Noon Update : 01-July-2007

Noon Position
NW Gulf of Carpentaria
Arafura Sea
North Territory, Australia
10'47.0S/137'47.6E

• 116nm last 24 hrs
• 424nm to Darwin
• 263nm from Thursday Island
• Winds SE 10-15 knots
• seas S 2-3ft

First Mate Amy here. I'm finally feeling up to sitting in front of the computer to write a blog entry. It still takes me a few days to get my sea legs, even after all this time. The best thing about this trip to Darwin for me is that it will probably be the longest trip we do in the next year. All of our Southeast Asia stops should be somewhat close together.

Some may wonder what we do all day here on the Sandpiper, especially when we have beam winds and don't need to adjust the sails much. So, I'll tell you. We take turns sleeping. We take 3-4 hour watches. We check in with our friends on the Single Side Band Radio twice a day. We rock out to the iPod. We read (I'm currently reading 'The Christmas Train' and Tom is reading 'The History of Everything'). We eat, and then we sleep some more.

Today I saw another sailing vessel off of our port on the horizon and gave them a call. It was actually a US boat heading for Darwin and will participate in the rally. We made new friends just like that!

Our last week we spent at Horn Island the weather had been quite overcast and we experienced rain almost every day. But since leaving therem we have had bright blue sunny skies during the day and a gorgeous full moon at night.

Last night we slowed down and averaged 3.5 knots. It seems as soon as the sun goes down, the wind dies down too. And then in the morning, we are back doing 5 knots again. Tomorrow the winds are reported to die down some. But it sure would be nice if we could keep up this speed.

Big day on Sandpiper tomorrow... 'Extreme Shower Day'!

S/V Shiraz is 40nm in front of us. S/V Blue Sky 67nm in front of us.

Amy and Tom