Flat is Fun

Latitude : 28? 44' South
Longitude: 177? 55' East
Eerily flat best describes the sea state for the past day. There is a long gentle swell slowly running under the boat with a ripple on top. The big down side is the severe lack of wind. We have been under motor since Sunday but expect the winds to pick up later today (famous last words). We have spent a lot of time pouring over weather maps and analysis charts trying to figure out what the next few days will hold. It looks like we will see some wind as a front passes over us in the next 12-18 hours, but not too much. There is a low pressure system that will affect us but it looks like it will be less severe than we originally thought. It seems to change every day. It does serve to pass the time. We have been eating well, cooked dinner every night and we are getting through our fresh food at a rate that will see us have to throw out very little. We can't bring anything fresh into NZ, and in fact they ask if we are going to dispose of food at sea we do it outside of the 12 mile limit. For some reason that makes a difference. Jan managed to finally talk to Tony last night n the SSB, she had been trying to contact him every night. Other than a ship that passed us between 1 and 5 AM sometime nothing else has happened of note. I did re-seal the aft hatch after finding out it was leaking again when we had all the rain a few days ago. I managed to squeeze out enough sealant from the end of a tube. I can tell we are getting closer to NZ, it's getting colder. Long pants and layers are becoming de-rigour. It will get colder and I suspect that I will have to hook up the furnace again when we get to Opua to take the chill off in the mornings for the next month or so. I'm glad we still have some kerosene on board.

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