20 June 2010
What a lovely passage this has been. Ok it was a bit rough to start with but we have had good wind all the way and only one small shower of rain. Finally yesterday morning, (Saturday), all the sails came out and as we had come up from the south, the winds put Voyageur on a beam reach, her best and fastest point of sail. Everybody was happy. At 11.31 pm precisely we crossed the International Date Line, our longitude now reading east. Nights are cooler now. There is something very comforting when you reach for a sheet to cocoon yourself within. I am even wearing a fleece on my night watch! The only thing to mar a perfect passage was the failure of the generator. We think the starter motor has jammed, which meant we had to motor sail off and on last night to charge the batteries. This is really annoying as it has not given us any trouble since we bought the boat, two years ago now. A job for David when we reach Suva. By Sunday lunchtime we could just make out the island of Viti Levu and shortly after the VHF burst into life, the first time we have heard a sound out of it since leaving Tonga three days ago. (We did check in with the World Arc fleet net every morning and evening giving our position.) It was a local weather forecast transmission. But the weather could do what it liked now. We were nearly home and dry!
Susan Mackay