At 1:10 this morning, we rounded the Swain Reef waypoint that we had entered into our GPS when we left New Caledonia. The two hours or so prior to this rounding had Sea Child sailing pretty fast on some very smooth waters. The winds were N at 20 knots true, and the approaching reef was cutting off most of the open ocean swells. Sea Child was averaging well over 11+ knots, some of the best sailing we have seen since the explosion out of Dumbea Pass, New Caledonia, 5 days ago. There is quite a storm system south of our location, which threw off some impressive lightening well off to our western horizon as we made the rounding. This fast sailing was a prelude of what was to come, as we turned right, course change to 285, heading to Mackay, Australia, 204 NM away. As we rounded the reefs, the mainsail was reefed and the staysail was hoisted. And the rough seas gave us a bit of a beating, with the wind chop and rough seas throwing us around a bit. Gone were the windless ho urs spent with one of the engines running. We had downloaded the grib files that showed the storm system just to our south, and as of this writing, we are literally sailing above the system with N winds to 17 knots true, boat speed 10 knots, with our current VMG of 7.3 knots. We have been fighting a current for the past day or so, rather strong at times, and according to the charts, these currents are identified by the words, "East Australia Coast Current". Our current speed and course shows our arrival into Mackay at 02:00 Friday morning, nice and dark and windy.

A highlight of yesterdays sailing was the catch of a albacore tuna, 9 lbs and the perfect size for the 3 of us onboard. 4 nice filets turned into a delicious sunset sashimi, along with curry tuna & tofu for dinner. We are in the process of eating the remaining produce & vegetables on board, as we are well aware of their demise upon entry into Australia. Last nights tuna & tofu curry dinner went well with potatoes and yams and scallions and garlic. This delicious meal wrapped up our comfortable sailing across the Coral Sea. As we pound our way NE to Mackay, the cooking is challenging as Sea Child works through the wind chop and rough seas.

Around noon today, Buddy sighted land for the first time since we left New Caledonia, 5 days ago. High Peak island is 23 miles east of Sea Child, and represents the proximity to the coastline of mainland, Queensland, Australia, 40 miles away. It will be nice to finally reach Mackay and close the chapter on another Sea Child crossing. As always, crossings on Sea Child are never boring.

DISTANCE FROM DUMBEA PASS, NEW CALEDONIA: 993 NM DISTANCE TO MACKAY, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA: 105 NM