Onward to Australia

Well they weathered their first big storm,  and much has happened since. The EYE posts provide some information on their visit to Vanuata. While there, Alan told us they managed to get the motor working right, the head repaired, but the main sheet which tore during the storm will have to wait repair till they get to Australia, it can be used in a reefed position.

I apologize for being so busy that I haven’t kept this updates.  We still enjoy daily emails and updates from Alan and I’ve tried to do some catch up below with his emails since they sailed from Vanuata.

Monday July 19 - Day 1
We had a great time exploring Vanuatu with highlights including seeing a volcano as we entered the island group, Snorkeling at Million Dollar Point, and enjoying some new and interesting foods. We left Luganville yesterday at 2 in the afternoon headed for Carins, Australia.

We have been sailing under Mizzen and Storm Jib with no need for our main so far due to strong trades that should continue for the rest of this week we hope. We are making around 6 knots average on a broad reach almost due west. The swells are around 3-4 meters (about 12 feet) from the SE and we have roughly 950Nm before we reach the great barrier reef with a further 200 after that to Carins.

It's a little rolly onboard and the cockpit is a little wet but were all up for it and happy to be on the move. Australia here we come.

Tuesday July 20, Day 2
The wind had subsided enough that we put the #1 headsail up around noon and the cockpit is drying out nicely. It's still a little rolly below but were all getting our sea legs by now. We've knocked out about 125Nm in the last noon to noon run.

We bought some fresh provisions in Vanuatu including about six short baguette breads, 2 bread loafs, 8 grapefruit, 2 cucumbers, a bunch of onions, and potatoes. Having fresh foods is so nice but they won't last forever. One of our breads is already getting a little fuzzy. We also expect that we will have to turn over all of our foreign canned meats when we get to Carins due to Australia's strict policies so we'd better start eating all that spam and luncheon meat. Yum Yum.

Wednesday July 21, day 3
Today has been a lazy day. Everyone is going through the phase of a crossing where mostly you just sleep or lay in your bunk, eat, or sit in the cockpit at your watch. The days are starting to mush together as we lock into our rotation schedule.

Before leaving, I thought it would be a good idea to clean up a little so I stowed everything below my bunk and made quite a bit of room for myself by organizing some things. Unfortunately, after our first night I realized that all my stuff that had been piled in my bunk with me was actually what was keeping me from rolling back and forth in the night. It took me a long time to find a sufficiently body constraining position that allowed me to get to sleep. What a weird problem to have. "Not enough stuff with you in the bed to fall asleep". Oh well.

The wind has been fluctuating between around 10 and 15knots from the SE and although the swells have settled down considerably, it has been pretty choppy today with about equal 2-3ft swell from the S, SE, and E. We still have the #1 headsail up and making good speed. We have been getting a lot of dew lately at night and today has felt very hazy and muggy. During the day, the sun is hot hot hot and with the hatches closed the cabin can get a little gross. Thankfully we were able to open the boat up a little in a lull and get some fresh air through the boat.

Were about 630Nm from the great barrier reef. About 230 miles from being halfway there, and about 180 miles from our next time zone change which will put us in Eastern Australia time. 14 hours ahead of Eastern US time.

Thursday Day 4, July 22
Winds have picked up steadily today and shifted slightly to the south. Just before sundown we swapped the #1 headsail for the #3 and the mainsail. The swells have been building also and are around 8ft or so now from the ESE.

For dinner Will had dreams of a cheeseburger. What resulted was a slice of fried SPAM with hunks of our "last a long time" cheese that comes in a box all rolled up in a pancake bun! It's the closest thing I've had to a cheeseburger in 4 days and very inventive. 2 thumbs up from this cheeseburger critic.

Friday Day 5, July 23 
We dropped the main sometime in the night and the wind has kept building all morning from the ESE to around 20 knots now with larger swells back up around 10-12 feet like we had seen at the beginning of the crossing. We're (konck on wood) about 3 days from the great barrier reef. Not sure how much umph the reef will take out of this trade wind swell but with any luck it will calm down a little.

All is well, counting down the miles.