Captain’s Log: Port Vila to Noumea New Caledonia, Day 2

August 11

Hey,

All is well!!

Thanks to all the friends for sending us emails with news and encouragement!!! When you are out here on this big ocean all by yourselves, hearing from friends is very special and keeps our spirits up as we go crashing into these seas!!!

We are having a very acceptable ride on this headsea passage. About 80% of the time the winds have been in the 5-12 kt range and <1m seas. The other 25%, about 8-10 hours, has been 15-20 kt winds with 1-2m seas. While we try to avoid headseas, this has not been too bad of a ride!!!

All day yesterday the winds kept calming to 5-10kts…..sweet. Around 10pm last night as we rounded Lifou the winds built to 15-20 kts for about 4-6 hours and then started to calm to 9-14 kts. The seas built to 1.5m before calming to <1m.

We are on schedule for a 11am arrival to Havannah Pass….now let’s just hope our tidal information is correct!!!

Ugh…..at 3am and I’m on watch…..I receive a SAT phone call from my brother…..my mom passed away yesterday….not the best of news for sure. She had just turned 92 and has been under skilled nursing care for the past 7 years. She suffered from Alzheimer’s and no longer recognized me or Kathy or other family members. She lived a great life and it was time she goes to be with my dad, who passed away 3 years ago.

But, now what to do???? One of the nightmares we have as a cruiser….out on passage, in the middle of the ocean and you have a family situation. We are a day away from Noumea and internet. How do we get back to Kansas City for the funeral???? Now that is a question we will ponder for a day or so and really won’t have a clue until we get to Noumea and the internet….arghhhhhh!!!!

Stats: 10 August 1900 UTC (7:00am August 11 local time):

Position: 21 50S 167 04E
Traveled: 160nm today; 265 total; ETA to Havannah Pass is Tuesday ~noon, ETA Noumea is Wednesday am
Course: 160M COG
Wind: 8-12 kts ESE
Waves: 1-2′ wind chop, short period, no swell
Speed: current speed is 7.2 kts SOG; has varied 6.0-7.3 kts today; avg is 6.7 kts for passage; sped up from 1500 to 1600 RPM
Weather: 20% cloud cover this am; sea temp 73.5 deg F; air temp 70 deg F……brrrr, we have long pants on!!
Boat sightings: 0 today; 0 total but saw one on AIS and 1 on radar
Fishing: Nope
Sail: down
Fuel burn: about 1.4nmpg….maybe a little worse than expected but we have headseas so slows us down some

Hope all is well!

John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!!
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