I am amused at the surfer guy who is getting 'windspeed' and 'speed over ground' completely mixed up. Its understandable... as he has neither computation on his surfboard.

But just for the record, when I say "shearwater unchanged but reaching 15 knots sporadically" I mean the speed of Shearwater over ground(the bottom) - SOG...."

When I say: "I studied the 'windspeed' indicator and made the decision that as soon as I saw a '19 knot' I would instantly head her into wind." I mean...well ....what else 'wind speed'

And lastly, the fact he would indicate, believe, dream, imagine that I was under full sail with 35 knots WINDSPEED is testlmony to his usual activity which is absent any sails. And further and more ludicrously that Shearwater GOES 35 knots ...well what can I say...the fastest I have ever been on her is 22 knots down the face of a wave for 10 seconds.

But, I do appreciate his intense and studied interest in my sailing.

Anyway, now that we have SOG and WINDSPEED cleared up I will be using both numbers tomorrow as I head out of Tahiti direct for Tonga-1000 miles.

Weather seems to be in order for a relatively peaceful departure and I will .....be on THIRD REEF ...to start....the least sail up.