Cant see anything yet

Overnight the boisterous conditions continued and about midnight I needed to gybe onto starboard to get out round West Island - not that I could see it , but that's what the GPS was indicating I needed to do. Once I had cleared that, around 2.30 I gybed back onto port and aimed at North Cape, and started having some sleeps. I was too nervous before that thinking if the alarm failed I would wake up on rocks, but North Cape was 8 hours away, and apparently shipping doesn't come between the Three Kings and the Mainland. When dawn broke it was a scene of grayness and damp - a heavy sea mist was making everything damp and obscuring the horizon but looking back I did get a faint glimpse of some of the islands we had passed earlier. Nothing else to see and to add to the gloom the wind had died again, not completely but we're only making 3.5 knots. Fog all round.

I'm heading towards Cape Reinga, now 12 miles off, which seems rather close given where we've been lately, but nothing is yet visible on the horizon because of the poor visibility. To think that a month ago I would have regarded 12 miles as being way out to sea!The mist has gone but its a hazy grey day with low cloud and no sun so far. Once I can see the Cape I'll gybe across onto a more favorable angle and maybe pick up a bit of speed.

I'm feeling rather tired and worn out this morning so these light conditions are probably a good chance for me to rest up and recuperate. I've put away the chart of the Tasman sea that I have been plotting my position on and unrolled the charts for Northland's coast. I've also just put the kettle on and I'm going to have Milo and some biscuits.

Sapphire Out

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