Day 8 Tonga to Opua, NZ
11 October 2017 | South Pacific Ocean
Gillian
Arggh! So frustrating- yesterday evening the wind shifted to the south west - and we were sailing straight into it. We tried tacking, but were either sailing in a South easterly direction or a north westerly. Finally gave in and motored as close to the wind as we could in a westerly direction. It was not comfortable and the boat banged away all night. More of the same this morning but by the afternoon it had calmed down a bit, and we are hoping that we will soon be able to motor towards Opua. Last night the yacht Tussamara sailed by quite close to us. It was great to see another boat and we spoke a bit on the radio. They are heading direct to Auckland from Fiji. And then even more excitement this afternoon! NZ Airforce Orion called us on the radio, wanting some information such as port of arrival, reg no, eta etc. Great to talk to them too. We are still motoring as we squeeze towards our lay line, and it looks like a Friday arrival is no longer possible, with Saturday morning being more likely. We only managed 114nm yesterday, and currently we are motorsailing at 4.4 knots.