Wind is getting a little better. Last night I had to run the engine for a few hours but during the day we ran under sail at 3,5 knots speed… Again a bird came by for a visit, and this very lively specimen couldn’t resist leaving his ‘business card’… Yesterday he started on the foredeck and mainsail then finished the job last night with first covering the foredeck and mizzen and then going for the stern. Luckily because of the awning, the cockpit was spared the greetings. Guppy is not gaining sea over Henk and I’d rather not check on distance which I guess isn’t much… But I am having good times here with reading and odd chores on the boat, not mentioning cleaning bird droppings that is. Yesterday night I watched a movie that I had swapped with another yacht sailor and of course I also talked with my equally unfortunate windless companions on SSB radio just like I do everyday. Most of my sailor friends are still somewhere in French Polynesia or Tonga. The closest yacht to me is Henk’s Sogno d’Oro that is sailing about 260 nautical miles ahead [482 kilometres or 300 land miles], and he doesn’t have much wind either… As much as I can say there should be good winds tomorrow. So, I should be covering a few miles closing on the notorious Torres Strait. The longer I study my charts with all the reefs and currents over there, the more I am eager to overcome this passage…

Laura