We flew through the night with a lovely breeze but by mid morning the wind dropped and we are moving very slowly and rolling with the long swell coming from the East. The temperatures and tempers got a little warm with the dying wind. I huff when Karl asks me to hand steer so he could sleep. I had hand steered a long time today or so I thought. Karl made his frustration at the pencil sharper that was making the pencil flat not sharp loud and clear. The first day or two of a passage can be hard and this time we left with such short notice our edges are a bit frayed.

Met bob and all the models indicated calm would overtake us. Bob thought we must have motored given our brilliant progress last night. His guidance today was “keep motoring the wind will arrive on Thursday”. We put up the big blue drifter Karl made on the porch as this should be its day to perform. The roll from the swell makes it hard to keep the sail filled with wind. Karl asks me if I want to swim but after all the sail prep I want to sail. He heads to take a nap while I try and feel the wind on my arms and back. The idea is to keep the wind right on my back so it can fill the sails. The instruments are pretty worthless as the mast is swinging so much in the roll the readings are not of the wind. At first there were not even bubbles In the deep blue water. We make bubbles when we are moving and you can see them moving past. Nothing but blue water at first. Slowly small wind ripples appear on the water and I can feel the breath of moving air on my skin. I steer the boat so my back and her stern are facing the wind. Slowly bubbles begin to appear and drift behind us as we move forward. By the time Karl awakes we are moving nicely south along the Tonga Kermadec trench. Down below the passion fruits have flown off the shelf and are rolling on the floor. Their hard outer skin protects so will be good for a fruit salad tomorrow.

The delightful sailing continues until sunset and spaghetti dinner. Karl releases the halyard and the drifter slips back through the hatch into its home beneath the berth. We turn on the engine to motor through this long calm stretch. The clouds disperse and the stars return. Heading south again and with the moon rising late I see different stars. I have a Tongan government star guide with the Tongan legends for the people and boats in the sky. The passions and tempers are settling down, passion fruit is back on the shelf as progress south is made.