Day 12 sea heading for Niue on board FGT Fri 20 August 2010 Noon NZ local time
Position Lat 23-18S Long 172-23W 283 Cape Petrel miles to Niue. (1012nm from Whangarei NZ)
Trip log 20940 at Noon today Days run 167nm - giddyup
Wind 10 to 24 knots South-East. Boat speed av 7 knots. Av boat direction 030 T Barometer 1017 - slightly down maybe we are in the S-E trade winds
Sails - full main , blue spinnaker and then at 4am change to jib #1 when the Sm got chicken running the chute
cloud cover varies 40 -80% Air temp 22C water temp 21C
Really bright 3/4 moon.
Greetings from the no longer mildly frustrated FGT Racing Crew on the South Pacific Ocean,
We are roaring to Niue now. After lunch yesterday the wind changed to the S-E Trades and the waves aligned S-E, up with the blue spinnaker and off we went to record speeds on this trip. At 4am the Sm got a tad scared of a major sideways broach - and that ain't no jewel - so wrenched Gerry from his beauty sleep for deep discussions on sail strategy, made a plan and knocked the bastard off. The old middle of the night trick on a plunging wet deck of course with clouds of spinnaker clothe ready to catch fish. Successful - thanks goodness and the crew were beaming happily, self congrats the order ogf the day.
Today we are having one of the best days sail ever on the FGT - 7's, 8's, 9's and occasional 10's - deep blue white flecked seas- just roaring through the ocean straight to Niue, spray everywhere. Fabulous.
That's all fine and dandy but the big news is the Karlos Katch this morning - a 6 kilo mahi mahi - what colours - we were sorry to have to despatch such a beautiful creature. It's being prepared for kokoda - (Fiji origin) raw fish marinated in our extraordinary juicy Raoul Island limes, onions, and coconut cream for starters then it will be the object of our Friday night Fish Fry - you little beauty.
Records everywhere on the FGT lately:
-highest boat speed 11.2 knots by Karen
-fastest days run - 167nm- the whole crew - K, C, K, G, J
-deepest swim in the Kermadec Trench - K, C, K, G, J
-biggest fish caught - 6 kilo - Karlos
-completely dry washing delivered to the boat by emergency swimmers - Gerry, Karen
-fastest snorkel inspection of Boat Cove - Chris (something about sharks maybe??)
-least amount of expected bad language in mini-crisis's - the SM (this crew is a good influence)
....and a quick note from the shipboard ornithologist - a red-tailed tropic bird was spotted and and hovered momentarily over the boat, our second tropic bird of the day. Yay!
Cheers
Your record making crew
Remember to checkout
www.svfalcongt.com
www.the"Giselle and Kasey" <monkeyfeet@mac.com>kermadecs.org
