Day 10 - Pacific Crossing - 1st April

Be careful what you wish for. After a good parasail sail it started to look a bit grey so we decided to drop it and put up the mainsail. Good job because the wind then built and built. The promised 10-15 knots arrived and was passed. We sneaked a reef in. Now dark we approached 20 knots apparent wind. Add on 7+ knots of boat speed almost dead downwind and its getting pretty tasty. The waves built too, crashing into our port quarter. The biggest lifted us up and turned us downwind before the amazing Paul realised what was going on, turned back to port, over the crest and lined us up ready for the next one. Much better helming than either we or our autopilot can do. Right through the night and on after a welcome dawn we were grabbing handholds and timing our movements to avoid falling over or knocking into things. As a result though we've had our best daily run so far - 147 miles.

And then it dropped. Just like that. In less than a minute we were seeing 10-15 knots and the sea started to settle a bit. It's still 15 knots apparent now and we're doing 6 knots but the world has returned to its senses for the time being at least.


The lively conditions threw a dozen flying fish onto the deck last night. They are apparently delicious fried. The trouble is they always seem to come aboard at night and by the time you collect them in the morning they have gone stiff. So we've never tried them. But we've seen huge numbers of them on this passage,more than eve before. Often there will be hundreds at a time skimming over the waves.

I expect you are waiting for the latest Baldrick update. Well he stayed with us the whole night. He struggled to stay balanced on the pulpit at the front of Mehalah and finally flew off this morning. But not before he had a meal of safety netting and yankee leech line. Will he return tonight? Who knows.

Other than that, not much sign of wildlife to report I'm afraid. No fush because we only fish for food and we dont really fancy dish at present. Maybe tomorrow if conditions are conducive.

However to celebrate 1,000 miles completed we've just put all our clocks back. We are now officially on Pacific Time, seven hours behind UTC and eight behind the UK who have just switched to British Summer Time. That gives an extra hour in today so we can claim the next hour's mileage in today [maybe]. And there you have it 152 mikes in a day. A new record!

Later ..the seas are still pretty big and the winds are quote light. Its a battle as to whether roll along at 4 knots or we just wallow and slat in the swell.


email (text only, no pictures) to mvgc3@sailmail.com

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