Michelle started the motor early yesterday morning and we don’t expect to turn it off until late Friday. We have been on main and mizzen for most of the time but just recently unfurled the genoa to take advantage to the breeze we have.
A couple of technical issues have been encountered and thankfully sorted out. Just a few hours out of Opua, we overloaded the genoa furler when we tried to reduce sail in very heavy conditions so somebody had to put their body on the line and go forward to manually wind in the very large sail. It took 2 trips forward and enduring lots of water over the bow, but the heroic action was ultimately successful. When conditions eased the next day, we could gain access to a forward locker to reset the tripped breaker. Genoa furler working again now and it is currently flying us towards Tonga.
Water maker was another concern as it has been not making very much water and today it just would not make any. It turns out that the raw water filter installed recently was not the right sort and had clogged up. We changed the filter today to an original spare and we are back to 100ltrs per hour. Crew showers were enjoyed by all this afternoon (we even put a small load of washing on!)
Early afternoon we simultaneously hooked 2 bonito on our trolling lures but they did not make the grade so were returned.
We are on the rhumb line to Tonga and doing well. Still no ETA though.
