The light winds haven't let up, so we're still motor sailing with just the headsail up. With the breeze right behind us, and the Yanmar ticking over at 1700rpm, we're managing about 125-135 nautical miles a day without having to stray too far off course. It's been so calm that when I saw 11 knots of wind this morning, I actually thought, 'Wow, it's getting windy!'. Every now and again, there's enough wind to turn off the engine. If there isn't enough wind, we put the headsail away, but as long as we're still pushing forward, I'm happy.
There's a slight change of plans. We'll now be pulling into Samoa for fuel and water, and to assess the low-pressure system developing near Fiji around the 3rd. If the long-term forecast holds, we can leave Samoa and stay well north, bypassing Fiji and heading towards the northern part of Vanuatu. We'll then turn south as we get closer, likely stopping in Port Vila to prepare for the final leg, or Santo if the weather further south isn't looking great. Given how things are going, we'll definitely need to either refuel or dodge some more weather. Constantly (or borderline obsessively) checking the weather isn't making the long-range forecast any better. It seems those registration delays might have inadvertently worked in our favor, as the weather ahead, all the way to Brisbane, isn't looking too peachy, and we could have been a few weeks ahead of our current position. The forecast for the next 10 days means we definitely need a solid plan in place to avoid strong headwinds or worse.
The technology we have onboard now is incredible, and I have no idea how I used to manage. I definitely encountered far more bad weather 10+ years ago, but Starlink and, back in the day (i.e., 5 years ago), the Iridium Go have made things much more comfortable. Of course, the experiences of all the bad weather we've been stuck in have definitely helped improve my sailing, and it makes me wonder what will happen to people who have only had the luxury of Starlink and access to weather models when the forecast is wrong. The same goes for chart plotters – I'm sure plenty of people have never put a position on a paper chart. I told someone not long ago that not having paper charts on the boat made me feel a bit uncomfortable, and they said I sounded like a caveman.
