After six months of being “dock potatoes,” doing just a bit of coastal and harbor cruising, it’s taking us awhile to get our sea legs.
The good news is that the sailing has been fast and easy and Moonshadow has been pretty much looking after herself. In the first 24 hours after leaving Sydney, we effortlessly covered 210 miles, just about half the distance to Lord Howe Island.
Over the course of a beautiful, warm, sunny day, the wind has slowly eased and in the early evening we found ourself motorsailing in eight knots of breeze. At this rate, we should make landfall at Lord Howe some time late tomorrow morning, with the sun high enough to help us see our way in through the reef pass into the lagoon.
The day has been uneventful-bland meals, easy sailing, a variety of sea birds, lots of naps and NO FISH! The only thing close was a small squid that had washed up on deck this morning. MaiTai turned her nose up to it and looked at us as if to demand a fresh tuna or mahi. Our new fishing outfit is still a virgin!
Our 2000 hours local time position was 32 degrees 14.6 minutes south latitude by 157 degrees 00.8 minues east longitude.