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| Easter Island 27.1167° S, 109.3667° W |
Downwind! | Issuma:
by Richard Hudson
After four weeks of sailing closehauled (all but one day on port tack), the wind shifted north, and we had a beautiful tailwind. If you look closely under the spinnaker (colorful sail), you can see Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island and Isla de Pascua).
We did not have time to anchor at Rapa Nui before dark, so we spent a leisurely night sailing slowly under the stars, with little sail set, to time our arrival for dawn.
On this leg of the trip, we went farther west than the direct route from Mexico to Rapa Nui because the weatherfaxes showed a lot of light headwinds north of the equator on the direct route. That probably helped avoid motoring (I like sailing, not motoring), as we motored about 75 miles out of about 3100 miles logged. It also made for a somewhat longer (~400 miles) distance and therefore longer time at sea.
How is Rapa Nui? More later.
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