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  • Merlin's voyage
    Merlin's voyage
    by Emmanuelle A Buecher-Hall

    in English

  • Le voyage de Merlin (French Edition)
    Le voyage de Merlin (French Edition)
    by Emmanuelle A Buecher-Hall

    en français

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Entries from April 1, 2010 - April 30, 2010

Friday
Apr302010

The latest news

We should arrive tomorrow so there is some excitment on board. 130 miles to go. However the wind died and we are going slowly, but surely, with the asymetrical spinnaker at 4.5-5 knt.

Greg, Victor and Mamouss had a Pacific haircut.

Greg, Felix and Emmanuelle went for a Pacific swim in very very clear and blue water. Can't find a better swimming pool than that.

We caught a fish, a 1m Wahoo, but it escaped when we tried to pull it on board. A real pity as it was our first fish!

We had a amazing moon rise last night. It was as orange as the sun going down on the other side.

This morning, we spent 3 hours trying to get rid off the many bugs in the pasta, the flour and the rice.

Our position: 10deg 08'S 136deg 28'W

From all the crew awaiting for more wind... Please send us some land news!

Thursday
Apr292010

Incroyable

Conditions parfaites pour un rayon vert hier soir : pas un nuage l'horizon. Comme toujours nous etions tous dehors a l'attendre et a l'appeler (une vraie tradition sur Merlin, tous en choeur, nous chantons "Green flash, green flash...). Alors que la lune, pleine, se levait a l'Est, le soleil nous a offert un rayon vert. La houle s'est deroulee a l'horizon et a notre grande surprise, le soleil est reapparu et nous a offert a second rayon vert. Superbe, magnifique, magique!

L'equation du jour : PAS + EOLE = PETOLE, le "T" venant de nos frustrations a ne faire plus que du 4 noeuds. Nous pensions arriver jeudi soir, il se pourrait maintenant que ce ne soit que samedi! Les odeurs de la terre et les chants des oiseaux nous manquent (ainsi que des fruits te legumes frais).

Thursday
Apr292010

A bit of motoring

We have some wind again so the spinnaker is up again and we are doing 5 knots. We had to motor throught he night to keep moving as the wind died down too much for sailing last night. The motoring has helped to charge up the batteries to 100%, which is a good for them after so many days at sea.

Our one gas bottle finished this morning while we were baking our bread and our cakes so we are not too sure how they will come out. We will have to see and lunch will have to wait a while.

The kids are making "cabins" in their bedrooms with bed sheets and the optimist bouyancy bags. Of course Felix has worked out a system of "money" to enter the "cabins" and Victor has got the music going.

Our current position is 9deg 54.03'S and 133deg 57.98'W COG 252deg and only 286NM to go!!

Thursday
Apr292010

Spinnaker up

Yesterday morning we finally got the spinnaker up as the seas had calmed down a little and the wind went more aft. We kept it up last night as the wind was a constant 15 knots. Currently the wind has died down to 8 knots and the boat speed has decreased to 4.8 knots. It is forecast for the wind to stay the same for the next 24 hours so our arrival will be delayed a little. Emmanuelle just wants to put the motor on, so we will see.

We are still eating well and the kids are doing their final CNED evaluations.

Our current position is 9deg 46.37'S and 132deg 19.68'W and course 256deg.

Tuesday
Apr272010

Pacific chronicles

We are still sailing with Stealaway, our sea neighbours, having a chat from time to time and seeing their sails not too far. Since this morning, our spinaker is up and Greg's smile goes proportionnally with our speed. The sea seems less bumpy which is great. We had a very challenging pancakes flipping party yesterday with all the movements of the boat. But no pancakes finished on the floor and they were delicious.

We still have 550 nm to go. We start being impatient to arrive and enjoy the peacefullness of a beautifiul anchorage.

Our actual position: 09deg 43S 129deg 05W