Baby Its Cold Outside
Its been eleven months since I wore long pants, back when we visited the U.S. during the holiday season. Same for socks. With the exception of the few weeks around the holidays last year we’ve been in the land of palm trees, coconuts and balmy weather for the last two years. We’re pretty acclimated.
Opua New Zealand is almost the exact latitude South that Hampton, Virginia is in degrees North. When we left the U.S. in November of 2012 for the Virgin Islands we were freezing our tails off wintery weather until we reached the Gulf Stream. Then the layers started coming off until we were wearing shorts and T-shirts, blasting the Jimmy Buffet and hauling in Mahi Mahi in the sun.
Yesterday I went and dug up some of those layers. Its hard to think it has been two years since that first long passage South, but now we’re doing it in reverse.
Its not as cold in NZ as it was that brisk November in Hampton two years ago, and it is their Spring, not a bitter late fall heading in to winter. But compared to the coolest days in French Polynesia it isn’t exactly warm ? not to us at least. Day isn’t as cool, but the nights ? which can be cool offshore much closer to the equator ? can be downright chilly. Night watch usually bundles up and sits under a blanket or towel.
Of course, this also means we’re getting closer!
The Ubiquitous Wind Update
The winds have been holding fair for us so fair. They’ve gotten lighter, but we’ve been able to make more West as we head towards the home stretch. MaxSea (our charting software) tells us we’ve got about 580 miles left to sail, so its the last quarter of the trip.
It also tells us it will take almost five days at this speed, however with more wind from a better direction we can do that distance in less than three. Here’s hoping.
