We now have 1170nm to go and the routing software we use shows us reaching Pitcairn in 9 days. Usually we’re a bit faster than the software predicts because it does not have accurate polars (wind speed and direction) for Duplicat. However arriving in 9 days would put us there just after a low has passed through, giving a short period of westerly winds - quite a nice direction if we were in Bounty Bay, Pitcairn. The low has shown up for the last couple of model runs and this time is showing a bit further south. Its a long way off though (in terms of weather forecasting) so could still give us a bit of a headache. Its the main weather feature we’re watching at the moment and we have various plans based on how the forecasts progress over the coming days.
The one noticeable thing is the temperature. During the day, its lovely - but overnight we’re increasingly wearing more layers for our night watches. I was first to bust out the long trousers, but tonight I was in my wet weather longjohns and seriously thinking about the jacket too. Its probably not so much the temperature as the wind chill - when its blowing from just by your left shoulder all night, you do start to feel it! Plus I got the squalls last night, so plenty of rain and winds above 25knots for the first time this trip. When we head down to New Zealand in 6 months, that will feel really cold given we’re at 16S now, and we’ll be headed to 35S!
The sun is just rising and the kettle is boiling - so time for a coffee, then a quick patrol to remove the dead flying fish from the trampolines before the sun bakes them on...