It's been hard going, but we are nearly there!
It seems odd, but light-weather sailing is harder work (in many ways) than heavier-weather sailing. Sailing in a decent breeze, you put up a judicious amount of sail - taking account of the wind-stregth and sea-state - set your course, trim your sails and, all being well and you are not having to tack up-wind, away you go. But light-weather sailing requires much more careful sail selection and trim, and much more concentration from the helmsman and sheet trimmers too. It's been like that since night-fall. And because the wind won't fill the sails properly, and the ship slops around in the seas instead of cutting through them or rising over them, everything bangs and rattles and shakes and creaks. We have had to fight for every mile. The aim is to try and arrive in Hiva Oa before night-fall, and we contiue to work hard for every mile.
Meanwhile, we are still close to Lady Kay (who has very kindly posted a photo of Cleone on their Blog - see their site on the World ARC page). And Wizard, who left after us but is flying along, is trying to catch us up. We can just see her on the skyline, and she aims to catch us before we arrive. So we are going to work hard to keep ahead.
We hope to report our arrival in due course - about 40 miles to go; meanwhile,
Very best wishes to all of you,
James, Chris & Elizabeth
Yacht Cleone
09.45S 138.24W