We are currently 157 nautical miles from Christmas Island and looking forward to getting off the boat and going for a run. Right now the wind is being a bit light and not very helpful after two days of rolling from beam to beam. Other then calm sea’s and sunny days not to much to tell. All is well onboard.

Current Position: 1:10utc 10deg 41.7min South, 108deg 10.0min East, COG 260deg-M, SOG 5.3kts, Sunny with rain on the Horizon.

Thanks,

Jacques

Good news everybody the high pressure system seems to have dissolved into a uniform east trade wind and we are now doing 7 to 8 kts down wind. We have 300 nautical miles remaining and should arrive Friday morning if we can keep sailing at 6 kts. It looks like the Indian Ocean will be full of surprises as we continue west to South Africa. Other then that, we had a great spinnaker run all through the night and kept up 6 kts in 3 to 4 knots of apparent wind. Now we fish again for some sushi.

Current Position: UTC22:18, 10deg 48.8min South, 110deg 40.0min East, COG 270deg-M, SOG-6.8kts, wind 11kts, Sunny Skies

Thanks,

Jacques

Yesterday I downloaded a weather grib from my SSB radio to my computer to review current weather conditions that exist ahead of our current position. Currently there is a large low pressure system that is dipping down from the equator like a sharp knife. The barometer reading forecasted for the low pressure system is to be 1008MB. Currently the ship barometer is fluctuating between 1014BM and 1010MB witch is astonishing thing to witness. What is more amazing is that on the Pacific ocean the barometer readings would only change by decimal points not whole numbers. Currently as we approach this low the barometer will drop 5 whole bars. Once we are at 1008MB we will be in the middle of the low pressure system and the wind will be a mix of swirling directions and light, but less then 24 hours later a very big high pressure system is charging its way up from the southern Indian Ocean. It is indicated as a barometer pressure of 1020MB with winds 25 to 30 knots clocking from the south to the east direction as it moves by. Currently we have 463 nautical miles to go and ,hopefully we will be at anchor on Christmas Island when this high pressure system runs by. If not it should be lots of fun and get out your board shorts as we will be surfing the 3 meter swell it bring. As for our crew and systems onboard Dragonsbane all is well.

Current Position: UTC 21:33, 11deg 20.1min south, 113deg 26.6min East, SOG 7.4kts, COG 289deg-M, Barometer 1014MB, partly cloudy, Swell 1.5 meter and growing

Thanks,

Jacques

What an exciting night we had last night. Starting at 01:30am the wind picked up to 18plus kts and we had to get the spinnaker down. We had been running down wind with the spinnaker for almost 15 hours averaging 7 knots in 8 to 12 knots of wind. When the wind picked up as a cloudy front rolled in over head the wind conditions were border line for our current sail pattern. As Ben eased out the pole sheet on the windward side Dragonsbane naturally turned up in the 18kts of wind and caused her to lay down into the ocean. Quickly instructed to turn the helm down wind and pop the leeward sheet all the way off the primary winch, Dragonsbane popped right back up. The spinnaker now flogged out in front of us. Ben snapped on and ran forward to pull the spinnaker sock down and did so. Nothing like a good dose of excitement early in the morning. After switching to a poled jib sail and no main we all settled in for the night. My shift began with company from Sarah as we had the joy of weaving the needle through a maze of 4 ships deadhead in a obvious shipping lane. Its not always fun playing chicken with such large ships but we managed and only came within 0.3 nautical miles to one of the four ships. The rest were easily passed by 1 nautical mile and you had to struggle to see the night watch crews “just kidding”.

Current Position: 21:31utc, 11deg 31.8min South, 115deg 55.4min East, COG 283deg-M, SOG 6.2kts, Swell 1 meter, Cloudy Skies,

Thanks,

Jacques

We continue to sail averaging 150 nautical miles in 24 hours. The crew seems to be adjusting well to the passage and everybody is beginning to find there roles and learning more about trimming the sails on Dragonsbane. Shifts are 3 hours and leaves lots of time for reading, day dreaming, and of course fixing stuff. The ocean still gives us surprises but mostly shooting stars at night and ships during the day continue to pass us close but it must just be the area of the ocean.

We are about half way to Christmas Island this morning and have about 745 nautical miles remaining. I am not so sure about the anchorage we will have to be in because there is no real protection from swell or wind from the north to west. Hopefully the wind continues to come from the east south east so we can have a few days rest before moving on. More things to weigh on my mind as we get closer to Christmas Island.

Current position: 21:29UTC, 11deg 46.7min South, 118deg 27.7 East, COG 285deg-M, SOG 6.6kts, WS 12kts, WD 90deg, Swell 1 meter, Clear Skies

Thanks,

Jacques

Well we had a great meal cooked by Jade last night. She cooked up fish cakes and they were great. As for the rest of the crew we got caught up in a little nervous boat shadowing. At roughly 16:30 a junk fishing boat approached us from our beam and then turned to our course and shadowed us for about a hour before turning off. Made me a bit jumpy seeing this type of boat following us in such a close range for so long. But after I could finally see the starboard side of the ship it was clear they were dragging fish nets and I am guessing they were trying to maneuver around us. Anyway all is well and looking forward to another fun day of sailing.

Current Position: 11deg 58.7min South, 121deg 18.3min East, UTC 17:58, COG 260, SOG 6kts, Swell 1 meter, Sunny clear skies.

Thanks,

Jacques

It was a busy day that started out with a few problems. I wanted to run our fresh water maker but it kept popping the breaker. After I tested the breaker and checked the continuity of the wire it looked to be in good shape. I then checked our new raw water boost pump that my dad had installed in New Zealand. I discovered that the raw water pump electric motor housing seal must have leaked in saltwater and rusted out the electrical and motor components of the pump. In a nut shell the new raw water pump was toast. I then found our old boost pump that works only when the diesel engine is not running and reinstalled it along with new wiring. The good news is that I was able to get the whole system back on line and made 13 gallons of fresh water. My new game plan is to run the water maker for a hour each day using solar power as my energy source during high noon.

To add to the day of issues we have been fishing each day with no real results. The day began with a small tuna but not big enough to keep according to my friend Jade, I only saw sushi. Later that day as I was head deep in the bilges of Dragonsbane yelling at the water maker we caught a tuna that ripped out the fishing line but then we lost it. Found out that the double hook I put on was not wire tied together and the tuna bumped the hook off the line, very frustrating. But the good news is that in the afternoon we hooked into a Indo-Pacific Dog Tooth Tuna that Cary reeled in and filleted it up for the team. I cooked it up using our Kiwi Alice friends recipe of FEB fish, “Flour, Egg, and then the Bread Crumbs” pan fried with potato’s on the side. It was a tasty fish with lots more to come being a 4 foot 20lbe tuna.

We also had a full day of wind shifts and sail changes that Ben spear headed with Cary, Sarah, and Jade. Changes many times from spinnaker, to jib, jib on a pole, main to spinnaker and so on. We also passed a drilling platform and Ben had a VHF radio conversation with a nice Irish man. All in all it started out bad but turned into a good day A!

Current Position: UTC 18:10, 11deg 55.7min South, 123deg 42.6min East, COG 310deg-M, SOG 5kts, WS 12.5kts, WD 45deg, Swell >1meter, Sunny clear skies

Thanks,

Jacques

After a day of clocking wind from 180deg South to 0deg North settling down at 45deg North East we sail down wind. Now we are listening to Carmon Act 1 of the opera to enjoy the evening sunset. As we sail into the star lit night smells of fresh bread made by Ben and chocolate chip cookies prepared by Sarah intensify the emotion to the sea passage. I hope for continued god weather but this evening a low cloudy sky is stocking us across the Torras Straight. What will the night hold, we will see.

During the night the wind once again fell off to 2 knots and we are motoring inching our way north west to area of wind. I download some weather gribs this evening and looks like a trough of wind lays north of our position so we will try for that and hopefully find some wind.

Current Position: 12deg 03.3min South, 125deg 58.8 min East, UTC17:54, COG 270deg, SOG 5.9kts, Motoring, Clear skies

Thanks,

Jacques

Once again the wind at night dropped off to less then 5 knots and we in response sailed at 2 knots. It made for great sleeping but not so great for distance over ground. At 3:15 we turned the engine on and motor sailed till 9am as the morning wind filled in at 15 knots. We are currently sailing at 8 Knots making up for a very slow night and evening. We are hoping to maintain our current speed and wind for the next 140 nautical mile to get out of the shadow of Australia were the wind is organized and steady.

Current Position: 12deg 05.5min South, 127deg 44.8min East, UTC20:51, COG 269, SOG 7.7kts, WS 15kts, WD 180deg, swell <1 meter, Sunny and Clear, 80deg F, Water Temp 90.7deg F

Thank,

Jacques