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May 21
Last night the wind died and went around to the West and we motored on. What more is there to
say? This morning a huge wall of cloud appeared ahead of us to the East, but as we approach
it, the wall keeps moving away from us to the East. The heat has set in now and we are truly
in the tropics. Our latitude, though only 23 degrees South and not quite within the tropical
boundary of 22S, feels tropical.
At 2pm we are motoring in dead air. There is, according to our instruments, a 6-7k breeze
from the SW, but on our current heading all we feel is an apparent wind of about 3k. In other
words, nothing. As I write this we have 104nm to reach Dumbea Pass, the entrance to the
lagoon which surrounds the Southern part of Grande Terre, the main island that makes up New
Caledonia. From Dumbea Pass it is about 15 miles more to Noumea, the capital. Our ETA at the
pass is currently about 9am which will have us in Noumea at around noon.
This evening around sunset, with less then 100 miles to go a nice SE wind came up and we
sailed while eating dinner. The clouds also filled in and by sunset we were completely
covered in a mass of gray.
By 8pm the breeze was too light and we could make only 3.5k, a speed we would have accepted a
few days ago when a fuel shortage was anticipated. It is now midnight, local time (13:00UTC)
and we have about 60nm to go before we reach Dumbea Pass and another 10 miles after that to
reach Noumea's harbor, Port Moselle. Conditions now are 10k from the SE, seas are slight with
a 3ft swell from the East. Skies remain 90% cloudy and some light drizzle was felt earlier.
Forecasts for tonight and tomorrow call for light variables again.
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