The Voyages of Bob

As of noon today, Sunday November 26th, we are 200 miles from Opua, the most northerly customs port in New Zealand and our destination. It’s a lovely day – the sun is shining for the first time since we left Minerva. We shook out the 2nd Reef this morning and are plowing along at nearly 6 knots under a single-reefed mainsail and full 110% working jib on a lovely beam reach. The seas are considerably diminished compared to what they were a few days ago and the motion is gentle and agreeable. Despite Sarah’s scopoderm anti-seasickness patch having expired beyond it’s 3-day lifespan two days ago she’s bounding around the cabin doing such productive things as making bread with the last of our flour and has even hidden the last of our olives in the dough. We’re down to our last half a courgette, a third of a cabbage, two small potatoes and two small onions as far as ‘fresh’ provisions go, so it looks like we got it just about right and won’t have to relinquish too much to the New Zealand biosecurity officers upon our arrival. Maybe a coconut or two. Then again maybe we should make the effort to eat them before we arrive. After all, we might not see coconuts again for quite a while.

As of 1000, Friday morning, November 24 (UTC+13) Bob is at 28 17 S, 177 37E heading SSW at about 4.5 knots under deep-reefed mainsail and a sliver of jib. Conditions have been considerably rougher and windier than forecast. Our friends aboard ‘Local Talent’ to the South reported sustained winds in the high 20s and ‘Serengeti’ to our North reported high 30s gusting into the mid-40s two nights ago. We are somewhere in the middle of those two – I was estimating about 30 knots sustained. Bob has taken a bit of a beating from having to crash her way through Southerly swells but is performing admirably. Spirits are good on board. The motion is much better today with the swells diminished and on the beam, and the wind is showing signs of reducing permanently rather than coming in fits and lulls as it is at the moment. We’ll be able to shake out a reef then and speed up a bit. Sarah is making bacon and eggs for breakfast, with chips and beans. Yum 🙂

We ended up staying at the Minerva Reefs for much longer than expected (9 days in North Minerva and 3 days in South Minerva) waiting for a suitable weather window to New Zealand, but we’re now finally on our way (again)! We set sail from South Minerva yesterday afternoon and have been enjoying wonderful sailing conditions since then. As I write this we have just crossed over into the Eastern Hemisphere, which is quite exciting. Alex tells me he has never sailed in this half of the world before.