Cooking and Smokin' !!

Hi Guys,

              I really did'nt mean to upset the guy who controls the wind machine, when I complained about the only thing cooking on the boat was yesterdays Dorado ( Which was delicious !) We enjoyed a nice, chill,...a relaxing day, bumbling along at speeds between 2 and 4 knots. We caught up on some sleep, did some reading etc, and looked forward to a nice gentle night sail. Well Mr Wind Machine obviously took umbrage, and waited until dark, before switching on his machine again.... no, not the 11 to 13 knots promissed on the gribs, but 19 to 24 just to add a touch of excitement. He also knew that the moon would only rise at 3.00am, and that the cloud cover would hide the stars as well! He also understood that we had every bit of sail up, to try and coax a little more speed out of Sheer! We are now down to 2 reefs in the main, staysail and half the genoa, and still doing 8.8 knots!

             In the first 10 hours yesterday, we did 36 miles. In the next 14 we did another 114miles, ending Day 4 on 149 miles! The average speed for that last 14 hours was 8,1knots, which was impressive, but uncomfortable, for genteel geriatric cruisers such as ourselves. The seas were'nt too bad through the night, but by dawn we had to put the first reef in the main, after having reduced the headsail during the early hours. By lunch time today, the cumalative effect of 20-24 knots, had turned the placid Pacific into a nasty cockpit invading nuisance, and we put in the 2nd reef. As is so often  the case, we have hardly dropped any speed at all, and are just sailing that much more comfortably.

          For those who would like to look on a map, we are now 100 degs W, and 03.2 degs S, about 10 miles below the rhum line between Isabela and Fatu Hiva. Only another 2355 miles to go! Every morning we have a radio net, which connects together as many boats that can tune in, from those still in Galapagos, to those nearing the Marquesis.Some days the propigation is better than others, and we can hear guys 1000 miles ahead of us, and 550 behind us. At least one does not feel quite so isolated! Our net is called the Tortuga Net. Tortuga, is Spanish forTortoise, as we are amongst the last to leave Galapagos, and will thus be amongst the last to arrive in the Marquesis. All I can say is that this is some super charged blooming tortoise!

 Cheers for now, Rod & Mary 

(sent via satphone so no pics yet!)