Thursday, November 02, 2006

Countdown to Landfall

Today the sea has been pretty big and the waves are hitting us on the beam making the motion on Kika quite uncomfortable.It has been sunny, however, and we had fishing success this afternoon in the form of a lovely tuna. Nick was catching up on some sleep and I was relaxing with my book when the winch began to scream as the fish took the line out. Poor Nick had a rude awakening but it's nice to have some meat.

Though the radio scheds are still dominated by the weather prognoses, there is now more talk and speculation about what landfall is going to be like in NZ. Ragtime (Will and Alyssa) reached Opua in the Bay of Islands last night and say that it is really beautiful. They also mentioned that they were welcomed by several albatross and three dolphin pods. We called up the NZ coastguard today to notify them of our imminent arrival and they seemed very pleased to hear from us, so we already feel we're going to like it there. Fortunately, the weather is looking ok for the next few days with no sinister developments to speak of so let's hope it stays that way.

The drop in temperature is taking some getting used to. We haven't experienced cold like this since the spring of 2005. Suddenly my 'wardrobe' is looking very inadequate. I love the feeling though of being on watch and getting chilly, then dashing down below to warm up in my sleeping bag.

Noa and Zeferin are pretty far ahead now though we feel Kika has been making good speed. We should arrive on Sunday morning in time for Bonfire Night with is apparently celebrated on the other side of the world!

Position at 20:45 (UTC+13): S30°39' E176°52'
Daily run: 150
Distance to go to Opua: 292

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