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Friday, June 09, 2006  Offshore trip is an exercise in extremes
The line between exhilaration and misery is a fine one during an
offshore passage. I'm in the middle of one right now, sailing
from Rarotonga to Niue. The distance between the two islands is
about 600 miles and should take about six days.  Or not. Our
speed, which ranges between 2 and 7 mph, depends on the wind.
But South Pacific weather predictions, we've discovered, bear
little resemblance to reality. Our joke on board is that the
forecast is calling for too little wind, freshening to too much
wind at some unknown time in the future.  In the absence of
wind, a frequent occurrence so far, we turn on the diesel engine
and travel 5 mph at a dull roar. While motoring like that
earlier this week, I dreamed about, of all things, a truck stop.
That's not so odd, however, because offshore passages are full
of incongruities. They are interesting and boring, easy and
hard, long and short, a