LTY UPDATE for passage from west side of Fiji up to Majuro Marshall Islands via Rotuma
Day #20
Friday, January 17th, 2014
(Remember we are on the other side of the International dateline than most of you)
LTY time: 06:40 Fri Jan 17th (LTY time = UTC +12 with NO DST here in Majuro now)
Location: about 11nm off SW corner of Majuro atoll
Position: 07 12.897 N, 170 50.736 E (you can cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: 1.2kts hove to (SOG = Speed over Ground)
COG: 333 (COG = Course over Ground, my GPS based compass heading)
Wind: 20-28 kts ENE Apparent
Seas/Swell: 2.0m @ 6 sec out of NE
Weather: Patchy clouds in otherwise clear sky. Steady NE trade winds 20-28 kts
Air temp: 84.2F 29C
Sea temp: 85.6 F 29.8 C
Barometer: 1015
Distance travelled: 1428nm
Distance to Majuro anchorage: 22nm
READY & RESTED for FINAL LEG
We sailed into the lee of the SW corner of Majuro atoll just as the sun was starting to set and gave us a great view of our first sighting of land for over two weeks. Exciting and sad all at the same time as this passage nears its end and we make the transition from one great adventure to the next.
We decide to heave to, which means to put the boat in a state where the combination of sail, rudder, keel all cancel each other out in the winds and the boat stays pretty much put where it is. In our case with the strong NE trades we were as close to stationary as we could get driving at about 1 knot to the NW. This was just perfect as it meant we were drifting away from the “hard bits” of the atoll and still making a bit of headway north. With LTY all set up and happy we took advantage of the situation to get a good rest overnight in this safe setup as we watched the big tuna and other commercial ships come and go from Majuro. They are all well lit up and some have AIS so it was easy to keep an eye on them and we were well out of their way as most all of them are headed NE or NW from here.
So we both got some good rest knowing that we were safely bobbing around out here and we have now just finished our breakfast in some rolly seas watching the always soothing transition from night to day as the sun climbs its way up out of her bed off to the east and the moon is still high in the SW sky. I wanted to get this update out to you to let everyone know that we made it to Majuro just fine and with great speed with our HD jib now pulling us along. We will now make our way north for a bit to clear well past the top NW end of Majuro and then tack over to the east to be north of the pass and then start our way south to get close to the pass where we will meet Cary in Wasabi who has ever so kindly volunteered to help steer LTY through the pass and into the calm safety inside Majuro atoll. It will seem strange but also very nice to be calm and level after this time at sea and to not be moving but that too will be a great transition and I’m so excited about being able to show Christine around what has become another one of my “home ports” after coming here to Majuro since 2010.
We will let you know later today once we are safely on our mooring ball over in the center of the East end of Majuro atoll.
Christine, Wayne & Ruby the Wonderdog
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