August 10
Hi All,
We left Port Vila around 3:30pm after a scrumptious barbeque pork chop lunch. Kathy is concerned that Australia and maybe New Caledonia will take away some of our New Zealand meats….especially the pork….so we are eating big!!!
Once we left the protection of Efate the winds were 10-15 kts SE and built to 15-20 kts SE to around 10pm. After that the winds calmed to 8-15 kts SE. On Kathy’s watch the winds practically died to 5 kts for 30 mins or so…..oh we wish that that would happen for the rest of the passage!!!!
The seas have been in the 3-6′ SE short period. The 3′ chop is fine, it is the occasional 6+’ one that gives us a good rock and roll and violent pitching motion!!!
But, overall not a bad ride!!!!
We are timing our arrival to Havannah Pass, the entrance to the SE lagoon, for around slack tide on Tuesday morning. The current can run quite strong and when you have wind against waves there can be 4+’ standing waves….something we want to avoid. We hope by noon on Tuesday it will be a flood tide so a favorable current and wind!!
Stats: 9 August 1900 UTC (7:00am August 10 local time):
Position: 19 19S 167 33E
Traveled: 105nm today; 200nm to go to Havannah Pass; ETA to Pass is Tuesday ~noon, ETA Noumea is Wednesday am
Course: 190M COG
Wind: 8-15 kts SE
Waves: 1m SE swell, 1-2′ wind chop, short period
Speed: current speed is 6.7 kts SOG; has varied 6.0-7.3 kts today; avg is 6.8 kts for passage; 1500 RPM
Weather: 20% cloud cover this am; sea temp 75 deg F; air temp 74 deg F
Boat sightings: 0 today
Fishing: Nope
Sail: down
Fuel burn: not calculated yet
Hope all is well!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!!
