Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -26.906816 LON: -148.457300
Timestamp: 2014-04-30 10:19 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-26.906816&lon=-148.457300
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -28.345966 LON: -148.390233
Timestamp: 2014-04-30 02:17 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-28.345966&lon=-148.390233
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -28.345966 LON: -148.390233
Timestamp: 2014-04-29 18:13 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-28.345966&lon=-148.390233
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -28.834183 LON: -148.270583
Timestamp: 2014-04-29 10:11 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-28.834183&lon=-148.270583
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -29.125283 LON: -148.078816
Timestamp: 2014-04-29 02:10 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-29.125283&lon=-148.078816
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -29.482716 LON: -148.076800
Timestamp: 2014-04-28 18:09 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-29.482716&lon=-148.076800
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -30.050566 LON: -147.122933
Timestamp: 2014-04-28 02:03 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-30.050566&lon=-147.122933
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

position update

The iridium has stopped sending position updates for the last while
(although it seems that every time I post that it starts again) so I'll
have to get it replaced, it's clearly faulty.

We're currently at 30 24S 146 53W, making about 5 knots on course 320M
or about 337T, just a bit west of true north. We have a bit less than
400 nm to go to Raivavae. Conditions are pleasant and sunny although
I'd like it to warm up just a little, the southerly has dropped the
temperature over the last few days. Swell is still quite high, left
over from the storm we just had, but winds are now about 18 knots from
the south, a decent sailing breeze pushing us along nicely.

If this holds we'll get there around 30th April our time (we're on UTC
-10 hours now, so almost a day behind NZ and east coast Australia).

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -30.516683 LON: -146.833816
Timestamp: 2014-04-27 18:02 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-30.516683&lon=-146.833816
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

sailing again

We had a wind change around 10am today which meant we're sailing again.
There was some of anxiety because the winds were quite strong (broken
main sheet, a bit of shouty) but at least we're heading north again.
Forecast (and I use the word loosely, they've been "based on a true
story" recently in the same way that The Lord of the Rings is based on
the viking sagas) says we should have a rough but fast trip north today
then comfortable sailing winds for the next 3-4 days.

It feels that we've been sailing upwind for most of the journey, to have
some downwind sailing will be good.

We were hove to for about 40 hours all up, but in about 4 days time we
should be at, or close to, Raivavae.

stuck

We have been hit by another strong gale overnight associated with a
storm that ran nearby, and so we're now hove to. Unfortunately
yesterday's prognosis, which showed the storm running to the SE by mid
morning today, has been changed to show that it will sit along side us
all day today and all day tomorrow so we're stuck here for at least 24
hours, probably 36 and maybe even 48.

All this with less than 500 miles to go, it seems we're so close but so
far. Winds are too strong at the moment even to motor out of it so we
have no choice but to sit and wait.

We made about 60 litres of water with the water maker so we now have
sufficient fresh water on board, however the water maker now needs some
extra repairs that I don't have the parts on board for (need to cut some
new threaded rod). That will have to wait until we get to Papeete.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -32.338566 LON: -147.886550
Timestamp: 2014-04-25 20:17 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-32.338566&lon=-147.886550
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -32.338566 LON: -147.886550
Timestamp: 2014-04-25 12:12 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-32.338566&lon=-147.886550
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -32.338566 LON: -147.886550
Timestamp: 2014-04-25 04:08 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-32.338566&lon=-147.886550
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -32.338566 LON: -147.886550
Timestamp: 2014-04-24 20:03 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-32.338566&lon=-147.886550
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -33.040200 LON: -147.822750
Timestamp: 2014-04-24 12:01 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-33.040200&lon=-147.822750
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

watermaker and time

We managed enough of a repair on the watermaker to make it work again,
it's now generating fresh water. We will probably need to motor through
the night tonight so we will leave it running as we do. So we may even
have enough water to shower in tomorrow.

Also we have changed time zone to Tahiti time, UTC - 10. So as I write
this it is now 6:20pm on Wednesday 23rd April for us, which means we
have just gone forward 1 hour and back one day (or back 23 hours if you
must).

Less than 600 miles to Raivavae now, and we're finally into the "warmer"
latitudes. Sitting on the deck today, in full sunshine, shorts and
t-shirt, eating some pasta and some of the tuna that we caught, I
figured this isn't all bad even though we've taken a lot longer to get
there than I had originally planned.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -33.742000 LON: -147.873900
Timestamp: 2014-04-24 03:59 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-33.742000&lon=-147.873900
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -34.328716 LON: -147.853733
Timestamp: 2014-04-23 19:57 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-34.328716&lon=-147.853733
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -35.535383 LON: -148.444833
Timestamp: 2014-04-23 11:53 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-35.535383&lon=-148.444833
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

weather models

I've been using two different weather models, with varying results,
during the trip. Predicting the storm and the winds that came after it
was not something that either model did well.

If, on Saturday afternoon, we have strong northerly winds, then the
Predictwind "PWG" (based on GFS) weather model is the winner. If the
winds are moderate south westerlies, then the National Weather Service
Wave Watch III model via GMN is the winner. I'm hoping for the latter,
it will give us better sailing conditions.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -35.535383 LON: -148.444833
Timestamp: 2014-04-23 03:49 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-35.535383&lon=-148.444833
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -36.968033 LON: -149.075516
Timestamp: 2014-04-22 19:45 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-36.968033&lon=-149.075516
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Back on track again

Position updates started sending again after we rode out a storm --
thanks for that, Iridium. On Monday about 4pm with seas and winds
building (much contrary to forecast), we decided to heave to. During
the night the winds moved northerly and peaked at around 45 knots,
before dropping to 35 around 7am and 25 by midday. At that point we
gybed back around and put away the genoa, and started motoring north.
By 1pm yesterday the wind was about 20 knots on the beam but continued
to drop, so by 1am today we were motoring again. The swell was about 8
metres during the worst of it, had dropped to about 4-6 by yesterday
morning, and I'm now seeing maybe back to a 3 metre swell outside my nav
station window right now.

The storm had been forecast to run a fair way south of us but clearly
changed its mind during the afternoon as to which way it was headed. We
got driven a fair way south by the whole thing but there wasn't anything
else we could have done, the wind was too strong to either sail or motor
out of it, we just had to sit and wait.

Everyone and everything on board appears to be mostly intact, we did
lose our mast head windex but that should be easy to replace at the next
port of call.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -36.968033 LON: -149.075516
Timestamp: 2014-04-22 11:41 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-36.968033&lon=-149.075516
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -37.190466 LON: -149.435833
Timestamp: 2014-04-22 03:37 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-37.190466&lon=-149.435833
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -37.217016 LON: -149.750766
Timestamp: 2014-04-21 19:34 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-37.217016&lon=-149.750766
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -36.617433 LON: -149.600683
Timestamp: 2014-04-21 11:29 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-36.617433&lon=-149.600683
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -36.900416 LON: -149.533533
Timestamp: 2014-04-21 03:26 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-36.900416&lon=-149.533533
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Position update

36 58S, 149 29W, because the sat phone seems to not want to send out
automatic position updates any more no matter how many times I reset it.

Heading approximately due north at around 3.5kts. Heavy weather bearing
in on us so we will probably heave to later today and sit and wait it
out overnight.

Waiting for another southerly

Well we are still out on the ocean, already 4 days longer than I had
anticipated and maybe about 8 or 9 days to go. The current wind is
about 20 knots from the east which is giving us good progress northwards
(or would be if we weren't hove to cooking dinner) but it's due to
strengthen tomorrow and then turn NE, which means we'll have no option
but to heave to again, maybe for 24 hours or so. After that the winds
lighten but remain northwards, which means we will probably motor for a
while, then there is another south westerly due on Friday which should
see us in Raivavae a few days after that.

Cloud cover is 100% for what is now the 12th day in a row. The cloud is
thinning though which makes me think we might get a day of sunshine
except for the occluded front associated with a low to the NW of us.
The instruments are all running on empty (solar chargers) and we are
having to run the engine daily to keep the house battery charged.

I completely forgot it's Easter back home. I hope the bunny brought you
some chocolate, I believe we're now completely out on board. I plan to
devour an entire tub of either chocolate or French vanilla ice cream
when we next get in to port.

We are currently at 37 50S, 149 27W, I haven't received confirmation
about the last few position updates so I guess the sat phone is playing
up again.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -39.619866 LON: -149.863216
Timestamp: 2014-04-18 19:21 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-39.619866&lon=-149.863216
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -40.978183 LON: -151.260783
Timestamp: 2014-04-17 19:17 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-40.978183&lon=-151.260783
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -41.149000 LON: -151.636066
Timestamp: 2014-04-17 19:05 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-41.149000&lon=-151.636066
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -41.261533 LON: -152.743150
Timestamp: 2014-04-17 03:03 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-41.261533&lon=-152.743150
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Waiting for a southerly

The last 2-3 days we have been coasting eastwards at about 41 south,
waiting for a southerly to move us north. Originally that was expected
to arrive last night but it now looks like it will hit us mid morning
tomorrow. Our aim will be to make longitude 147W or thereabouts
(currently at 152W) and we have a good wind on the beam so hopefully we
can make that before the southerly dies out, as well as get a good reach
north, hopefully to 35S or so before the southerly moves to the east.

The night before last we had the winds strengthen to gale force
overnight, rather unexpectedly, so we hove to and got some sleep. By
mid afternoon they were sailing winds again and had moved around behind
us. We dropped the main sail and made a few repairs and got on the move
again.

Is anyone from NZ reading this? If so then I'm trying to track a low
that is currently bothering your weather, but will also bother us if it
moves eastwards too quickly. Synoptic says that it will be just off the
coast of the South Island on Saturday, but I'd really like to know if
and when it moves across you. Easiest way to pick that is that the
winds will turn southerly in Christchurch with probably some rain. If
that happens any time before, say, mid day on Monday, can someone please
drop me an email?

At this stage I'm hoping we reach Raivavae around Anzac Day, 25th April.
Water is running short and the desalinator isn't working so any longer
than that and we'll be out of water. I do have a plan to fix the
desalinator but it requires calmer seas -- the gales from the other day
have abated but left a 4m rolling swell in its wake, beam on so it's
bouncing us around a bit.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -41.344183 LON: -153.879966
Timestamp: 2014-04-16 15:00 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-41.344183&lon=-153.879966
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -41.354850 LON: -155.149916
Timestamp: 2014-04-16 02:58 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-41.354850&lon=-155.149916
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -41.171616 LON: -156.053033
Timestamp: 2014-04-15 02:52 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-41.171616&lon=-156.053033
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -41.275850 LON: -157.502816
Timestamp: 2014-04-14 14:50 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-41.275850&lon=-157.502816
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -41.315483 LON: -158.508349
Timestamp: 2014-04-14 02:47 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-41.315483&lon=-158.508349
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Tough but surviving

The last couple of days we've had strong easterlies, on which we've
headed north, and then strong northerlies on which we've headed east.
During the night on Saturday we hove to, waiting for the wind to swing
through from east to north through north-east (which we can't sail to).
We lost a bit of ground but we're making it up now. Both days were
strong enough winds to have to reef fairly deeply and keep to our bunks.
Yesterday we had a bit of a movie marathon downstairs, including Kick
Ass and a couple of others.

Today we have no wind, or nearly no wind, so we're motoring north east.
Next thing to do will be to guess when and where the predicted
southerlies will hit us, which will help drive us northwards.

Haven't seen the sun for 4 days and it's looking unlikely that we'll see
it today. I really don't mind being at sea but I'd love some warmer
weather, and the solar panels would like some sunlight in order to
charge the batteries.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -42.101866 LON: -160.600583
Timestamp: 2014-04-13 02:44 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-42.101866&lon=-160.600583
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -41.890566 LON: -161.698850
Timestamp: 2014-04-12 14:42 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-41.890566&lon=-161.698850
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -42.020983 LON: -161.274283
Timestamp: 2014-04-12 02:41 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-42.020983&lon=-161.274283
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -42.968100 LON: -160.902700
Timestamp: 2014-04-11 14:39 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-42.968100&lon=-160.902700
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -43.954833 LON: -161.057183
Timestamp: 2014-04-11 02:36 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-43.954833&lon=-161.057183
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -44.782066 LON: -161.861633
Timestamp: 2014-04-10 14:35 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-44.782066&lon=-161.861633
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -45.408583 LON: -162.536316
Timestamp: 2014-04-10 02:33 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-45.408583&lon=-162.536316
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

North

We started moving north yesterday morning, we're now at 45 south, our
target being Raivavae at 23 south. We still have a bit of easting to
make, overall about 1500nm to go.

A few difficulties along the way -- stern tube is still leaking although
it's only a drip now. We've somehow managed to contaminate the fresh
water tanks with some salt water, it's OK to drink but a mildly salty
taste (we still have the reserve fresh water supplies which are OK), and
we still don't have a working desalinator although we have some plans to
fix the current one.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -46.781050 LON: -162.980966
Timestamp: 2014-04-09 14:29 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-46.781050&lon=-162.980966
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -46.781050 LON: -162.980966
Timestamp: 2014-04-09 02:25 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-46.781050&lon=-162.980966
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -48.228933 LON: -164.387800
Timestamp: 2014-04-08 14:21 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-48.228933&lon=-164.387800
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -48.228933 LON: -164.387800
Timestamp: 2014-04-08 02:17 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-48.228933&lon=-164.387800
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -48.124700 LON: -166.015799
Timestamp: 2014-04-07 14:58 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-48.124700&lon=-166.015799
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Fish!

Today we caught a tuna! When I say "we" I give credit to my crew Oskar
and Jade for bringing the gear, launching a lure over the stern, and
landing a 80cm skipjack tuna. The first bits are being prepared now as
sashimi and we have about half a dozen bags of cutlets and tuna steaks
going into the freezer. The remainder is dinner tonight. Bandit is
enjoying a few small offcuts of course. A messy job slicing and
filleting on deck but job done and now I'm hungry.

(I just checked that I can safely make this post, we're now in
international waters outside of the NZ EEZ).

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -48.196150 LON: -167.244216
Timestamp: 2014-04-07 02:55 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-48.196150&lon=-167.244216
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -48.150350 LON: -167.916883
Timestamp: 2014-04-06 20:39 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-48.150350&lon=-167.916883
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

wind

Winds on the beam gave us a robust night's sailing, although with less
sleep than I'd like, averaging around 5.5 knots with peaks up around 8
or so.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -48.135400 LON: -169.351666
Timestamp: 2014-04-06 10:13 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-48.135400&lon=-169.351666
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

stern tube

Stern tube issue all sorted, thanks to those that provided help & advice.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -48.030200 LON: -169.974050
Timestamp: 2014-04-05 22:10 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-48.030200&lon=-169.974050
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

still sailing

We've had to duck south a bit because the wind has turned around to be
on our nose a bit, we're making the best angle we can while waiting for
it to turn a bit more northerly and less easterly.

The current forecast is for the wind to turn around and be behind our
beam by about midday tomorrow which will make for better sailing. At
the moment we're close on the wind and heeled over on port tack which
makes sleeping in my bunk a bit uncomfortable. Then, if the same
forecast is to be believed, some time early on Wednesday the wind will
turn south easterly at which point we will turn north towards the
tropics (at last).

In case anyone from Cruiser Log is reading this and my message to Rob
hasn't gone out -- I need to get my stern tube replaced in Papeete so if
someone can recommend a yard where I can get hauled out and get this
done (and where English is spoken) then please let me know via email --
delsat@babel.com.au.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -48.016849 LON: -170.074583
Timestamp: 2014-04-05 20:59 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-48.016849&lon=-170.074583
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -47.706383 LON: -171.192316
Timestamp: 2014-04-05 08:58 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-47.706383&lon=-171.192316
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -47.532750 LON: -172.365116
Timestamp: 2014-04-04 20:57 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-47.532750&lon=-172.365116
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -47.521966 LON: -173.484550
Timestamp: 2014-04-04 08:53 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-47.521966&lon=-173.484550
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -47.488783 LON: -175.449733
Timestamp: 2014-04-03 08:50 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-47.488783&lon=-175.449733
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Where we are

OK so it seems that the coordinates are coming through OK and that all
of the trackers are working. We're now heading east along 47 deg 30
south, weather is much warmer than it has any right to be this far south
but we have a comfortable 10 knot northerly which is no doubt warming
things up. We're doing an easy 4.5 - 5 knots at the moment, autopilot
is doing most of the work leaving us crew with little to do other than
watch the waves and the bird life.

Where we are

I'm not sure if the coordinates are being sent through to the tracker or
if the phone is playing up again, but we're at approximately 47 deg 22
south, 176 deg 44 west, currently heading on course 145 magnetic but
we're about to make a turn to head due east along the 47 deg 30 south
parallel, where the current forecasts indicate we should have the most
favourable winds.

I'll keep fiddling with the phone to see if I can make it do its thing,
it may just be the case that it can't get a GPS fix.

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -47.376566 LON: -176.740950
Timestamp: 2014-04-02 20:49 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-47.376566&lon=-176.740950
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -46.276716 LON: -177.541416
Timestamp: 2014-04-02 08:48 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-46.276716&lon=-177.541416
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -46.276716 LON: -177.541416
Timestamp: 2014-04-01 20:43 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-46.276716&lon=-177.541416
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Chiara Stella position report

Current position: LAT: -45.343316 LON: -178.260350
Timestamp: 2014-04-01 03:14 UTC
Iridium position: http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-45.343316&lon=-178.260350
YOTREPOS tracker: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=CHIARAST
MarineTraffic position: http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=10&mmsi=503518300

Wind!

The first decent sailing wind we've had for 3 days! A celebratory dram
was had and a splash over the side for Poseidon. Currently a bit over
45 degrees south, we'll continue south until we reach 48 or so then
follow the westerlies across.

No You Don't Get F**ing Wafers With It

We're still becalmed, so yesterday we spent the day motoring southwards
to find some wind and overnight, in order to get some sleep, we decided
to heave to about 80 miles southwest of the Chatham Islands.

I was awoken this morning by the morning watch crew who said "come up
and look at this". Sitting around us in the calm waters in all
directions around Chiara Stella was a flock of about 20 albatrosses,
also all similarly becalmed. They too had obviously decided to sit and
wait for some wind. There was one enormous bird sitting no more than 2
or 3 metres from the boat, calmly watching us as we took some photos and
went about our business.

You can't buy tickets to that.

Just a reminder that all I can do out here is send emails to post to the
blog (and perhaps some of those posts make it to Facebook). If you want
to chat back to me then do that via email -- delsat@babel.com.au -- but
please keep it short and text only because it has to come via the sat
phone. If someone can send me some cricket scores or an update of
what's happening in the world T20 that would be good.