We finally departed Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz on Wednesday 22nd at 1415 hrs into a 13 knot SE that got us off on a tight reach on a bearing of 235, so quite comfortable conditions and a good start to the 3,000 mile passage. For the first 48 hours we covered 335 miles and still pushing into a 1 knot current otherwise we would be running at close to 200 mile days.

Today the SE hS picked up to around 18 knots and starting to hit the high 8's in boat speed. Earlier today we crosses paths with a USA yacht Taya and as we closed chatted on VHF and subsequently exchanged emails. We took the obligatory photo's and will no doubt see them in the Marquesas.

The only other excitement on board occurred during the first night when we lost all power with the result total blackness on board. After a while we tracked the fault to a full bottle of water learning against the release button for the service circuit breaker and while it had not tripped the breaker it was obviously pressure to cut the supply. A while later a clunking on the starboard wheel was heard answer left that to daybreak to look into. After dismantling the panel in the aft cabin found that 5 of the 6 bolts holding the steering mechanism were loose. It was not a major as in a worst case scenario we could have undone one bolt and just used the port wheel however it was a problem easily fixed.

All is well on board, sunny and warm, nice sailing breeze, comfortable seas, beautiful starlight nights with a waxing moon, no fish (apart from a squid that was found in the port aft cabin this morning, with black ink discharged - messy) and a good start. So our little red dot will continue to track SW across the expanse of the Pacific. By the way nice to see the Southern Cross again!

Cheers
Keith & Pam and crew