Summary: The winds and waves picked up quite a bit yesterday afternoon and through the night. We reefed the genoa and main after dinner, and have been tossed about since last night with taller, shorter waves. It’s been generally cloudy with patches of sun or stars. Winds have been 14-22 kts with 10-foot waves.
Position: 08 34.55 S 108 41.53 W at 12:00 UTC-7
COG: 254 degrees m
Distance : 173 nm (24 hr), 1,327 nm total
Average Speed =7.2 kts (24 hr)
Distance to go to Hiva Oa: 1,778 nm
Yesterday until now has been our most uncomfortable day so far on this passage. The short, steep seas have been throwing us and the boat around. Even though we continue to make good time, the wind in the sails is not enough to fully stabilize Anila against the waves. We move around carefully, not able to do much except sleep (sort of), eat, and read. It looks like we might have more of the same for the next several days and we aren’t much looking forward to it. At least we are still able to maintain our rhumb line. We are ostensibly sailing for Hiva Oa, but are ready to redirect to Fatu Hiva if reports come back that the gendarmerie is allowing short stays after landfall.
We were just within VHF distance of Panache and heard them hail us, but it seems like they couldn’t hear us. We didn’t see them on AIS or radar either, but we continue to keep a close eye out and hail periodically to pass the time.
Satin and Kyra managed to make pizzas for dinner last night despite the rolly-polly conditions. The pepperoni was lost somewhere in the freezer, however, relegated to a future pizza dinner. For we still have plenty of mozzarella and pizza sauce!
This post is a little late from yesterday due to the conditions. There will be another post for Day 9 following shortly.
Wildlife Sightings: Nearly biblical numbers of flying fish on deck this morning. They didn’t like the seas last night either.
Brennan Family Adventures on our Hylas 54