AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/09/21 19:02
LATITUDE: 13-51.31S
LONGITUDE: 165-33.63W
COURSE: 255T
SPEED: 6.5
MARINE: YES
WIND_SPEED: 10
WIND_DIR: NNE
SWELL_DIR: ENE
SWELL_HT: 1.3M
SWELL_PER: 10
CLOUDS: 15%
VISIBILITY: 15
BARO: 1013.3
TREND: -1
AIR_TEMP: 32.2C
COMMENT: Beach House -En Route – Suwarrow Atoll, Cook Islands – Rose Atoll, American Samoa (154 miles to go, exactly 1/2 way)
We\’ve motored the last 22 hour at between 6.5 – 7.5 knots. We haven\’t had any sail up at all until just now. The engines have been great, I note a slightly higher oil pressure on starboard than port. I\’m still a bit bitten by all that\’s gone on this season with the engines and as such pay paranoic attention to them. When we\’re motoring long distances in hot weather, having our stateroom air conditioner available (works off our inverter) is really a treat for the off watch. It\’s hot and sticky out here right now.
A very calm evening with isolated distant rain cells seen on radar which we can leave on all the time with the engines charging the batteries.
We\’ve finally got a bit of a sailing breeze at 10-11 knots from the N to NE which gives us a reaching condition. This is where the wind hits us from directly abeam; in this case from our port (left) side. We\’re sailing at between 5.5 and 7 knots. We do not expect this wind to last more than \”several hours\” and then it will really go flat according to the weather files. We want to give the engines a chance to cool and then I\’ll check everything really well before the home stretch to Rose Atoll.
Conditions are (at the moment) actually ideal in terms of sailing. The seas are flat, the wind fairly steady, boat moving along nicely with full main and geneker (our biggest headsail with the exception of the spinnaker used for more \”down wind\” work). We\’ve 154 miles to go and should be at Rose Atoll in flat seas and no wind tomorrow around 9 a.m. local time plus or minus.
We\’ll give an arrival report tomorrow once anchored (assuming we can enter – which is likely).
KIT,
Scott and Nikki