March 25 Enroute to Pitcairn/Gambiers

Distance run day 1 - 125 nm
Distance run day 2 - 142 nm
Most of the day and all night yesterday were spent in what we call "challenging" conditions. In other words, conditions sucked! Winds were high, seas were large and confused, and we lost count of the number of waves that inundated the boat, came over the dodger, or into the cockpit. Were we having fun, or what? I finally put a third reef in the main (made the mainsail smaller) and that helped a whole bunch, but the boat motion was still whip sawing us around like crazy. I can't remember the last time we needed to go to a third reef. This morning the winds and seas have moderated just enough to make things more tolerable, in other words we're not getting tossed around like rag dolls. We're keeping a sharp look on the weather, which we get via Sailmail on SSB radio, and seem to be attempting to thread our way between the highs and lows that rapidly form out here as we gradually go northwest towards Pitcairn Island. We're also talking several times daily on the SSB radio with two other boats going the same way (Soggy Paws and Visions of Johanna) to compare notes and "share the experience...." I have a feeling there's more "challenging" weather in front of us....

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