We pulled the double-reefed main back up at 6am, with the apparent wind in the low 20s, and carried on heading west.
We now have less than 1,000 nautical miles to go, so the end is definitely in sight. The plan is to dip south of Niue, pass through Tonga somewhere around Vavaʻu, then navigate the reefs east of Fiji before making our way in. A few more islands, a few more reefs to negotiate, and then boom — done!
We've managed another excellent 24-hour run, again in the 180s, even though we spent quite a while sailing under just the headsail. The Nautitech is certainly proving to be a good boat for making miles.
It's getting colder, though, and I'm now resorting to long trousers and a jacket at night. I thought we'd left the cold behind on the last delivery, but apparently not. At least I'm not back in full winter survival mode just yet.
We ran the water maker again and topped off the tanks this morning, kicked a few flying fish off the deck and I had a unintended shower when I was using the winch in the cockpit and the water that had pooled in the main poured directly over my head. It was a bit of an eyeopener at 6am!
The sky has been alternating between complete cloud cover and crystal-clear skies, and this afternoon we had a rather unexpected encounter with some enormous waves. I have no idea where they came from, as the conditions hadn't seemed to warrant anything quite so dramatic. A few of them came charging towards the stern. Standing in the cockpit and looking towards the horizon, all we could see was water. We actually had to look up to see the top of one of the waves approaching us. A few others came down the port side, towering well above eye level.
Then, just as suddenly as they appeared, they were gone, and we were back to what you might call regular waves which aren't exactly small at the moment. It's one of the strange things about being at sea. You can be sailing along quite happily when, out of nowhere, the ocean decides to remind you who's in charge.
We're making excellent progress, the boat is going well, and with less than 1,000 miles to go, we're getting closer to Fiji every day. Now we just need the weather to play nicely while we work our way through the islands and reefs on the final stretch.