Waking up for my watch Roxy pointed out that SV Beluga (a boat we met just before checking out (also headed for Port Resolution, Vanautu) was down to 15nm miles in front of us. Exciting to see them on AIS, even if not visually yet. The wind speed was variable from highs in the twenties down to fifteen+ knots. Good news was the wind and waves were starting to clock around now on our beam or just behind the beam (behind the beam is much more smooth and calm).
Today’s sunrise was gorgeous and just before some light rain gave a rinse to the boat. Also, just before was a squall off our port side. I turned on the radar and it was a small cell that did not appear to be a factor. Today I stuck around for coffee which was delayed due to larger waves and winds coming from squall the outflow (25-26 knots and 4 meter steep seas).
The big seas continued throughout the day with a more twisty motion since they were behind us now. The autopilot got a workout as we would twist to starboard while surfing down and a big correction would be needed to get back on course. Man, I don’t want to think about how much work it would be to hand steer.
We closed the gap to 5.8nm to SV Beluga at the end of our second day but then they seem to match our speed. Talking to them earlier, they were on Reef 3 overnight while we were at Reef 2 (not that it is directly comparable since they are on a monohull). I’m guessing they shook out a reef while we have not made any sail changes due to the continuing 20-25 knot AWS.
We crossed our 48 hour mark with 168.0nm over the past 24 hours for a 7.0nm/hr average. We are flying! Maximum speed was 10.2 knots surfing down a wave. More importantly, before departure we all picked our estimated arrival time, and Roxy is looking really good by choosing Thursday at 9pm (Carl and I picked times on Friday), if our speed holds it appears we will arrive 4:00pm Thursday. Wowza! But winds are forecast to dimmish a bit and that time will likely slip.
The big excitement for me was baking a couple of loaves of bread. We have a lot of leftovers and everyone was keen to have those along with another round of grilled cheese sandwiches. So more bread was kneaded.
Conditions varied with continued large waves slamming into the bridgedeck but at this point we were getting used to them. Just before sunset we enjoy a large dinner and then switched into watch mode for the night.
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