The Winsons in Oceana
Dale, Dawn and Danielle are sailing from Fuji to New Zealand!
Current location as of 9:07a PDT (GMT -7:00). Dale is at s21 5.6378' e175 47.0873' which is GMT +8:00
The boat is currently 1,006 miles from Cape Reinga NZL and is traveling at 5.0-knots. They had been bashing upwind - not horrible, but uncomfortable. Now it is just past 12:45am - it is cool and cloudy - and the seas have mellowed a bit. Dale just put pants on for the first time in 5-months. (Michael!! No pants comments!)
Check out the sailing vessel Patricia Ann on Twitter @SVPatriciaAnn
Current location: 10/17/2019 They just hit the expected high pressure at 8am this morning (no wind). They are motor sailing at 6.5kts in 6kts of breeze - clear skies and temperatures in the 70's. They will continue to motor sail until they pass the high pressure zone in about 24-hours.
600 miles to go! They plan to arrive in Opua NZ late in the day on Tuesday, 10/22/19.
Friday, 10/18/19: Motoring through the high pressure system. It is calm and sunny, a much needed reprieve from the last four bumpy days! We took showers for the first time in four days - felt great!
They stopped the boat and went for a swim - 500 miles from land! The water is an indescribable deep blue. It was refreshing and exhilarating. The water temperature was around 70-degrees with warm spots. Very nice. Still motoring with 2-knots of wind. We need to keep up speed to NZL before the next low pressure system comes.
Saturday, 10/19/19: We are near the end of the high pressure system. Swells are back and it is bumpy. 10-knots of wind, but from behind us so we still have to motor. Wind should increase later today. [314-miles to Cape Reinga NZL] Dale is ready to have the motor off, but they need to keep up speed to avoid 20-plus knot winds on Tuesday off New Zealand. Still looking to arrive by Tuesday afternoon.
Sunday, 10/20/19: Finally got to sail a bit last night. 14-knots on the beam. Wind is back down and motor sailing this morning. Still trying to get to New Zealand before next low pressure system, but will get 20-knots. [145-miles to Cape Reinga NZL]
Just got a weather update and will be in before the big wind hits on Tueaday night. Currently have 15 to 20-knots of wind on the beam to NZL. Looking good for a nice sail to the finish. [126.1-miles to Cape Reinga NZL]
Monday, 10/21/19: Getting the snot kicked out of us right now. We are beating (tacking directly into the wind) into 20-knots, more wind and further forward than forecasted. Gonna be a rough last night ... [96-miles to Cape Reinga NZL]
Monday, 10/21/19, 6:50pm [10:50am PST]: Dale says they made it through the night after the electronics failed and they had to hand steer with winds at 30+ knots! Gnarly! Things have settled down now and they have less than 50-miles to go. From the Lat/Long coordinates Dale's phone sends, it looks like they are about 40-miles from the port at Opua which is on the North East side of the North Island. If you are looking on a map, Opua is in the Bay of Islands and to the West is the Opua Forest.
Land Ho!!
