Steady winds taking us closer

Friday, January 13, 2017

It is 10:00 pm (Thursday night) we are sailing off the wind not quite a reach but close. WW II is churning out 6 knots and tearing along parallel to a three meter swell set with a period of 4 seconds traveling at 10 knots. In other words every four seconds a swell lifts us three meters as it passes under us broad side then lets us back down. The rhythm is almost smooth and lucky for us those waves aren’t breaking otherwise we would be getting very very wet.  The moon is lighting up our path as we cross each other. It’s mesmerizing to watch which I was for about half an hour, standing up holding on to the dodger in the cockpit.

I’m tired and will turn in soon. I will be up several times to check but I think this wind is steady and so WW II should be fine til morning, 

Two great ham skeds this afternoon, one with Peter on the Seafarer’s net and then with my buddies from around the South Pacific basin. For some it was the last time I will speak to them on this voyage and you can tell we all enjoyed our time on the air waves and will miss hearing from each other. Some I may contact again when I return in June to bring WW II the rest of the way home.

We are definitely knocking off these last hundred miles or so in good fashion as if there was something (or someone) special waiting there. Which of course there is.

We still have 145 miles to go and often those last few miles are the hardest especially without the option to motor if the wind gets light. I should think late tomorrow afternoon we’ll see land, probably at sun set and moon rise, which was spectacular this evening. Big orange Harvest moonrise.

It’s off to bed for this sailor.