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 the deck and down inside the main fuel tanks. Every little bit of stability helps when the sea state is being this unruly.
The weather forecast ahead is a great incentive to keep pushing. We can expect a few days of much lighter winds before some tricky Northerlies pop up early next week.
The plan is to maximize the miles we can now, making a direct heading toward Bundaberg. This will buy us precious sea room. Then, when the Northerlies finally start to blow, we can crack of and utilize those following winds to push us down the coast towards our final destination in Brisbane. Time to eat up the miles while the going is good!