We have provided several updates now on our recent travels to Tonga and on to Fiji but little has been said of the third member of our team - the good ship Dol'Selene - which has been looking after us.
As some of you will know Dol'Selene is an Alan Warwick designed 47ft cruising cutter (cutter meaning it has two head sails rather than a sloop which has one) built in three skins of New Zealand heart Kauri timber (two diagonal and one longitudinal) fibreglassed over the top. In addition to a full wardrobe of sails, she has a 160hp Yanmar diesel engine and a separate diesel generator. She has all the creature comforts one could want, including washing machine and dryer, air-conditioning (although we have not used it yet), water maker, two fridges, deep freeze two ovens etc. Living on board her is very easy.
Her performance can best be described as excellent in fact she has gained quite a reputation within the fleet we are currently travelling with as a quick yacht and one of the nicest. We have even been giving the catamarans a bit of a run for speed on passage. Gail and I have been altering the way we sail her a little on passages and are now getting better daily distances than we have been used to in the past. We normally do all planning based on 165 nautical mile days, but are generally doing 175 - 180 and have gone very close to the magical 200 mile mark. We still sail conservatively, normally with reduced sail area at night and never with any "extra" sails on (spinnakers, genakers - colourful ones).
For those of you who have read most of our blog you will know that our passages have not been all "plain sailing" but generally have not been under strong conditions either, more a combination of all sorts with more uncomfortable sea conditions as opposed to strong winds. In all of these conditions Dol' has performed exceptionally well and other than very minor matters, has not caused any issues or concerns.
Since leaving New Zealand we have now covered more than 2000 nautical miles - lots more to go.