Half moon rising
Silver Fern and her crew are becoming very used to the sound of the trusty Yanmar engine during day 5 and 6. Motoring through the night watches was hard to keep entertained and even hand steering became dull! It’s all just part of the adventure and the reality of passing through lighter winds. At least we’re not trying to sail, I think that would be more mind numbing. The moon rise was spectacular, the half moon is quite a different orientation to what it looks like from New Zealand. Tim told us the fascinating reason for this, but in my slumbery state I can’t quite remember the true story - it’s something to do with the moon’s perception as we move up the earth and see it from a different angle where the sunlight’s shadow is either coming from above or below the earth. Dan managed to get a stunning photo of it though, and it’s magical reflection on the smooth sea.
The half moon itself. Note how flat calm the water is!
Night motoring is a lot of this view
About a million hours later, the sun came up and morale improved. It turned into a spectacular day, deep blue sky and sunshine. Out came the sunhats and more stripping off layers. I don’t think anyone is wearing thermals anymore. The sea temperature has increased again to an impressive 24.3°C For breakfast, Steely Dan (who hails from California) tried Australian vegemite for the first time and, in his true fashion, enjoyed it. It’s just another perk on his epic adventure to North Minerva Reef. Being a New Zealander myself, I think marmite is the better of the two, but I won’t tell the Australians. We started a game of murder mystery akin to Cluedo, where we all have a target person and a specific action and location to ‘kill’ them. The only death so far was Felicity, who was got by Andy in the heads (bathroom for you sentinel land lubbers) with the binoculars! She was particularly confused why the binos were in the heads. Andy now takes Felicity’s target and the game continues until there is one person standing.
Dan trying vegemite on a bagel
Logbook entry
John yesterday doing important captain stuff that we wouldn’t understand
Felicity being cool
TRAK watch - Tim, Russell, Anne and Kylie
Bilge checks were carried out by Felicity who asked for a photo to be taken for the blog to show everyone how kickass women can be (those are my words) and she sure shows it well. More learning and navigating was done by everyone and lots of discussion about wind and where it might be. Still hoping for a nice downwind run into Fiji from Monday. It would be nice to treat Silver Fern to a good sailing session after her hard work with the engine recently. The fishing rod has been out again and there was a fish on, but the reel screamed out and snapped off. I reckon it was the 8 foot tiger shark we enticed with the roast lamb scraps 18 hours ago. At least Russell has something to do, resetting the line and lure. The “TRAK” watch are keeping us on track for arrival in Minerva, it’s only 170NM away now. That’s still quite a few meals to go in my mind. And for those of you who read yesterday’s blog, there has been no more pole dancing yet.
Hannah - Chief Mate - Silver Fern
