080803 - T2 goes to Sea

Well, it's a done deal. We are history as far as Fiji is concerned. At 10am sharp the twenty or so boats participating in the Island Cruising Association rally, along with a few sightseers, left Musket Cove in a ragged line, two abreast. As we cleared the outer reef about an hour later, some thirteen boats bore off due west heading for Asanvari on Maewo Island while six of us kept straight on a course of 244 degrees heading for the more southern island of Tanna. The seventh boat in our group had to turn back to Vuda due to mechanical problems. Hey! It wasn't us.

Nor, shall we mention, were we the last boat in line! With a brisk 15 knots off our beam, we set a record 12 hours making a steady 7+ knots. Thank you Willie for our new bottom!

Unfortunately, the wind died off around midnight, and so did our great progress. Around 0200, we furled the genoa, turned the enigne on , and sheeted the main to center to stop the sails from flogging, and we have been proceding that way since. Sigh. It was grand while it lasted. At least the batteries are all topped up, the sky is clear, the stars are bright, and the crew is good.

I think I've turned on the function to stamp the emails with our lat/long. someone let me know. But just in case, at 0530 Fiji time, Tackless II was at S 18*12'; E175*12', Wind SE 6 knots, sky clear.

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