Arrgghhh frustration on the high seas, an alarming whale and lots of sun

Well things are not really going to plan for us at the moment. Yip you would not need to have a huge amount of EQ to hear the sadness in my "voice". We had grand plans for this leg, we have been super conservative with our approach on and off the water, but now we are struck in a hole of no wind, frustrated, hot and sad. We will most likely not be in tomorrow Monday.

On a brighter note, we were both in the cockpit this afternoon when a group of whales passed by, one then turned surface and charged straight towards us. Rob raced for the camera, but after checking out the Coppelia's whale shape bottom disappeared - it was quiet aggressive.

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POSITION REPORT COPPELIA 4522

37 11 S 178 7 E

Chocolate supplies are running low after a series of sail changes - we need to finish quickly.

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INCOMMING Gybed at East Cape

we have just gybed at East Cape. We are 17nm offshore of the nearest land, hoping to head north and keep out of the wind shadow. Had a second nice run under chicken shut, it is a nice easy sail to deal with then the rig is crashing about. The waves are large, like the ones off Fiordland last year.

Anne and Jeremy your ginger biccies have been a hit today, perfect with milky coffee to keep us awake. Boat is all good. Chocolate supplies are only for 2 more days so we had better finish before Monday night.

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The boat is a swamp - but a clean one.

Hello fabulous followers, a long and wet couple of days. Wellington gave us it's normal welcome party - 50 knots, Napier is giving us more gentle arrival party, ie nothing with rain. The boat is a little damp below, not too bad as there is still a dry spot on the floor to sleep, but our very trendy phone cable is once again water logged, so mobile phone comms are on hold. Rob spent half hour cleaning the galley this morning, and I have just cleaned to loo and packed the kites.

Southerly 35 knots is expected today, it is at Castlepoint only 80nm away. It has not reached the back markers of the fleet yet, but it will and they will race towards us. We are in variable 0-12 knots, close along Gale Force. We had a good night and got away from Sniper and Kick. But the cards are about the be dealt again, so you will see the hand we are given at the finish.

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UPWIND

Full main number 3, on port on the wind. Bang bang bang. Tedious, but the corn chips are great.

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Leg 3 start downwind with a touch of Wellington

After a short but interesting stop over, we blasted off at 1430 on our way to Napier.

The first part of this leg is slated to be rather nice and it is, after a bit of downwind that required the boat to be firmly told who the boss is, we have settled in a comfortable run across Palliser Bay. Rob is driving and I busily sorting a Beef Bourguignon for an early dinner.

All is going well. Tonight we round the corner and are into up wind at some wind speed. We will tell you how we are coping in the morning.

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Quote of the day

Rob while having a salt water bucket bath commented, "there is no water restrictions here". I can see a role for him in local government.

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It is very fickle !

We have a day of ups and downs. Some times over powered on the number 1, some times like now struggling to make way. The forecast model are not matching up with the weather we have, so we are sailing by the seat of our pants. A long way off shore Odyssey V and moving Vioalation about makuing good progress and we suspect that is in a northerly. The SSB weather fax has been working overtime downlosdin the latest charts, and from these we thing the next breeze should be a northernly. We wait and hope.

BTW if any knows where Neil can get a radiator cap for a Yanmar 30GM30FC - fresh water cooled in Wellington (serial number E20273) please give him a call on 0211614201. We are OK, but will need one before the start.


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Coppelia back on the air !

Rob can testify on his arrival the number of things I have lost or put down in the last 24 hours as my mind as been consumed with our nav PC not working. Our nav PC and Expedition are the heart of crew partnership common ground. A space where we can discuss facts, such as the actual change in true wind direction by looking at the strip chart, rather than a he said, she said conversation. But what we need is data and for the last 27 hours we have had to down load everything else where, then USB stick on to the PC, which would be fine except the USB for the nav PC is pretty difficult to access. But just minutes ago success, by carefully going through all the settings I realized that our PC was trying to connect to the barometer to access the Iridium Satellite network! What makes this doubly strange is we used this same setup for the RNZ and I have also used it in my Southern Ocean adventures. You would not believe the things that happen at sea .

On the sailing front, we are in light SE ... See Nick Olsen the old school look at the pressure charts does work for forecasting, we just need a faster boat to get there.

Sally

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The West Coast part 1.

After a great start, and sail across Great Exhibition Bay, we rounded Cape Reinga in the company of Sniper, Gale Force and Atamai. As many of you aware our performance on the West Coast has never been our strong point. Last year in the RNZ we did better than previous, but still in weighs heavily on our minds. The Tasman Sea greeted us with a very steep and nasty sea, as the south moving current, and wind from the south pushed up the swell. Luckily nothing brokenover the tops us, and unlike previously we had enough wind to ensure we were not swept into banks.

We tacked on starboard around 10am. Maybe a bit late, but we remain cautious of being too close to the land here. Full main, no 2. currently lifted on starboard. Beef roast care of Back Country Cuisine for breakfast, it is still lumpy and I have a major rebuild on our nav PC. Thanks goodness for the girly rose gold laptop which is our spare.

Sally

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test media email - take 2

Testing 1 2 3 ... Spending the afternoon making sure our media comms. plan works, including sending messages from the boat to you.

Sally has committed to this not being her last rodeo (race) as she has purchased a new pair of seaboots this morning - the last pair she got out of a rubbish bin as she said she only needed a short term solution. Boat full of gluten free goodies, ready to go racing.

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#RNI2020 test media email

Testing 1 2 3 ... Spending the afternoon making sure our media comms. plan works, including sending messages from the boat to you.

Sally has committed to this not being her last rodeo (race) as she has purchased a new pair of seaboots this morning - the last pair she got out of a rubbish bin as she said she only needed a short term solution. Boat full of gluten free goodies, ready to go racing.

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Page 20 in the Flagstaff

I have been a Devonport resident all my life this week I finally made the local paper !