The old fogeys
Well, the old fogeys spent this evening sitting in the cockpit, admiring the gorgeous view, watching the sun set and sipping A$3.30 per litre wine while listening to Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and others.
Oh, it's a tough life but someone has to do it and it might as well be us.
We left Noumea on Sunday morning, heading North. We have visited a number of pleasant bays and islands. It has been very windy but we've found somewhere comfortable most of the time. Today was an exception when we went to Grand Pandanus Island but it was not tenable in the wind and waves. So, we ended up tacking back to the East in 20-30kts of wind to a comfortable anchorage. We have been ashore each day for a walk and these have been enjoyable.
Tomorrow, we return to Noumea hopefully to pick up our fixed sail and also a spare piece for the Cape Horn wind steering. A French welder has already straightened and welded the broken part. However, the Cape Horn Company is also sending a replacement from Quebec. This is absolutely amazing as the unit is eight years old and we have sailed around 20,000NM with it! What fantastic Customer Service! We would rather have the replacement, strengthened part than the welded one for the trip back home.
Our French is slowly improving. We also receive emailed copies of the local weather forecasts and armed with our French dictionary and grammar work them out quite swiftly. Clearly, different people write them because every few days there are different phrases that the others do not use. MUCH more interesting than Australian weather forecasts and with much more evocative language. From now on, we will be much more interestyed in "Souffle" clouds than just ordinary non-gastronomic ones.
Regards, Penny & Dave
