Distance and Timing of Destinations

With good wind we can sail 150 miles conservatively in 24 hours.  50 miles can be covered in a normal daylight period and still arrive in good daylight to anchor.  The trip from Bali to Borneo is 450 miles.  The midway stop on the island of Bawean is 200 miles from Bali.  We had good hopes of making Bawean but the typical 10AM winds never appeared and instead came at 3PM.  They dropped off by 6PM so we were at a huge deficit that we could never speed up enough to gain it back. 

An option would be to stay out a second night and arrive in the morning.   But, in this situation, our arrival in Bawean would have been midnight and drifting around for another 6 hours didn't seem such a good use of time.  The next leg to Borneo from Bawean is 250 miles.  With good wind, this also is a difficult distance since it also gives us a middle of the night arrival.  We could also just drift around for 6 hours waiting for sunrise but by skipping Bawean and going straight to Borneo, the 2 half nights added together give us a full night of sailing and a morning arrival.  We also cut the trip by one day and covered the 450 miles in 3 days.

Another option available to afford a daytime arrival would be to leave in the middle of the night.  This however is only practical if the anchorage you are leaving had no hazards like coral and rocks that you could hit in the dark.