More Passage Planning

We've had a program called Virtual Passage Planner for ages. Since Mexico.
And I've played with it. But I missed some very important features. So I
didn't find it very interesting, and we haven't been using it. But, Eric
mentioned over cocktails that this program will also optimize a suggested
route, based on time of year, and historical weather averages. All of a
sudden this program looks a lot more interesting.

So this morning, we booted her up and took a look at possible passages home.
Pretty cool tool. But still we wondered about it's accuracy. So we tested
the program with our previous two passages, from Mexico to the Galapagos,
and from Galapagos to the Marquesas. It turns out that it was bang-on for
each trip. It estimated 25 days for the trip to the Galapagos - we took 26 -
and an estimate of 24 days for the trip to the Marquesas - we took 23.

Of course, if you know John, you'll giggle when I tell you that this was too
little info too late!

Well...the wind is up...so we're off to try windsurfing on the other side of
the island. Wish us luck!!