Day 2 at sea – Niue to Whangarei NZ – on board FGT Sun 19th September 2010 Noon Niue local time Position Lat 21-17S Long 172-02W 1093 Cape Petrel miles to Whangarei NZ Trip log 22014 at Noon today Days run 154nm -how’s that for starters?? Wind 10 to 15 knots South-East. Boat speed av 6 knots. Av boat direction 220 T Barometer 1017 Sails – full main , blue spinnaker and then at 5pm change to jib #2 when wind went forward. cloud cover varies 40 -80% Air temp 25C water temp 25C – Michael ‘not too hot-not too cold’ hmm – 3 bears story time? Really bright 3/4 moon. Things seen – white tailed tropic bird at the noon position, an older wttb, one hugefish that got away.
Greetings from four sailors racing about the South Pacific Ocean,
Jason, Martin, Michael, and the Senior Member(the Sm) had a pretty nice start to our 1300 miles voyage to Whangarei NZ on the FalconGt. Leaving Niue at 8am we had a fond farewell message by radio from Vanessa as we left the familiar green Niue coastline and brilliant blue waters heading for the open ocean. What a wonderful time our crews had at Niue, even the new crew remarked they would have liked to stay longer to experience the friendships like the Sm had and enjoy the Niuean hospitality. They all said they’ll be back. The FGT cleared from the influence of Niue after about 4 hours and settled into the motion of the ocean until the Sm demanded the blue spinnaker be hoisted. Worked ok for a bit then back to jib2 and full main as the wind headed us and strengthened to 20 knots. After the inaugural Happy Hour (HH) the Sm was snoozing when the crew decided to reef the main so that done and the boat more upright – going like hector, dinner of pan seared tuna, mashed spuds, veges, and greens was served, before our watches began. The sm cleverly being busy in the galley during his watch!! Not to worry, he did the 9pm to midnight number only resorting to the autopilot for the last hour as he was pretty much resting eyelids for 10 minute at a time. The FGT was charging through the tropical night in the moonglow, flying fish leaping out of the way. Pretty nice sailing. By dawn the wind was fading and at Noon we had done 154 miles but the wind was down to 10 knots and right in front of us. Still getting 5′s and 6′s so not too bad and the sea state moderated prompting Martin to wonder if we were parked. Today after brekky of – you guessed it – vita-brits – coffee, tea, orange juice, bacon and eggs on toast- all organic of course- we are, after all, 4 snags ( sensitive new age gents) on a leisurely ocean cruise, or maybe 4 mad guys racing to NZ! I guess most of our readers will want to know how we are getting on together and the Sm at least, can report he has already learned 3 new sailing things from the guys, and everyone is getting on nicely – some even showered and other went the baby-wipe route. All were seen cleaning their teeth which is a sign of consideration to others. No fish today – got to go it’s HH time
