05.00hrs, wake up quickly, the motion of the boat is different, a quick check outside and all is well, just a larger swell.
06.00hrs We get up and prepare the boat to go to sea once again, start the engine and let it heat up, then lift the rib
out of the water, and strap it on securely, close all port holes, etc,etc,
06.45hrs We slip the moorings and set a course of 278 degrees T for Vava'u, the north side of the Island. which we will leaveto port on our way round to the capitol ," Neiafu" or where we are to anchor.
Total Distance.........................236 miles
Weather, ................................poor, cloudy
Wind.......................................28 knots SE
Sea State................................moderate
ETA........................................16.30 hrs tomorrow.
The interesting here is , today is wednesday, tomorrow is Friday. that is because we cross the international date line tonight.This is a first fo r us on board, Skipper and Scotty. cool, real cool.
08.30hrs, the wind dropped off to a modest 16 knots, so we went for the KITE , Its so long since we had a decent sail with that up. The last time we tried using it , we tore it, and then there were 3 of us, today there are just the 2 of us. But up it went, not a bother, and we took off in great style for Vava'u , The Girls and Donal.
Later, the skipper investigated the "pong" eminating from the bilge, After 1.5 hrs of hosing down and cleaning the bilge, everything there smelt much better, however , there must be a leak from the gally sink or one of the showers aft.but checking that will have to wait till another day... enough is enough for one day...
We had emails from lots today, Arnaud, Michelle, Rory, Niall, Rom, Sarah,Jacinta, and of course the weather from a few different sources. For the last few days, we felt that we were the forgotten sailors. as we had almost no emails.
Its great to be back in buisness.
We havent heard from Ronan, Dave, Ann C , Denis and Vera, and John Mc Cann for blooming ages.
BANG, christ ! what the hell was that, ohhhhhh shit, the KITE 's gone, well flapping like mad , the blooming guy snapped and the lazy guy had not been tied down properly by skipper , so unravelled and away went the KITE for a kite, just lovely