The tradition at Hardrock Cafes is for all the staff to sing YMCA for any customer brave enough to annouce it’s their birthday.  I can report that so far this tradition has NOT found it’s way to the crew of Giselle for my birthday.  We will see if Andy is as lucky if we are still at sea for his on the 12th.

Got away from Whangarei(Marsden Cove) at 16:00 into a force 5 from the North.  Good progress close hauled off to the NE until 07:00 when the wind dropped.  Motoring for breakfast did allow us to enjoy the beef and sun dried tomato sausages that we had declined to cook the night before.  About level with Opua at 08:00 NZ time and about 60 miles offshore.  We are clear of the shipping lanes and can see quite a prosession of cargo ships going up and down the east coast of NZ.

Position: 35°10’S 175°32’E [-35.166,175.530]at 08:17:00 GMT+12 4th May, BST 21:17 3rd May
984 miles to Port Resolution, Tanna, Vanuatu. ETA at 5 knots: 13:05 Thurs 12th May GMT+12
Wind: NW 5 knots Sea: Lumpy NE and NW swells
Sky: Sunny, Sea:20.5’C already up 1 deg
Reminder if you enter [-35.166,175.530] into Google maps you will see where we are.
Alternatively you can see position on the links on www.roamingtheoceans.com to shiptrak or yotreps – They may take a day for them to update their files.