Received by Satphone - posted by Tess & Jeno
Blog by Mike

Well the wind never came back until 0130 hrs when we put the gennaker up, the breeze turned to North at 12 knots so it was pretty comfortable. At 0630 the wind turned to NNW which is not ideal for a westerly sail so we furled the gennaker and deployed the genoa, just in time as within 5 minutes the wind picked up to 18 knots and we were sailing at 9 knots. Now we are getting sniffs of 22 knots so we have a reef in the genoa and still sitting on 7 knots. The sea has picked up and is choppy but it has flattened the southerly swell down but still very messy. Last night I thought we were going to motor all the way to Bundaberg and the gribs showed that as well with a slight threat of a westerly. It will be interesting to see what they say today. We wanted to spot Australia 0600 Monday morning and at this rate it will be Sunday, not a good day for Bio security and border patrol I am led to believe so the ETA is being pondered. Maybe we will have to linger over a trench maybe?
Well the good news is I hooked another Marlin on the starboard reel, it absolutely smoked off 500 metres and was continuously doing aerobatics, it was 3 metres and maybe a couple of hundred kilo. When I thought it could not leap anymore it started again and then performed a surface swim by with small leaps like we witnessed once on the Pacific crossing when one snatched a lure. Floss turned the boat and hunted it down to the north east and I got the line back but had to sacrifice the lure. Insane action like I have never witnessed before, what an awesome experience. Hopefully we can catch something around 50 kg before we make landfall. It's a bit choppy with spray at the moment for fishing or filleting.
I've already read more than half of my new book and Floss finished hers and has just started on another one.
In summary the OOROO crew are going well.
Time/Date: 12.00pm 27-10- 2017
Current Position: 23 39.725S 157 06.480E
Current Water Depth & Temp: 2000m & 24.2 degrees
Safety: All Safe, sighted cruise ship Pacific Dawn on AIS 15nm away.
Wind / Sails:
• Wind - 18kts TWS (AVG), MAX TWS 22.7kts, MIN TWS 2.1kts
• AVG SOG 7.45kts
• Gennaker - 5hrs
• Genoa - 5.5hrs
• Main sail - 10.5hrs
Distance Travelled: 179nm
Distance Remaining : 265 nm (to Bundaberg Marina)
Engine Hrs: 13.5
Where to now: Heading 260 degrees to Bundaberg Australia
Fishing and Wildlife: one absolute crazy leaping marlin at 200 kg.
Meals: 1 x Four and twenty pie, fresh fruit, vanilla slices, Steak and salad, cereal and fruit.