I have to say that our weather router's (Bob McDavitt's) forecast for the trip has been spot on. Last night we passed through the cold front. Yesterday we watched the barometer drop and the clouds build. Soon the rain started, and the wind backed to the west, coming directly from where we wanted to go. The waves built up to 2-3 meters, but with no clear direction or pattern it was an uncomfortable ride. We motored into the wind for a few hours, hand steering a good bit of it because we did not have enough power in the waves for our auto pilot and the wind was too variable for our windvane to steer well. It was manageable, but made for a long night.

My old autopilot continued to struggle in the morning, so I finally dismantled the newer, almost compatible autopilot Kevin sent me, rewiring it to work with my older unit. The drive unit was the critical piece I needed. The challenge was that my old drive had 2 wires going into it, and the new one four. I discovered two of the four were electrically connected (ground and neutral perhaps?) a blue wire was the positive lead, and the yellow was "extra". (In the morning Jason suggested that this might be for a clutch or brake control on the newer unit, and I think he is right.) Anyway, it is now installed and working like a champ. There is now no super glue, electrical tape, or cotter pins in my autopilot system. Thank you Kevin.

Today we have had beautiful weather, calm seas, and light winds. We are balancing motor sailing and sailing, but making good progress towards Australia. Tuesday the winds should pick up, and with luck we will arrive Thursday morning.

With Christine ashore she has been relaying comments to me - normally I can't see these until I get into port. Leslie asked if we see differences in the ocean from the bottom topography. Sometimes we see the surface waves steepen if there is a very shallow bank, so we try to avoid these, although the fishing is better and birds sometime congregate. When we leave land, the sea is always rougher until we get into deep (2000+ feet) water. I suspect that the sea mounts also disrupt the currents, but I can't tell