26th July 2017
Current Position 05 32.7S /115 59.2W at 0200 UTC, 200hrs boat time. Speed over ground (SOG):8.5. Course over ground (COG):293. Wind: SSE 10 kts. Sea State: Rolly but settling down slowly.
Distance to Run (DTR) :1388nm. 24 hr daily run :189nm.
It's been another slow day out here with not much happening and that seems to becoming a pattern. Mind you when I think about that logically, really what do we expect to happen? No one is going to drop in for tea and scones and no one can give us a call as Optus has no coverage out here. The daily paper doesn't get thrown onto the front porch, there's no surfing the internet and no listening to the top 40 hits on the radio. In a nutshell life is pretty dull out here. It's an eat, sleep, wakeup, eat sleep wakeup way of life with no walkies around the block to see what's going on in the neighborhood.
The exciting news today is that we have made it to the halfway mark. When crossing this mighty ocean this spot on the map is the furthest you can be from land in any direction on the surface of the earth. It's the ideal place for those wanting to "get away from it all" but not good for those who don't like being out of sight of land. We are well and truly smack bang in the middle of nowhere.
The other good news is that El Capitano is feeling better today. The patch came off his eye this morning and the nursing staff report that the swelling has started to go down and overall the eye looks a teensy bit better. And the patient's demeanour has also dramatically improved, halleluiah. He is still struggling with bright light and is wearing his sunnies from dawn to dusk, not that he ever sees the dawn as he's usually tucked up in bed at the time of day. He's not out of the woods yet but at least he's turned the corner.
On the fishing front a dolphin swam past today, first one we've seen on this crossing. Bad news is he took Liam's favourite squid lure. Yep it was the pretty blue one which is, or rather was, a hit with the Mahi's. I was off watch at the time but I'm pretty sure there were a few not so friendly words shouted at Flipper as he went on his merry way. The captain does have more lures but on the sinker and tackle front the inventory is dwindling.
Our Tailender's fleet here is getting really stretched out now. Weather conditions have been vastly different for each boat. Sannsipapp, the Norwegian flagged Bruce Farr 55 is 700 miles ahead of us having departed the galapagos 4 days before us. She expects to make landfall in Hiva Oa tomorrow,Friday. Luarta the 56 ft NZ mono is 60 miles behind us, she left the day after us and OFF 2 C the NZ cat who left 2 days behind us is now 650 miles behind. Bindacier the 12m French boat heading south to the Gambier Islands still have a whopping 1800 miles until they make landfall. Restless the Norwegian boat that was taking on water are making slow progress but have stemmed the water leak by placing a ratchet strap with a gasket hand sewn on to it from toe rail to toe rail. As they say necessity is the mother of invention and kudos goes out to Jorgan on that front.
And that folks wraps up day 9 on the good ship GWTW.
Follow our position on our tracker at:
https://aus-share.inreach.garmin.com/GoneWithTheWind
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