Sunday Day 9 – Towards the Finish

We’re getting a bit tired now as it’s really steamy and hot – very difficult to sleep. The girls are black and blue with bruises.  The wind starts dropping in the afternoon.  We need to make water more often as we are drinking loads of it.  We also need to charge the batteries more often due to our increased use of the water maker and Wilhelmina, of course. All fresh food is gone so we are down to packet food.  We have lots of food however the cabin is hot so not so comfortable to cook in the galley. 

Getting ready for the finish line

We know the Lombok current is ahead of us.  It is the last stretch of water before the finish line near Benoa Harbour. The current is renowned for causing boats to go backwards in light breezes.  It is difficult to know our ETA however we are hoping it’s about 8am tomorrow.  Today we are ready to get to the end.

Things we are most looking forward to:
Bintang

Shower

Crisp, clean, white bed linen

Enjoying a wee without a moving toilet

Clean clothes

Trisha’s lips (ok, that’s Robbie!)

Some quiet time with partners

Terra Firma

Overnight the breeze is steady and we hoist the Code Zero which gives us some more speed however the wind is dropping.  We have 7 miles to the finish line and we are doing 1-2 knots - lordy - that's 7 hours - sad faces.  We can see the coast of Bali and the surf at Nusa Dua. The current and eddies are strong in some places.  We tack in close to shore but not too close because we are near to the surf lines at Nusa Dua.  Its hard for us to stay focused as we are so close to the end in distance and so far in time.  We are not operating at 100% and understandably get a bit niggly. 

First sight of Bali

Then, as we round the point, a Race Control Rib zooms up to say hello - we are so excited however the finish is still an hour away with a lightening breeze. 

Race Control welcome us at Benoa

We start the engine, drop the sails and motor up the Benoa channel.  As we are still using auto-helm, it will be difficult to maneuver into our pen. We 'raft-up' to the Race Control Rib so they can guide us into our pen.  Indonesian customs board and we complete lots of paperwork.  Cold bintangs are delivered to the boat by Race Control - many thanks! 

Guiding us into our pen as we have no steerage

Finally we sail over the finish line to cheers from the finish boat. AWESOME!!!

We have finished - happy faces :-)

Breeze: 5-25 knots