17th June

08 04.645 S

132 02.891 W



Weather; overcast and dull, wind 10- 20 knots, waves 3 metres



Another day closer to the end, thank goodness! This wasn't a spectacular day in any way, shape or form. The sun had trouble finding a gap in the clouds which meant that the solar panels weren't able to generate enough power and we were once again having to turn the gen set on to keep the batteries topped off. This of course leads us right into the question of had we solved the issue with the gen set, the short answer is no. It starts up ok, runs for about a minute and then starts to splutter for a few seconds and then goes back to being Ok again. Most times it does this twice and then runs perfectly for the rest of the time it is on. Gerry has checked the filters and found tiny flecks of what looks to be rust floating at the bottom of the filter housing but the filters certainly aren't clogged so the offending bits of debris have been sent packing and we are now just continuing to monitor the gen set each time we use it until Gerry gets to that exotic place where he will pr
obably have a really good and detailed look at the whole set up. We managed to barrel along all day and through the night with pretty much just the main out, the wind is still dancing around the stern 150 degree port to 150 degree starboard angle making it a noisy and rolly ride which makes moving around difficult and tiring not to mention the aching from holding on and bracing! At various times we had the jib and/ or the staysail out to try and give us a bit more stability and forward motion but each of those times was very short lived as the wind just kept back winding the main sail from the bounce off of the jib or staysail. Gerry changed out a block where the spinnaker pole brace had caused the slider release to get stuck on the open position Ð nothing drastic there but just because it needed doing! We tried to catch up with some more sleep, I think we are only about a week and half's worth behind at this point!

Dawn broke and for the first time in a while we actually had sun, good job too as we need the solar panels to prove their worth! I was on watch when it began to get lighter and to my dismay as soon as it was light enough to see the lines from the boom I noticed that the topping lift had broken. I searched the deck for the other end and found it was laying across the deck and over the other side of the boat dragging through the water, it had obviously broken at the mast head. Luckily for us this isn't an essential bit of equipment, we can manage without it until we get to a really exotic place and then we will have to run a new line. I wasn't keen to upset Gerry as soon as he woke up but there really was no other option as he would have noticed it as soon as he looked around, to my surprise he took it better than I thought he would, it's just another thing to add to our ever growing list of things that need attention. Gerry went and retrieved the bit of line that was through
the mast Ð miles of it, and tidied up the bit that is still attached to the end of the boom (we can't reach that to remove it whilst we are underway Ð another job for THAT PLACE!). So we are still booming along with the wind in the same direction and the swell pretty much quartering so every now and again we get to surf down the waves. We are averaging 6 knots for now and whittling the miles down, the wind is supposed to be like this for the next 2-3 days so it might just see us through to arriving in Nuku Hiva. We put a further 146 NM behind us in the 24 hours and no engine time. Still no whales and not another boat in sight.