En Zed to Fiji

26* 21S, 177*21E, 011*T 6.6kts
We're well on our way to Fiji. Left the Bay of Islands after easily clearing customs about 4 days ago. Its been a bumpy, rolly trip so far -- haven't felt much like sitting at the nav station and trying to write a blog post. We even hove-to for the night a few nights ago. Mainly to slow down to allow the bad weather ahead near Fiji to work it self east and south. (Heaving-to, or technically in our case fore-reaching, is when you reduce sail and point the boat just off the wind. The motion gets reasonably nice and the boat stays fairly closely to its original position).

Had an interesting CF reefing event the other day when two of the reeflines bowlines magically untied themselves. Who tied those knots!!! We've spent a lot of this trip with 2 reefs in the main and small staysail. Hope to be turning off a bit maybe tomorrow and get a faster more comfy ride.

It was really cold the first two nights out. A real effort to just get dressed for your watch. Its now gotten a lot warmer -- need to dig out a my shorts. We should be into Vuda Point (or Lautoka) in 3 or 4 days.
Paul



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