Noon Update : 30-June-2007

NE Gulf of Carpentaria
Arafura Sea, Far North Australia
10'41.2S/139'45.0E

• 117nm last 24 hrs
• 538nm to Darwin
• 147nm from Thursday Island
• Winds SE 10-15 knots
• seas S 3-4 ft

Yesterday we had really confused seas and upset stomachs. With no wind, we were left rolling all over the place motor sailing until sunset. We were able to sail after sunset, averaging 3-4 knots. The winds picked up overnight and this morning we put out our jib pole and main sail out on the starboard side.

I have given our new jib pole lots of praise for sailing downwind. But this is the first time we have tried it on a beam reach and it works like a champ! With it poled out, it keeps the jib from flapping when it looses winds. And the boat seems to steer better on the auto pilot.

If all goes well we are hoping to keep the pole out all the way to Darwin if we keep the wind! This is also the first time we have sailed west with a beam reach since 9 months ago when we arrived in Australia.

The weather forecast is predicting 10-15 knots of wind for the next 3 days. If it blows like it did today, then we should be able to keep an average of 5 knots. S/V Blue Sky is 34nm ahead of us and S/V Shiraz is 18nm miles ahead of us. We are able to talk to each other twice a day on the SSB radio at 8am and 5:30pm.

Tom and Amy