Days 23 – 24 April 3 – April 4 , 2000

Finally the wind came up on the evening of April 3 and we sailed at about 3.5 to 4.5 knots for the rest of the night and continued into the day. The wind settled at ENE for most of the time, occasionally going further into the north. It is a bit shifty, so we are not using the pole. We can’t sail straight downwind because of the shifts, the main backs constantly, so we sail with the wind on the quarter, doing a little more south than west. Most of our mileage is directly toward our waypoint though, so that’s good. Noon to noon runs are averaging 100 miles with occasional rain showers mainly at night, but nothing serious and no electrical storms.

One of the preventer bungies for the main sheet blocks had almost completely frayed through, so I replaced it. I put sun screen on the new bungy and all the existing ones in the hope that it might protect the cover from the sun. Bungy cord is very prone to dying in sunlight

We were excited to hear on the Seafarer’s Net that GRAY HAWK arrived in Hiva Oa on the 3rd.

With 550 miles to go at 0800 ship’s time on the 4th, the end finally seems to be in sight. We are starting to get reports from the boats who have arrived in Hiva Oa about the anchorage, diesel prices etc. So our arrival seems closer to reality than it has for the past three weeks.