The crew of Sea Dragon bonded quickly after coming together in Marina Taina, Tahiti and the impressive level of experience with our fledgling team was immediately apparent. After an initial day of safety briefings and final preparations we fueled up on Thursday 6th April and departed for a brief stop in the stunning anchorage of Cooks Bay, Moorea. A welcome swim in the vibrant green waters provided well needed respite from the humidity of the tropics and as the new team formed so the sounds of laughter and chatter resonated throughout the boat.
Departing for passage was a little more entertaining than initially expected with some large swells and topography driven cyclonic winds. The main hoist involved driving a full 180 degrees following the wind shifts before we finally settled into 2 reefs and set about following our passage plan.
We eventually settled into a beam reach and introduced the yankee to the reefed main which complemented the conditions beautifully. We maintained good speeds on the whole whilst navigating the frequent squalls with relative ease and eventually the stay sail completed the trio.
The first 48 hours brought us incredible sailing and having started the watch system early the crew are now fully immersed in daily routine and life aboard Sea Dragon.
Overnight the wind dropped as forecast and we now find ourselves motor sailing to maintain passage speed and manage our arrival into Christmas Island. Our greatest challenge is in dealing with the extreme heat and the crew are finding new and innovative ways to maintain morale and energy levels mostly through exciting food based surprises.
Much to the delight of everyone Gary (Head of Fishing) managed to hook a Marlin today which would have been far too big for us to manage in terms of consumption so was returned to the deep to see another day. The somewhat exhilarating moment caused Riccardo to miss his Meridian Passage sextant site which will now be on hold until tomorrow.
Somewhere in all of that we managed to time travel into Wednesday as well.
All well on the good ship Sea Dragon.
Captain Emily