Day 5 of our passage to Australia from New Caledonia.
We are experiencing the Forth day of trade winds with currently South Easterly 15 knots. Since the southerly front arriving last Tuesday, the variation of wind has been from East to South East and from 6 to 18 knots. So very pleasant sailing conditions. We have used the spinnaker and Code "0" when the conditions were lighter and we have the Spinnaker set now from its top down furler on the poker pole in front of the bow as we continue tracking 240 degrees true, we expect to be able to carry it through the night tonight. There is a change in the weather tomorrow according to the Grib Files we download each evening. The wind will back around to the north and increase to over 20 knots by the evening. By midnight tomorrow we should have reached the channel of maximum East Australian Coastal current which sets south along the coast. We will set a new course then, direct to Coffs Harbour with just 100 nm to go. We are monitoring the water temperature to give us this indication.
Over the last 5 days we have seen lots of flying fish and many Gannets that often circle us to see what sea life we may disturb that they are always ready to pounce on. Or are they just taking time out from their fishing to check us out? Usually 2 or 3 laps of the boat and they move off to continue the search for food. We haven't seen any birds in the evenings flying in any particular direction which is an early sign of land nearby, perhaps tomorrow we will see more land based sea birds.
The sun has just set and all is peaceful as we listen to the water swoosh along the hull
Wayne and Kathy
At 29/10/2016 07:55 (utc) our position was 26°56'S 157°13'E
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