***Life on board***
More of the same. Light shifty winds from the ENE and we are making better progress today sailing wing on wing at the moment and averaging just a tiny bit under 6knots. The sun is hot and it is a partly cloudy and very bright day.
I have finished my hammock to the point where the next step is to hang it up and make sure everything looks good before permanently tying the last bitter ends together. The boat is rocking too much to make a test on the bow feasible so I may have to wait until we are at anchor in the Marquesas to really test her out.
Adam made a delicious spaghetti dinner with a chicken, tomato paste, and pineapple chunks sauce. We enjoyed it in the cockpit and discussed our arrival in Fatu Hiva in the coming days. We have calculated that if we can hold out 5.8 knots we will be in before sunset in 2 days and thus "save a day" in the islands. If we are on the borderline for this cutoff we may decide to crank up the iron topsail (i.e. the engine). This would also help out the batteries which are not seeing much charging lately with our light wind downwind heading.
***The Boat***
Battery power is down to 65.3 %
***Communication***
Checked in with the Barefoot net this evening. One of the boats that has been regularly checking into the net has arrived in Hiva Oa. Everyone else gave their positions and it seems that other boats on our same latitude are having simlar wind condition.
***Weather***
Partly cloudy and bright, moon out full last night. Partly cloudy in the evenings.
Position (7:00pm):
10 deg 29' S
133 deg 55' W
Alan and the Crew