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Making Miles

Well, yesterday turned out to be a pretty solid day on the water. We managed a respectable 146 nautical miles in 24 hours. Now, I'll be honest, we did get a bit of a push from one of the Yanmars to bump those numbers up. But hey, as long as we're heading in the right direction, I'm not complaining. Every mile counts, right?

One of the more… creative projects we tackled yesterday was the stove situation. With the wind dead astern, it was blowing a lot of the heat away from the pot. And look, I love a good cup of coffee as much as the next sailor, but waiting an eternity for the water to boil?  I considered closing the saloon doors, but it’s just too hot. And firing up the generator just to get the air-con going, because the saloon door is closed? That felt a bit excessive.

So, necessity being the mother of invention, we came up with a… let’s call it a "bespoke" wind shield. Picture this: an 8-liter water bottle, securely tied to the stove frame, with a large chopping board strapped to the bottle. It's not winning any beauty awards, I'll admit. But you know what? It works. And that’s the important thing. Waiting ten minutes for boiling water for a coffee puts me in such a bad mood I barely want the coffee by the time the water has boiled. Of course I drink it - but grumpily. 

We had a few heavy rain showers last night, which would have been perfect for washing off all the salt that's accumulated. But typical. Not a single splash on deck since we left. The last time this boat was wet was back in Raiatea and that was rain, which feels like a lifetime ago.

The wind has been a bit of a tease over the past 24 hours. We hoisted the main yesterday, but we were having to go so far off course just to keep moving that it really wasn’t worth it. There were moments when it looked like the wind was going to pick up, but it was just a hope. After a very calm night, we’ve finally got around 10 knots from the north this morning, which is giving us a bit of a push with the headsail out. It’s not much, but it’s something. And even as I write its easing off to 6 to 7 knts.

It's amazing how the little things become so important out here. Simple things like getting a hot drink quickly, or a bit of wind to help us along.

Anyway, onwards we go. Let's see what the next 24 hours bring. Hopefully, more miles.


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