Day nine: reporting from just south of the middle of nowhere

Approximately 1000 miles east of New Zealand.

Conditions continue to be excellent* with a 20 knot breeze from the west, relatively flat seas, and several hours of sun per day to cheer things up.

“Excellent”, but there is a pesky swell still rolling from the south which picks the boat up and sloshes it back and forth every 20 seconds or so. It is rather like trying to live on top of a giant bowl of wiggling jello. I have still not been able to adjust to the soggy corkscrewing am unfortunately still feeling green.

For the sailors out there who want more detail: I am running the smaller jib, anticipating a bit of heavier weather and some up wind work. So, while normally I would just pole out the genoa and drop the main, I am experimenting a bit with some hotter reaching angles. The main is double reefed, which seemed a bit deep initially but I think is just about perfect for the conditions over the last week. With the swell pushing the stern around, it seems to sail best at 130 - 150 degrees apparent with enough jib to keep the speeds in the 6 knot range. During the day time I will roll more out and see 6's and 7's and at night have been pretty conservative and rolled in the jib to where the self steering is happy and not fighting the boat in the gusts. This morning the full jib is out and I am blasting along trying to stay ahead of a wall of frontal cloud that is rapidly overtaking me from astern.

Here comes the first of it. Reefing Deeply! Wow, big 90 degree shift and 30 knot puff.