Monday 4 May
As we draw to the end of our second day at sea, the weather continues to be magnificent. Seas are slight and the wind, although not strong, has been in the 10-20kt range. Overall it’s been a great start. The 3 day weather forecast suggests some strengthening in wind from the south, which is a great direction, given that we are heading NE
Graeme Duke starts his 120km fund raising walk today with initial pledges in excess of $1,500!! Check out his progress at walk4icare.wordpress.com Graeme will be updating the site as he goes along.
So far we have seen one ship, 2 whales and a few albatrosses. No fish yet.
We intend to pass to the north of Lord Howe Island, which is still about 220 miles away, or approx 36 hours sailing. We had the engine and generator on last night to charge the batteries (the autohelm,chart plotter and nav lights draw a lot of amps)and we were making very good time, but things have died away now and we are doing only about 2 knots. I think we’ll have the engine on soon at low revs, just to give us a few more knots.
Will and Kathy are on watch at the moment while Bob and Martin sleep. Bob did about 4 hours on watch last night and the rest of us had a wonderful rest. Dinner was a wonderful affair – Martin whipped up beef burgandy with potatoes and red cabbage, followed by pears and ice-cream. Veteran sailer Bob was breaking new onboard culinary ground – on most races he’s mostly survived on dried food and canned meals.
That’s about all to report at this time. The voyage is progressing as planned
Smooth sea , fair breeze and may it continue
Rob