Date: Monday, November 5th 2018 Time: 23:00 UTC (12pm local) Location: 24° 48′ S, 178° 34′ E COG: 198°T SOG: 4.5 kts Distance to the New Zealand: 716 nm 24 hr. Distance covered: 88 nm All is well on Banyan. Cameron and the girls are slumbering away to the hum of the engine while I stand night watch. We have had the engine on most of last night and much of today as winds have been very light. This is consistent with the forecast as we pass through the sub-tropical high that is just north of New Zealand. Thankfully, the sea state has been very calm and the boat’s motion extremely comfortable which is not always the case when motoring. I usually hate motoring, but through these glassy seas, it’s almost a relief. But, fuel is finite so we are constantly watching for wind – watching the wind indicator, looking at the surface of the water (when it’s light out) and waiting for the feel of the wind on the side of our cheek rather than the front of our face.
Not sure if you noticed, but we changed a hemisphere. We are now in the eastern hemisphere. With our track moving southward in the southern hemisphere we are also getting colder. Each day it feels a bit more brisk. We are digging out our sweaters and socks and wondering where we stowed our blankets.
Cameron has been keeping up with both the Pac Sea Net SSB. A few of the boats that we left Mexico with and some we have met along the way are actually quite close to us, some within a few hundred miles. We have been organizing times to talk with these boats as well and it has been wonderful to know we have friends not too far away. Although we haven’t seen lights from a single vessel since leaving Tonga, we know they are out there. This is SV Banyan, clear