We are still comfortably "plodding along on our own little world," with the Horizon PC52 eating up the miles across the Coral Sea. We recently navigated through the scattered reefs around Chesterfield , just west of New Caledonia, and are now officially heading directly for Queensland. However, the weather models are starting to argue a bit about what our final arrival holds. There is a strong, possibility of some gusty Northerlies sweeping through as we approach the coast. To ensure we avoid a repeat of the uncomfortable conditions we experienced a few days ago, we’ve made a strategic adjustment to our course. We are now heading slightly further north of our destination. This gives us the tactical flexibility to turn southwest as we get closer to Australia, which will allow us to have any incoming waves further aft. This significantly improves the comfort and safety of the ride. In tandem with this course change, we've also decided to clear in to Brisbane rather than ...
We are officially back in the routine of passage making, which currently involves managing some spirited weather. The 27 knots of yesterday is gradually easing—it's down to around 15 knots now and slowly swinging to the southeast. There's still a significant sea running, however, which makes things incredibly uncomfortable. Typing is a challenge, and cooking is currently impossible (thank goodness for pre-made provisions!). The good news is the heavy spray has finally died down, so we are no longer having salt caked over the windows and everything else on deck. Which meant having to hose things off outside every now and again. I had anticipated things would be a bit spicy as we crossed the top of New Caledonia. So, just before exiting the Grande Pass , I slowed the PC52 down, turned off downwind to stabilize the motion, and we did a fuel transfer, filling the main tanks from the IBC tanks stowed on deck. It is definitely helping the motion to get nearly a ton of weight off t...