and quickly built... It was dark, with regular flashes of lightning from clouds astern (I hoped they would stay well away!) and it was raining quite hard.

I tied in the second reef and not long after the wind rose to 30+ knots. I got into my foulies & hurried on deck to furl in the genoa - we were heeling a lot.... decided to heave to and get some sleep - hopefully conditions would moderate in the meantime... So I furled in the genoa totally and heaved to under mains'l. We were 24 due N of Rarotonga which was far enough not to be a problem for the few hours we would be stopped - in fact, we drifted E at 1-2 knots precisely on our course - what luck!

Friday 1st June (NZT)

I really must change my date and time soon. Local date today is actually 31st May, having crossed the Date Line recently, with local time about to become GMT - 10hrs as we cross the longitude of 157d 30'W into a new time zone.

Solidly grey & rainy all day long .... but good N-WNW wind and so we've made good speed.. DMG to 1pm NZT, despite four hours or more hove to overnight, was 104 n.ml. Wed, it was 138 n.ml. and Thurs, 129 n.ml. Lots of tweaking of Fred and sailtrim in the often-varying winds.

Raymarine have been very helpful, as usual - two new replacement motors (hydraulic pumps) and a complete new ram unit (turning the rudder) are on their way to Papeete, to be fitted soon after I get there. So I'll be back to two, independent, working AP systems for my passages north to Hawaii and on to Canada/USA. The genset seawater pump shouldn't take long to finish changing with the help of the Fischer-Panda agent in Papeete, who can give the genset a 'health check' at the same time.. He is being organized for me by Laurent at Taina marina - we have a mutual good friend! Laurent has also kindly offered any other help I might need - which will be very useful. On the whiteboard above my chart table seat is a long list of big and small jobs to do when I get in... among them, servicing the winches - they've seen a lot of use since Cape Town earlier this year!

Tuesday 29th May 2012 (GMT)

Since getting underway again early yesterday morning, I've had two excellent days of sailing in mainly bright sunshine, slowly calming seas and mainly good wind. Just as well: "Keep your speed up!!" I kept hearing from Dave & Trish on 'Chameleon', worried that I'd be overtaken by light winds and, later, headwinds....

This morning, I was able to shake out two reefs and then pole out the genoa for downwind sailing in veering, lighter, SSW-WSW winds.

The Low that caused our problems has now moved SE, passing close by our hove-to position on Sunday (see photo in previous post). It has now produced these good SW winds which are helping us to head due East. Winds are forecast to veer W & then become NW-N later this week. Finally, when the usual SE Trades re-establish near Tahiti, I'll be able to turn N to make landfall - that's the plan, anyway!

It's been very pleasant .. I can move around the boat this evening wth little difficulty, although this morning, on a very rolly, lurching foredeck, I had a maor problem raising the genoa pole. All had gone well until then...furl in the stays'l, down with its pole,...stow it, attach lines to the genoa pole end, furl in the genoa ... then the problems started as I attempted to raise the pole....

Should gave been fairly simple, but the jaw kept jamming in the ring-holder on the mast track - it kept twisting slightly... I even, at one point, climbed the mast a short distance with hammer in hand, thinking to free the jaw by banging it - but to no avail.... I raised and lowered it several times (not as simple as it sounds, single-handed!), ...finally it stayed free as I raised the far end and the mast end slid down its track... It took well over two hours before I had the genoa nicely on its pole. goosewinged with the mains'l. But the end result was definitely worthwhile with a good speed reached, downwind, of 6-7+ knots in 18 knots of SSW wind.

By this evening, under a bright half-moon and myriads of stars, we were making just 5 knots in wind that had slowly eased to 12-14 kt - but later, the wind reached 18kt again - and we're now sailing at 6.5-7.5 kt.

DMG today: 136 n.ml.; yesterday, having been sailing only since 7.30am, we made 40n.ml. to 1pm - not bad, in fact!

Distance to Tahiti at 1am NZT tonight: 850 n.ml.