Whangarei to Sydney

Silver Fern blog day 3

We are nearing the half way point of our Tasman crossing. We’ve been underway 3 days, and have motored all but about 12 hours of that. We’re currently about 2/3 of the way through our diesel supply so really need some wind in the next 24 hours. Fortunately that’s exactly what’s forecast, from around midday tomorrow. That looks like it will carry us all the way to Sydney. It will be nice to put Silver Fern’s beautiful new black mainsail through its paces.

The crew has settled in well. Everyone suffered from the usual departure nerves and unsettled sleep for the first couple of days. Now though, with flat calm seas, we’ve all caught up on rest and there’s a nice, relaxed feeling aboard. I’ve been impressed by how much everyone wants to learn about sailing and seamanship. There is constant discussion around things like passage planning, weather forecasting and boat maintenance. Right now Brent is sitting in the cockpit whipping sheet ends, Chris and Tom are discussing the finer points of compass bearings and Liv is writing up her logbook.

Today we spotted a pod of Minke whale, and an albatross.