A brief Sail

Ive been motoring across the flat glassy sea almost all day. I emptied the three cans of diesel into the tank while the sea was so flat - a job that would be very messy if I had left it till the tank was nearly empty when we would most likely have been rolling and pitching all over the place. So I have one tank of diesel - just less than 60 liters now and I wont be using it all up just to motor through light wind - when I've got 15 litres left I will just have to wait, as I don't want to arrive without being able to use the motor. So I could probably motor another 24 hours. The forecast is for winds to pick up from the south and south west, which are faourable directions for where I'm heading.

This afternoon that evening breeze returned and again we had some pleasnt hours sailing , but as last night, again tonight after sunset the wind died so the motor has just gone back on. The sunsets are amazing and I seem to be taking photos of them every night they are so beautiful and the sun seems massive as it sets behind us.

Today, because the sea was so smooth I frequently noticed Blue Bottles drifting around and I also passed what looked like a coconut with barnacles growing all over. I'm nearly through my book and its been a great read - Robin ( now Sir Robin) Knox- Johnstone is certainly a remarkable sailor - he won the race on "Suhaili" a timber boat that is now preserved at Greenwich in London where Sir Francis Chichesters boat Gypsy Moth is also preserved.

So no dramas today but we are now 60 miles closer to NZ than we are to Australia. In the 24 hours to 4 pm today we made 120 miles. My GPS says at that rate we should be round North Cape on Sunday. We shall see.

Sapphire Out

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