Great sail yesterday.  Mostly to windward tacking on the windshifts and Giselle going very well with one reef in 12-15 knots of SSE wind.  Died a bit at midnight so started motoring.  Expecting wind tonight from NW and then 20 knots or so from SW.  Well positioned to the west of Whangarei so should have […]

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Finally got to sail at Noon yesterday.  Fabulous run with the pink spinnaker up.  Left it up into 18 knots so was hard work to drop as the sock was stuck and didn’t come down over the sail. Then it was through the front at 02:20.  Only light rain and a modest wind increase.  Wind […]

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What’s the best thing about being past the halfway mark?  The glass is more than half full?  The glass is no longer half empty?  Its getting cooler by the day?  The fresh fruit and vegtables are getting scarce?  No, the best thing is I get to start my second bar of Chocolate.  We only got […]

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Cold enough on watch last night to need trousers. Very light breeze from the SE was enough to have us motor sailing most of the night.  The action is more comfortable and the fuel consumption lower.  68 miles to half way and we should have enough fuel for the whole trip if the light winds […]

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Salt water in the bilge spotted when doing the engine checks.  Cause was the engine raw water pump.  I repaired this one in the Marquesas Islands in June last year and Kirsty brought a new spare to Tahiti so this was fitted and away we went.  Next the battery monitor was showing no battery charge […]

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Managed to keep the boat speed up but with the light winds coming from where we want to go the true progress was slow. Wind has died now so motoring.  The forecasts have quite a bit of calm areas.  We have fuel to spare to repeat the current pattern of motoring and sailing – that […]

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Motored until we got to the front just south of Fiji at 18:00 last night.  This front comes off a low a long way south close to New Zealand!  Now got good winds and we are close hauled on the port tack heading off to the SW to get westing in before the wind shifts […]

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Tito at the customs in Savusavu took time out from his Church’s sports day to clear us out on Fiji Day (Monday 11th October).  We left at 15:00 and very little wind so far.  Red ferry from Savusavu came up close to see who we were in the middle of the night – I think […]

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Slowed down to arrive when it got light. Last night we had the decked washed by rain which was good. The bad news was the humidity very high and so the crew were not as fresh as the decks despite a shower earlier in the day. Derek on Kalida was there to guide us in. […]

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We are motoring in amongst the Fiji islands. All too far away to see. Tonight we should see Nathamaki at least. Timing looks perfect for dropping anchor in Savusavu at first light. Any guesses for the menu for Lunch and dinner? Tuna is quite excellent.

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