Less than 1000 miles to go

In the last day, our ride has gentled down a lot. It is not only that the wind is less, but more that it has moved more from behind. For a couple of days we were sailing as close to the southeast wind as we could and still weren't able to maintain the course we wanted. That's always very choppy. The wind will be back again though but at least all the winds predicted are from behind.

Less wind is a mixed blessing. With 20 knots of wind we can do 7 knots; at 15 knots we get 6 knots of speed and at 10 knots wind, we are lucky to do 4. We like 20 knots even if it raises a bit of a sea.

In a calm under power out here we can only do 5 knots - so slow largely to stretch out the fuel. But even if we open the engine up, we couldn't match the 7 or 8 we sometimes get with a good breeze on the quarter. We are getting close to the point where we could just make Valdivia under power with the 500 liters of diesel fuel we have remaining in the tanks. That gives a good back-up feeling for if something went wrong with the rigging, but we prefer the speed and quiet of sailing.

Our cashew supply is now exhausted (treats are the first thing to be used up) but there is still lots of chocolate and frozen blueberries. Steak is still on the menu when we feel like it. Ditto chicken, lamb, pork, fish ...

It is taking a bit longer than we might have liked but that is an obvious result from the roundabout route we have followed from New Zealand. Nonetheless, we would do the same again to avoid the nasty weather that was overtaking us or lurking in our path.

4000 miles and 33 days behind; under 1000 miles (less than a week) to go.


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At 2017-03-06 17:10 (utc) our position was 38°39.82'S 094°13.50'W