11/14/2007, 275 NM north of Kiwi Land
We've been on the water for 12 days and we still have at least 3 days to go! (The hole trip is normally a 7-9 day sail)
So far we've had 3 days of no wind, followed by a 4-day gale (involving a 300NM detour around the "Dangerous Quadrant"). Now we are into our third day of tacking into head winds and lumpy seas.
Autopilot packed it in last night trying to drive the boat straight into 28 knots of wind and 15' seas. We had to hand steered all night. Installed the old backup autopilot this morning and should be okay for a few days if the wind stays light.
Peter and I dying to get off this boat. It looks like a boom went off inside after 7 days of 15'+ seas.
Come on Mostly Harmless! You can get us there! Just 3 more days!
Interesting fact #1: A C&C 40 will do 8.25 knots of sustained boat speed powered only by a storm jib reaching across 38 knots of wind. Fun Fun.
Interesting fact #2: There are a dozen boats within 150 miles of us that left the same day from Tonga. There is a daily radio net run by a boat a few miles away. Every morning we call in to share our misery and weather frustrations with the rest of the pack around us.
Yes I'm bitter. I'll get better. Solution will be shower, shave, sleep and suds in order of opportunity.
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Comments [1]
11/11/2007, 450 NM from Whangarei
Like the title says, that nasty low that we were trying to avoid has passed by... unfortunately, it got pushed further north than predicted by a high east of NZ... and got pushed right into us... ended up sailing on the stormjib alone in winds up to 38 kts. made for a fairly rough night last night, but vessel and crew survived just fine.
Currently taking the left-over seas on the bow (1-2m chop on top of a 3-4m swell)... making typing somewhat difficult ;^)
Temperatures are getting slightly lower now; actually needed to sleep with a blanket on last night. :^/
Morgan & I have decided on our to do list when we get to port:
1) Shower 2) Find a pub that serves Guinness. Enjoy a couple of pints. 3) Steak and lobster dinner.
Really looking forward to all 3... =)
Hope all is well back home.
- Peter & Morgan
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11/08/2007, 600 NM from Whangarei
So, here we are, bobbing around in light and variable winds, and something that we saw in the most recent weather faxes and .grb files scared the poop out of us... a deep low is forecast to produce storm force winds 100NM off the coast of NZ right around the time we are predicted to be 100NM off the coast of NZ :^/
So, the SV Mostly Harmless has banged a hard right and is now traveling due west at around 26d 27' south to let the low (and it's 45 kt winds) pass in front of us...
That will add a day or two onto our passage and give us head winds for the last few hundred miles, but alas, this boat likes 15-20 kt headwinds waaaay more than it likes getting slapped on the beam with 5m seas and 45kt winds...
We are now predicting arrival in NZ around 16-17 Nov.
- Peter & Morgan.
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