Still Sailing

The winds are still 15-20 knots and the seas aren't too bad and we are still moving along between 5 and 6 knots. The only down side is the seas. They are FAR from regular and the swell period is quite short. We are taking them on the stern and it is eerie to watch sometimes as the swell comes up behind you at 3 meters and gently lifts the stern and passes under the boat. The wind steering does an amazing job surfing us down the waves and we have seen over 8 knots at times on the downhill slide. Every once and awhile we get slapped on the side by a cross wave and take water onto the enclosure. Are we ever glad to have the enclosure! We have had both side panels in since the first night and the cockpit has stayed dry despite some pretty good waves over the port side. The boats north us going to Suwwarrov and Samoa have been getting a lot more wind and have reported taking waves into the cockpit and flooding down below. We tend to leave the hatch boards in when it gets like this. I guess others will now too. The catamaran rush made it safely to Aitutaki last night and is waiting for good light to enter the pass. Alan has to be careful with currents as his power comes from a 9.9 horsepower outboard. He thinks it should be OK. Elyios is 175 miles from Rarotonga and after a rough first night are cooking along at 7 knots or so. When I spoke to them a couple of days ago, they weren't happy but conditions have moderated and they are making good time. The weather is really in our favour just now. The high pressure system south of us has nice, evenly spaced isobars where we are which means consistent winds at 15-20 which is what we are getting. With a bit of luck we will make landfall Thursday in Niue although we need to keep our speed up to do it. Still over 500 miles to go.

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