Malakite's blog

Motored for the first 40 hours, on very calm seas with less than 10 knots of wind. Heading east so we could make the most of the easterly wind when it arrived.Beautiful sunsets and an amazing full moon. Caught an albacore tuna which was enjoyed for dinner last night. We turned of the engine and started sailing at 2.30am this morning, the wind has been slowly building and we are currently sailing in 20-25 knots of wind, doing 7-8 knots boat speed in lumpy seas.

We departed Opua, Bay of Islands this morning with Glen, Ben and Ken on board. We are motoring at 6.2 knots, with no wind and glassy seas. Heading east so we can make the most of the wind and it's forecast direction as we get closer to Minerva reef. 749nm to South Minerva Reef. What a great day to depart.

We, being Glen, Jillian and Ben left Orakei Marina on Thursday 23rd April at 1700hrs heading to Opua in the Bay of Islands. We motor sailed until around midnight and then were able to turn the engines of and enjoy the peace with only the wind in our sails. Ben kept watch until midnight then Glen took over. Glen heard unusual splashing sounds on his watch and shone the torch into the water and found a pod of dolphins playing alongside us. They didn’t care for the torch beam and soon left us. The wind was picking up by now with 25 knots showing on the wind gauge.