Waited till daybreak to shake out one of the reefs on the main sail. Good thing, it’s much easier to see in the daylight. The spaghetti of lines were soaking wet and not running as ‘free’ as usual so took a bit more to shake out that reef.

After a lumpy, “bash your way into the wind”, waking up with a little better sailing angle was like “pinch me, is this for real?” Wasn’t actually Champagne sailing more like Prosecco sailing, pretty good in its own right, but just doesn’t have that same feeling. There were still some waves to contend with, but all in all a beautiful blue sky sailing day.

That “bash” for 24-36 hours was just demoralizing, we knocked off a mere 100 miles toward the destination but sailed almost double that back and forth. Oh well, that part of the trip will be referred to as the “bash” and never discussed again. It’s now over, and we replace it with a beautiful day of sailing.

Pulled pork over a baked potato for a lunch snack and bbq chicken enchiladas for a late dinner.

Wind piped up after dinner, but still rocking along with 420 miles left to Marsden, looking like we are on track to be in before the next cold front.

Oh, and that spinning thing in Vanuatu got baptized today. It was given the name Lola, the first cyclone of the season, and she is very premature arriving before the season actually starts. And to top it off, one of the models has Lola swinging down the west coast of New Zealand next week. Oh my!