Bora Bora to Suwarrow: 22nd July

Bora Bora to Suwarrow: Day 2: 22nd July 2023
Miles to Suwarrow: 568 miles

Such a quiet night. Paul the wind steering did not need adjusting once all night! Sally saw a shooting star. Small moon, a bit of phosphorecence. Sally's first night watches with us. Tonight she's on her own!

This morning we were down to 3.5 knots so we braved the notorious whisker pole (remember that Irish John?). It took a while to set it up but we've been bowling along at 5 knots ever since.

No fish caught, no whales, one flying fish, two boobies, one floating buoy, no ships. We are a long way from anywhere here.

Cloudy today with a few squalls around but so far we've missed them.

Stubborn Cryptic Crossword 201 completed and all correct. Yeah!

This is a tricky passage, well known for unpredictability. We are getting weather GRIB files via the SSB radio and daughter Jenny is sending daily forecasts. In addition our friend Glen on Cloudy Bay has Starlink communications so he, two days ahead of us, is also sending us predictions.

We are headed for the tiny atoll of Suwarrow gaining northing to try and get ahead of a big patch of no wind on our direct line. So far so good but it's early days. Tomorrow should be OK. After that we hope to have enough wind to turn westwards.

We've chilled and slept today. Gill has sewed the dinghy cover where it had worn and I fixed one of the winches.

We've made a great choice in crew. Sally is an excellent cook and we've already had Shepherd's Pie, egg sandwiches, much coleslaw, fresh fruit and baguettes. Tonight it's quinoa with lentil and kidney bean sauce. Mmm. Thanks Sally.

All in all a good though still rather slow day.

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