A bit of motoring

We have some wind again so the spinnaker is up again and we are doing 5 knots. We had to motor throught he night to keep moving as the wind died down too much for sailing last night. The motoring has helped to charge up the batteries to 100%, which is a good for them after so many days at sea.

Our one gas bottle finished this morning while we were baking our bread and our cakes so we are not too sure how they will come out. We will have to see and lunch will have to wait a while.

The kids are making "cabins" in their bedrooms with bed sheets and the optimist bouyancy bags. Of course Felix has worked out a system of "money" to enter the "cabins" and Victor has got the music going.

Our current position is 9deg 54.03'S and 133deg 57.98'W COG 252deg and only 286NM to go!!

Spinnaker up

Yesterday morning we finally got the spinnaker up as the seas had calmed down a little and the wind went more aft. We kept it up last night as the wind was a constant 15 knots. Currently the wind has died down to 8 knots and the boat speed has decreased to 4.8 knots. It is forecast for the wind to stay the same for the next 24 hours so our arrival will be delayed a little. Emmanuelle just wants to put the motor on, so we will see.

We are still eating well and the kids are doing their final CNED evaluations.

Our current position is 9deg 46.37'S and 132deg 19.68'W and course 256deg.

Pacific chronicles

We are still sailing with Stealaway, our sea neighbours, having a chat from time to time and seeing their sails not too far. Since this morning, our spinaker is up and Greg's smile goes proportionnally with our speed. The sea seems less bumpy which is great. We had a very challenging pancakes flipping party yesterday with all the movements of the boat. But no pancakes finished on the floor and they were delicious.

We still have 550 nm to go. We start being impatient to arrive and enjoy the peacefullness of a beautifiul anchorage.

Our actual position: 09deg 43S 129deg 05W

Poissons d'avril

Toujours pas de poisson d'attrape. Heureusement que ces captures n'etaient pas l'element fondamental de nos repas. Toutefois les poissons sont la, du moins les poissons volants. Ils volent de vagues en vagues et parfois en grand banc. Tous les matins nous faisons un tour du pont et ramassons tous les poissons volants qui ont mal juge leur vol. Notre record est pour le moment 12 poissons.

Notre position actuelle est 8deg 32 S 123deg 20W.

 Nous avons encore 918 miles a parcourir. Depuis hier, Nous navigons avec StealAway et c'est bien agreable de voir une voile si proche de Merlin.

Photo shoots

We saw some lights at the horizon early this morning, so we called the boat. We were surprised to hear it was also a sailing vessel on its way to the Marquises, even more surprised to hear they were a family on a catamaran and even more surprising they were from Cape Town! At lunch time we came close enough to take great photos of each of us in the middle of the Pacific. We convinced them to stop in Fatu Hiva, the 1st island we'll visit in the Marquises and we should meet properly around a braai. Typical!

Our speed is still great even if the current which was adding nearly a knot to our speed disapeared. We have done now 2/3 of the way which offers a great feeling.

Our current position is 7deg 54.331S 120deg 37.415W