Low and slow that is the tempo

I'm very happy to have arrived in the Austral Islands and be back in French Polynesia.

It was a long crossing.

22 days, not much wind.

We gambled with the fuel use early on, and lost.

So, we sailed.

There were 3 excellent days of hull speed beam reaching, then, rien on the windage.

We encountered some squalls and 36 hours of a front that brought rain, headwind and curses.

Overall, we had 9 days of < 100 nm of progress. The trip took 1 less day than our longest passage last year, but was 2/3 the length.

We recorded our shortest day of progress ever- 60 nm.

We were lucky, though, and had no big gales or storms, no significant mechanical issues and no medical problems along the way.

By the time we arrived, we were pretty exhausted. I think on the fatigue continuum I was somewhere between jet lagged after flying coach to India and finishing a long month of ER night shifts attending drunks and other random weirdos.

Anyway, for now, it's baguette, cannonball, pamplemousse, nap, whisky, repeat. Sounds good to me.

We had lots of changing conditions during the passage. Spinnaker up, spinnaker down. Pole out the jib, take the pole down. Raise the main, lower the main.

As usual, fantastic sunrise and sunsets across the Pacific.

Somehow, everything has a purpose.

Great dinner!

Ready, set, squall!

We sailed wing and wing for about 2 hours before conditions changed enough that we had to change sail, again.

Day 22- Land ho, captain!

Pulling into the pass at Raivavae. Raivavae has the reputation as being the most beautiful of all the French Polynesian islands. More on that later.