Last night was a little rolly. Winds picked up to a little over 20 kts for a while which made us reef for a more comfortable ride. After a while, the wind reduced to upper teens but waves were coming from a few angles, making it a little rolly. Also, we were forced to go a little more southerly than we would like. This is often case, not going the direction you want, but we are getting near French Polynesia and we don't want to have to go north (for example) to get back to where we want to be.

So in the morning, we set up our wing-on wing again to go more downwind, following our desired course. We always seem to struggle a bit, trying to get the lines where they need to be so they aren't interfering with other lines. But... we have gotten better this trip.

It's a little like motoring in this configuration because the waves have more effect on the boat, making us roll back and forth. Also, since we are traveling downwind almost exactly, we get little breeze since our apparent wind (wind that the boat actually feels) is less than actual. It's not our favorite sailing point but it is doing well to keep us on course.

When sailing these kind of distances, everything chafes. Today, I replaced one of the reefing lines which are critical for control of the boat and so it has had much use on this trip. We have had to repair several lines along the way because they chafed through and broke or were about to break. I still haven't figured out how to eliminate this but I guess other boats are also contending with chafing as well and may be just a fact of life on a sailboat.