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As always it is a feast or famine, when we left Saumlaki we had ten days up our sleeve. When we were becalmed off Alor we were looking at the possibility of not making it on the 15th, now here we are with 700 miles to go we are ahead of schedule and looking for a place to drop into. There was an idea that we could stop at a small island, which is off the NW corner of Lombok, but with the wind being from the southern corner we could not lay that destination easily. The other consideration was Selat Lombok, we did not wish to get too close as it could easily suck us back out to the open sea and then we would really be struggling to get anywhere. So looking ahead I start investigating some of the small islands which we will be passing along the way and there are two possibilities, however we have no detailed chart of either and while the pilot book gives some details, they are anchorages I would not wish to make in the night. This means we need to time our arrivals correctly.
Duyfken continues to amaze me at how well she sails in light airs. We have barely five knots of wind on the beam and we are making three knots through the water! Maybe the America's cup boys should think of square sails. We have started a crew deck log for people to enter trivial items or comments or sightings. Some have begun to call it the crude deck log, either way it appears to be popular and could well be interesting reading later on. I will take some extracts for this log later.
We are now getting too far away from Sydney for me to send the logs by radio email through Penta Radio on a consistent basis. The next nearest station is Brunei Bay Radio and that is right on our limit as well so getting the emails to you is requiring lots of patience. I only hope that the company, Sailmail who provide the service by airmail, does not get upset at how long it takes for us to send and receive messages. It is certainly a handy service and we are very appreciative.
Glenn R. Williams
Master
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