Commodore
October 28, 2023

Sunday 29 October – poor NZ losing at rugby and getting hit by the remnants of cyclone Lola

We all seemed to have a good night’s sleep and the men were up and watching the rugby during breakfast. It was all a bit nail biting for the two S Africans watching the match on Rowan’s laptop, luckily it all ended in big smiles!

All smiles for Rowan and Roy watching the rugby on Rowan’s laptop

The wind died off a bit and was coming from behind us, so Rowan decided we should get Baby Spice up and have a more comfortable ride. It certainly is a quieter and better ride. Our average speed over ground has come down to 8.1knots today in the lighter winds, we are enjoying the comfort of it.

News was pouring in about the remnants of storm Lola hitting the north of New Zealand today, big winds and rain, bridges being closed etc. We also heard the news of a French solo sailor who had to be helicoptered off his boat as he ran into the winds and landed up having no engine or rigging. Now we have to make sure we don’t crash into his boat that is roaming free somewhere north of NZ.

This was sent by someone on our WhatsApp group of boats going to NZ now, over 100 people on the group! But we still have not seen a single other boat since we left

Our predict wind showing big red spiralling Lola, the red dot is us in the green calm waters…… for now!

Rowan is checking the weather and the route all the time, and both weather routers. We skipped going into Minerva reef, at about lunch time we passed it about 80 miles away. Many of the sail boats go and hang out at this reef waiting for a good weather window, to do the last section. The best use of wind is for us to continue and hope that cyclone Lola continues to die off. Tomorrow we have to cross a line where the two weather systems meet and we are likely to meet some thunderstorms that we are going to have to try and avoid. Thank goodness Roy is here, it is very reassuring having another salty sea dog sailor on board, even if he does get sea sick!