Had a great sundowner drink on deck last night gliding along effortlessly.  Just got to the end of the limes from Galapagos which we add to sparkling water, bitters and rum.  The night watch reminded me of the penultimate day at sea in the Atlantic – glad to be reaching land but sad to be […]

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Another great trade wind day.  Virtually no changes to the sails or steering all day.  I did a sextant fix yesterday and got the fix to within 9 miles. Close enough to see the land even if you were aiming at a corner. We heard Japanese on the VHF radio this morning.  Other have seen […]

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After a few days of the abnormal now we have what we expected.  SE trade winds, a few fluffy clouds and some favourable current.  ETA at this speed is Friday morning.  We can enter the anchorage at night but may slow a little to enter just as it gets light.  Marquesas are 9:30 hours behind […]

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So after the entry for yesterday we had a series of heavy rain squalls and the wind went from 8 knots all the way up to 30 knots.  Lots of fiddling, sail changes and getting a little wet. Then at dawn we came out of that zone into normal trade winds.  20 knots or so […]

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The NE winds have just ended.  It was like being north of the equator again.  Changed back just a frontal sstem in Scotland.  Wind died over a 2 hour period and then you could see the new wind coming with the rain.  We are nicely positioned now for the run into the Marquesas.  We should […]

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At 11:30 last night we were both up keeping out the rain just in the cabin wondering if the windpilot could control a 30 knot squall.  The answer is yes and it has the max speed for this leg at 12.1 knots!  The wind changed to the NE with that squall. We thought it would […]

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The quote in the title is from Pamela Stephenson’s book Treasure Islands subtitled “Sailing the south seas in the wake of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson” and certainly true.  David Lunt, who helped crew Giselle across Biscay, gave me this book by Billy Connolly’s wife as amusing reading which it certainly is.  Especially some of […]

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Making excellent progress but having to work a bit harder.  Squalls coming through since the middle of the night with 10 knot wind increase.  All across the Atlantic and in the Caribbean the squalls were just 5 knots so easy to accommodate.  Other close by still struggling with low winds.  We are getting a base […]

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Strategy of keeping north has worked well.  In much better wind than the boats 60 miles south.  We have been able to sail all day at 6.5 knots. Our second cargo boat that we have seen since the Galapagos was as surprised as us to see someone else. Kao Shen No 6 altered course 20 […]

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Past the halfway point.  Less than 1500 miles to Marquesas Islands.  Quieter conditions, full sails and some motoring at night.  Still trying to keep north for better winds and better sailing angle when the winds go further into the east.  Next half may be slower if the forecast is to be believed. Position: [-5.775,-114.858] at […]

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