Day 8, Passage to Puerto Montt

2000Z 29SEP19, Day 8, Easter Island to Puerto Montt, Chile. Big milestones today - halfway through the passage, completed 1k nm and less than 1k nm to go! We continue to sail Zephyros hard. We are battling challenging conditions and making good progress in the right direction, decently close to rhumb line. Zephyros continues to take excellent care of us.

Current Position: 36 20S / 093 57W
24 hour progress: 144nm, 6.0kts avg SOG
Overall progress for the passage is 1038nm with approximately 990nm to the entrance canal to get to Puerto Montt. The weather is now officially cold with temperatures dropping below 50F last night - we've broken out the slippers, socks and shoes! Up to this point we've been in foulies, hats and barefoot. It is mostly sunny though we hit occasional rain last night. We are sailing a starboard tack, close reach, with 3 reefs in the main and 2 in the genoa. Winds are currently 25kts true +/-5kts and the seas are still big and rolly.

The crew are all doing well and enjoying the morale boost, music and candy treats for passing the passage halfway mark. Halfway party! We are still working hard and resting when we can. It seems this weather will continue for a few days and then the winds will drop back down to nothing. The wind this passage has been too much or too little, but at least the sailing angles have been close to desired, even though we are bashing into it. Overnight we battled 30kt winds with extended gusts in the 40s, but it has mostly come back down during the day with gusts into the 30s. We switched to the staysail briefly but it was just too slow—probably should have been on it last night in the stronger winds. Oh well, always experimenting, always learning.