Swimming

3 November 2013

On Thursday the wind increased and a few people experienced seasickness but still 2/3 of the group where at dinner eating spaghetti Bolognese. The wind further increased during the night to about 7 Bft.
On Friday the wind turns to the northwest and decreases to 4 Bft, we can sail beautifully through the Bay of Plenty. At night the wind decreases and changes to east and that is precisely where we want to go. We use the engine to sail past the Eastern cape of New Zealand.
On Saturday morning the wind shifts to the south and increases to 4 Bft. We get the news that ‘Tecla’ has departed from Auckland and will be catching up with us. For the ones following us on Yellow Brick: we had a small hole in the muffler of the small generator. We had to tack to weld the hole, this explains our weird curve on Saturday.
The guests that were seasick are feeling better bit-by-bit and that afternoon everyone felt well enough to do an longer introduction round. There are a lot of people that have been at sea before, on board the ‘Oosterschelde’, ‘Europa’ or other ships. But there are also people that haven’t been out at sea at all. The group consists of 17 Dutch, 4 German, 4 Australian, 2 American, 1 Argentine and 1 Czech, 29 in total. 
In Auckland a group of guests of each ship volunteered to keep in contact with each other. Today, Sunday it is time for the first appointment via short wave. The ‘Europa’ spotted a whale and we had dolphins around the ship. Both ships have albatrosses flying around the ship. Next Sunday we’ll have a new contact. During the morning the wind disappeared. A small high-pressure area is passing by. Lovely warm weather, not what you would expect on a Cape Horn voyage. We decide to go swimming while the water is still refreshing and not freezing. The weather also gives us the opportunity to varnish the wood. In the afternoon the wind is back and we can set sail. For the second time we have a beautiful cloudless starry sky. The helmsman can focus on the Southern Cross.