Surfs up

23deg29.936S 166deg10.113E

Yesterday the sun came out, the deck dried up and we were able to sit outside. The swell is now going with us which in one way is good (not getting waves breaking over the boat) but the roll isn't consistent, so your brains can roll out of either ear - then you have to spend half an hour running round trying to scoop them up and put them back in again. All very messy.

In the afternoon the swell got up. We've been sailing over a trench that is 5000m deep but during the afternoon we moved into 500m depth, because of New Caledonia and its barrier reefs. The swell became what I call MONSTERS FROM THE DEEP. Once I was convinced that we weren't going to DIE, it was fun. Maiken even surfed a couple for 20 metres or so. I also had a go at a bit of hand steering round this time (one of the lines on the magic wind steering gadget had chafed through so I steered while Freddie fixed). It took a little bit of getting used to but you had to really move the wheel to the right every time a wave came through and then ease right back after that (because then we'd jibe).

So it was a big day for us - we managed to cook a proper meal (roast chicken in the pressure cooker), we had a glass of wine at sunset ON DECK, and we passed New Caledonia (they didn't send a care package out with baguettes and foie gras so we're a bit miffed).

It's now Sunday morning - we've reached the halfway point to Brisbane. The sun has come up, my brains have just rolled out for the 3rd time this morning so I'm off to scoop them up again, Captain Freddie is sleeping in the forward cabin. We're cruising.

xxx
Jenny

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