June 11

This morning we set things ready to leave and, after waiting for the tide to change, pulled up the hook at about 10:45am. The sky was overcast and raining on and off and the wind, at the anchorage, was under 5k. Out in the Baie de Prony the wind is blowing 15-22k from the SE. It is now 11:30am and we are motoring SSE at about 5k into the wind. Once we get out of Prony we will head West through the Woodin Channel and with the wind behind us the ride should improve. Already Jonah is looking peaked as we pump into the 1ft chop in the bay. Noumea is about 30nm from here and we expect to be there before 5pm, perhaps earlier. The tide is flooding now and the current in the Woodin Channel should give us a 2k boost.

At 11:40 the wind has built to a nice 25k from the SE and we are really plowing into it. Much water on the side decks. It is now 11:50 and we have finally made the turn into the channel and as expected the seas are calmed, the current is with us and we are making 8.7k over ground on a course of 268M. The channel is formed between the main island of Grande Terre to the North and Isle Ouen to the South. The wind, though still close to 20k, is now off the port beam and we are motor sailing with only the genoa out.

At 1pm we are app. 18nm from Noumea. We are motorsailing on a course of 278M at app. 7.5k. We have about 15k from the ESE and the benefit still of a nice 1k current. We expect to be in Noumea in about 3 hours time.

It is now 2:10pm and we are about nine miles from Noumea. The wind remains brisk at 18-24k from the ESE with occasional bursts up to 28k and we are making a good 8k over ground motorsailing on a course of 259M with the wind almost from astern so we continue with only the genoa. The sky remains overcast with rain showers evident over Grande Terre, though we have been lucky and have not had any rain on us since it stopped while we were coming out of Baie de Prony.