Hi All,
Last night our winds switched around sunset and we had to take a gamble of sailing south, which would put us a little closer towards our destination but not making any easting we desperately need before the winds change back to being out of the east or sail north east which is somewhat away from our destination but would give us more 43 miles more east. We chose the south course and it wasn’t but a couple hours and the wind shifted a bit and we were able to sail a course of 165 degrees until 3 am. At 3 am the wind shifted a lot and we were then able to sail a course of 120 degrees, which is a bit north of our target, but this puts us in a better position for if the winds switch again. And again at sunset this evening that is what happened. This time however the wind direction remained good, it is just that the wind dropped to almost nothing. So instead of rolling around in “left over” seas and not hardly moving, we started the engine and are again on a course of 120 degrees moving along at 5.5 knots. Light winds of 3 to 8 knots were forecasted for this area and known by us before leaving Penrhyn, so we were not surprised, but we are a sailboat and it therefore seems improper to motor much. Hopefully in a day or so the winds will increase again, yet we have enough fuel to motor all the way to Bora Bora in light winds if we have to.
At 1:40 PM today we took down our noon report position so we are not really sure what to call it, but we were having lunch and the writing down our noon coordinates slipped our minds. So our “1:40 report” is a position a 11 degrees 59′ S and 155 degrees 20′ W. Over the last day we made 128 miles good towards Bora Bora. This means we have now have made a trip total of 235 miles made good towards Bora Bora, but we have sailed 275 miles so far to do so. Thus, the weaving and tacking of our sailing course due to wind directions have caused us to so far sail 40 miles further than if we could have sailed a straight line to Bora Bora. And this also contributes to reporting lower miles per day traveled then might be the case if we were not sailing so much upwind.
Happy Friday!
Wade and Sara
