Well that was a fun day, not. We went really
far north as the tracker will show, if you check out any of the boat that were
at sea only those at anchor in Suwarrow were as far north as us. Due to this the
max winds we saw were 28 knots in a squall, easily managed, but for those
further south they saw 40 and 50 knots, one boat reported 52 or 56 knots twice
in one squall, not fun and potentially boat breaking stuff.
The strange thing is that neither Fiji met office
or our own foecaster WRI gave advance notice. WRI did send an update today, but
this was after the event and for those who didn't have weather info prevented
them from getting very far north. Even those with good weather info decided not
to go so far north, and they got the 50kn winds.
Anyway it seems we are all through the worst of it,
we are under two reefs in the main and full no 3 genoa, in 18 to 25 kn winds
from the SE giving a true wind angle of 100, which is this boats fastest sail
angle so we are doing 8 to 9 knots towards our destination with a forecast for
the next few days that means we shoulod maintina this progress until Niue. I say
should since the weather is very prone to change.
Hopefully Niue by Thursday!
John