Post time is 1200, 5/30/23

We’re better than halfway to Papeete, Tahiti. With just three crew
aboard I’m doing singlehanded watches and the other two are singlehanded
during the day and doublehanded at night. We started watches yesterday
at 2 and have been working through the watch schedule. Yesterday at the
watch change at 6pm I could see a squall in the distance so we shortened
sail and turned on the engine. Much easier to do in the daylight at the
watch change than in the dark shorthanded. When I came on for the 10 PM
to 2 AM watch, the squall still hadn’t arrived. About halfway through my
watch I could see the lightning associated with the squall heading our
way. A deviation in the course (run away…) wasn’t adequate to avoid the
squall and it arrived with lightning and heavy rain, but not much wind.
I was standing watch in a swimsuit and t-shirt, so it was refreshing for
a while, and then it was actually cool. Probably 80 degrees air and cool
water, but that’s the only air conditioning I’ve experienced since Nuku
Hiva. The oncoming watch wore rain gear, the only time they’ve used it
on their trip.

I went forward this morning at the start of my 6 am watch to secure the
stays’l bag and was amazed at how clean the boat was. The past few weeks
we’ve had a couple of offshore passages, plus swimming every day, so the
boat got covered in salt water, which dried to salt crystals. All that
salt’s been rinsed off and Rover is the cleanest she’s been since San
Diego.

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