Light breeze, good speed

Lat 27.04 S Long 160.0 W Course 030 T Speed 4 knots Wind NW 5 knots Waves W 1 metre Cloud 100% Baro 1014 steady
Distance in last 24hrs: 110 nm Range to Rarotonga 348 nm

Day 17  Midnight. Dec 12/13

The moon and a sky full of stars has kept me company along with Annie Lennox and Diana Krall. WW II swishes her way through the moonlit sea and the sound of water rushing by the hull provides a tranquil soundtrack.

The breeze is steady, light and cool. There are no storm clouds on the horizon only high wispy  feathers filtering the bright moon across the Pacific Ocean.

I am lucky and my soul is full, I will sleep soundly and deep tonight. Down below the sound of water gurgling by belies our amazing speed through the water.

On we go through the moonlight, a speck on the ocean. 

Note: After Glenn wrote in his previous post “Saw a beautiful white bird with long tail feathers, definitely a tern of some sort. Very curious bird, reddish colour on or near bill,” I received a note from our friend and keen birder Michael Layland who identified the bird as Long tailed Tropicbird.

I found this photo online and reproduce it here with permission from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

 9:00 am 

I must have been pretty tired last night after that long party in the cockpit.  After I woke up Perkins, he went on watch to give us a push. At 5 am I went back to sleep till just a few minutes ago, “Yes!” Surprising what you can sleep through when you’re tired.

Great party in the moonlight last night, I managed to carve loose the first link of my chain. A major break through so to speak. The other day I was chatting with Barry Mitchell VK2 GGA, (Victor Kilo 2 Golf Golf Alfa) on the ham radio. Barry is near Coffs Harbour in Australia and is a white cane operator. He mentioned that he was interested in carving a chain as well and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since. What an amazingly talented man he is with huge strength of character to think of taking on such a project, which I have no doubt he could accomplish and far better than I ever could. 

We’re starting to have a recurring theme in our days as we approach Rarotonga, wringing out every mile we can from the slightest of breezes that comes even close to us. I remember sailing through conditions like this on my previous two attempts at single handed west about nonstop circumnavigation and although the rules of engagement then strictly forbid using Perkins to push us along, no matter how long we languished in zephyrs and calms. Thank goodness we’re not playing by those rules any more.

The weather today is warm (no shirt, no shoes) with puffy white clouds sitting above and all hovering at the same level as if they’re not allowed to come down any closer or they will disappear.with puffy white clouds sitting above all at the same level as if they are not allowed to come down any closer or they will disappear. The sea is a deep indigo colour which makes you feel like you could decant it and serve with the finest of dinners.

We have a bit of a waddle on at the moment, as the gentle swells pass beneath us and WW II makes her way North at 4.1 nm per hour. We are going to get there slowly but surely. 

Noon

All’s well