Year 2 –10 January 2024 -New Zealand to Sydney- Day 4

We motored on and off on the night as the wind was relatively light and only gave us enough to make a reasonable speed from time to time. Kevin and I had the red eye slot 2.00am to 5,00am and all was quiet.

Having gone to bed I woke quite early and we were greeted by a number of dolphins who enjoyed playing and swimming around the bow (front) of the boat. I decided to make bacon and scrambled eggs for those awake and we tried and enjoyed Mark’s bread he had made the day before. After breakfast Trevor made another loaf- it looks like a competition is happening! He then whipped (tidied up the end of a rope to prevent it fraying) a rope he had seen at the mast.  Kevin, Tom and Grant were surprised we had seen no other boats since we left the Cape at the top of New Zealand. I explained that when sailing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas we saw no other boats for 19 days. There are some boats around but not close enough for us to see them.

Bruce the weather man confirmed what I had seen on Predict Wind that we have a few days of benign weather ahead of us with winds in the 7-12 and 8-16 kt range. As we are trying to reach Sydney before certain thunderstorms arrive we needed to be making at least 5.75 kts which is an issue when the wind is below 11 kts. I have calculated that we may need to continue to sail and motor to ensure we keep up enough miles each day. The daily run to 12.00 noon was 170 again – not bad when we have had light winds.

The calmer weather was easier for those who may feel seasick and it was noticeably warmer the further west we were going. Kevin tried to fish again but alas we did not catch anything. We just enjoyed the warmth and read and relaxed. I had to look at some customs and biosecurity forms for Australia which like New Zealand have quite strict regulations. It seems that we may have to give up any meat, fruit and vegetables and eggs we have not eaten.

I decided to go on to Sydney time which is -2 hours – so having made the change we are now 10 hours behind the UK and so I agreed we would put the ships clocks back two hours and so Mark and Grant did an extra hour and Kevin and I did an extra hour over two shifts.

Grant made a great mushroom soup for lunch and the evening was sunny with high pressure cloud although we could see some rain clouds in the distance. We motored and sailed during the afternoon and by about 6.00pm as forecast the wind increased and we were sailing again in about 17-19 kts. Kevin had cooked a delicious chicken and couscous tagine which was followed by melon. We enjoyed this by bombing along at about 8 kts.

After supper there were some rain clouds around and we had to reef a bit but al least we could continue to sail and hope this continues during the night. Just as it was getting dark a cargo ship came on the AIS and there was a lovely sunset. It feels with the rise in temperature that we are getting nearer.

The picture of the day is Stormbird sailing from the very front.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from April to September so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com