Variable wind strength!!

Dear all,

Early last night we were sailing with the 2nd reef, staysail and a small
yankee when the wind gradually picked up.
For a decent nights sleep we put in the third reef and let out some more
headsail. This worked well for most of the night with only a little bit of
motor sailing to aid our progress.
But then today the wind would vary between 16-30 knots, not helpful as you
go from being under powered and
lolling about to over powered and trying to reduce the headsail.
our 16.20 position is 15 30.2S, 152 52.4E
We are trying to eat up all our veggies and meat before reaching Australia
as they will confiscate it all!!

fingers crossed for some south easterly winds!!

Lots of love,
Ocean Lady

Sunshine and headwinds!

Dear all,
We are still making good progress towards Cairns, despite the wind shifting
to the south/southwest.

The sun is shining and life on board is good.

Our noon position was 15 36S, 155 23E

Hope everyone is well at home,
Love Ocean Lady

Rain, rain go away come again another day!

Dear all,

Following our last blog update the weather has been pretty windy and
overcast. Often a wave ends up in the cockpit. Stu had the pleasure of
cooking lunch then two saltwater showers whilst eating it – not a good day.
Today is the first day of champagne sailing with sunshine and clear skies.
It's been nice to stretch out in the sun rather than wearing waterproofs and
hinding from the waves.

We are making good progress our noon position was 15 47S, 157 31E with just
over 700 miles completed.

Hope everyone is well at home,
Love Ocean Lady

Day two!

Day two and all is well!
We are making good progress to Australia, our noon position was 17 43S, 163
21E
A good SE breeze pushing us along with clear skies. It gets a bit chilly at
night but we'd prefer that to rain!!!
Lots of love,
Ocean Lady

Day two!

Day two and all is well!

We are making good progress to Australia, our noon position was 17 43S, 163 21E

A good SE breeze pushing us along with clear skies. It gets a bit chilly at night but we'd prefer that to rain!!!

Lots of love,

Ocean Lady

Australia here we come!!

Dear all,

 

Ocean Lady left Vanuatu yesterday morning with a dull, drizzly and overcast sky. Shortly after leaving the drizzle stopped and we were experiencing good sailing with the yankee and two reefs in the mainsail. Beam reaching with a rolly sea. We had the odd bit of green water over the deck and Stu had an impromptu shower whilst cooking supper from the hatch above the galley!!

As the night drew in the seas got smaller and we had a great night making good speed and almost on course.

Our noon position was: 17 48S, 165 43E

 

Lots of love,

Ocean Lady

 

More Rain!

Dear all,

 

Just like the UK has been suffering with lots of rain so have we! We have left the main port Port Vila after clearing customs and having a nice outing to the Cascades waterfalls. We are now tucked up in Port Havannah. We had a good snorkel and dive on the boat yesterday making sure the bottom is as clean as possible before entering Australian waters. Today we woke to overcast weather and frequent rain showers. We were meant to be heading back to Port Vila but behind the protection of the headland we still had 30 knots of breeze on the nose and were soaked to the skin!

 

We are hoping to check out tomorrow or Saturday and head for Cairns. It is quite a weird feeling thinking that our next country will be Australia and we have all sailed here!! The journey should take 12 days and once the current conditions have moved on we should have fine weather and good breezes – if you can trust a GRIB weather file. We have worked out that since Niue, every leg has had in excess of 35 knots of wind. So much for trade wind sailing conditions.

 

We hope the Olympics are going well and everybody is well at home,

 

Love, Ocean Lady