A wonderful day of sailing, knocking off the miles. Nothing but blue every where, what is your favorite shade of blue?

After a nice fun sail we were rewarded with another fabulous sunset.

Got rid of the hardest number in the distance to go, killed that first 1! Now down into the triple digits. Tomorrow we should cross the 1/2 way mark. The forecast looks like there is plenty of wind to get us to Fiji, no more glassy waters (so it seems).

The waves are here, 2 meter but not terrible. When deciding to add more sail or keep the reef, we were discussing the motion of the boat. After shaking out the reef, and raising a little more sail, Christine said “It’s not and less uncomfortable than without it”.. What I think she said is its not any worse going faster. I think it was time for her nap. :).

Had the fishing lines out for while today, but still no sign of life. No flying fish, no squid on deck in the morning, no birds. Will probably wait till we get amongst the sea mounds and submerged reefs about 400 miles ahead.

Butter chicken bow tie pasta for dinner as we take or sights on the 1/2 way mark.

965 miles to go.

All good on board

[tag Live,Passage,underway]

Last nights sunset over glassy waters was beautiful.

So the wind never really came back enough to sail for very long, we tried a couple of times but wind was just not there. Settled into running one engine just above idle to keep forward progress and the autopilot able to steer the boat. Seas were so calm and flat, we both slept like rocks on our off shifts. Christine even let me have an extra hour to catch up.

WIth hopes of wind returning in the forecast and emails from Texas watching our progress, time for some bacon. Bacon always starts a day our right!

Well, winds didn’t get the message to rise and shine early. Was just before lunch when they started to fill in. It is always great after a ‘calming’ and the winds are coming back. The sea is flat, the wind is filling in. It’s like sailing on a lake, the waves haven’t had time to build with the wind yet, and so you get nice wind and no choppy seas.

We started the day with with an engine running making under 5 knots, we are ending the day with a now reefed main doing 8-9 knots and bouncing over the waves that have built through out the day. Not nearly as comfortable as motoring in the calm, but we are knocking off the miles.

Chicken Tuscany with a nice wine was for dinner, minus the wine. This is passage and gotta stay ready for whatever curve balls are thrown at you!

1100 miles to Fiji, if the winds keep up we will break the magical 1000 mile barrier tomorrow and be heading for the 1/2 mark in a day or two.

WInds are 18kn from the South East, seas are 1.5-2M (5-6 feet) and the boat is moving along at 7-8 knots with one reef in the main.

All well on board.

[tag Live,Passage,underway]

What a rude way to start the day! Just before day break the sails started to make racket, wouldn’t stay filled with air as we went over the waves.. I was asleep and had just dozed off when Christine woke me up and said there was a huge blob on the radar. Yup, sure enough, more than 3 miles deep and 10+ miles long and smack dab in our way and no clear way around it.

Rolled the jib and started to put the second reef in the in main. While putting the reef in the dreaded cold breeze arrived. Not gonna get this done in time. WhoooooooSH, the rain and the winds went from next to nothing to 30+ knots. Still groggy from waking up, dropped the main as quickly as possible and tied it down motored about in the driving rain for an hour. A morning shower to wake up is one thing, but cold and driving rain is just RUDE.

Oh well, all good! The boat got a fresh wash and Christine and I an impromptu bath. The wind took hours to regroup and organize.. We turned on engine and motored in our general path for 6 hours an least we told ourselves we were charging the batteries!

Around 3pm while we were watching the second feature film of the lazy day, the wind started coming form a consistent direction, at 5-7knots. Not quite enough but tried it any way and low and behold we are sailing again slowly but the batteries were well charged by now.

Forecast says tomorrow the winds should behave and push us along again. We are in touch with another boat behind us by 50 miles or so, they also had the wall of water to contend with today.

Picture: The calm after the Kaos.

Thought about going for a swim or a paddle board.

Distance to go 1250 miles.

The first 4 hours of today, our average was over 8.3 knots, now 20 hours later, its 5.9 knots and only going down as we are currently going 3.8 knots. Oh well, not in a hurry. The winds at the Fiji end of the journey look to be strong. Enjoying the peaceful sounds for a bit.

[tag Live,Passage,underway]