Now tied up in Marsden Cove Marina - an uneventful motor sail down the Northland coast saw us arriving at the Q dock at 12 noon. Customs and MPI very friendly and efficiently dealt with us in about 20 minutes - then a quick trip to the fuel dock before the final leg to GH - or so we thought....

Just 5m from the dock there was smoke pouring out of the boat - we drifted in with fire extinguishers at the ready - very calm and collected under pressure this wonderful crew.

A full afternoon of analysis concluded that the starter motor had caught in the ring gear and burned out. So we are here for repairs and will make the final leg of the journey in due course.

Cannot believe how lucky we were with the timing of that....all sorts of repercussions, had it happened at any other moment.

Great to see three Kings and North Cape on our starboard bow around 0900 this morning. Another night of motor sailing in less than 8kts of breeze from the SE - right on the nose. We are not unhappy about this - it is exactly the weather window we saw for North Cape when leaving Noumea a week ago - using the amazing PredictWind We are 80 miles from Cape Brett and looking forward to a relaxed trip down the coast Meantime there's been fresh bread baked and gourmet meals served - and a tot of rum all round to celebrate Land Ho!

Great progress over night and this morning in ever decreasing wind. PredictWind tells us we are on the edge of a large hole with no wind - mostly motoring from here. Distance to North Cape is about 110 miles. Blue skies light winds and calm seas - cant think of anything better for North Cape! Last 24 hours 188miles sailed - pretty much perfect conditions Crew are happy and relaxed - focussed on sleep food and the horizon.

Big day today diving south between a couple of strong wind areas - PredictWind doing a great job of finding our way in tricky conditions. Feel we have overcome the last major weather obstacle and now only have a big hole with no wind between us and North Cape.

We spend most of the day 60deg off the wind in big confused seas - 9 and 10 knots showing on the speedo - every now and again the boat is airborne. Hard physical work just staying attached to the boat. Winds have backed off now and come around more to the east - so we are close hauled and almost laying North Cape doing 7kts in 12 kts of breeze All good here

bright and sunny today after a night of dark and rainy squalls. At times we were forced to head off to the east to run away from the big ones - up to 38kts on the wind dial. Currently charging along at 8 - 9 kts and even pointing in the right direction. Going like a train with 1 reef in main and full headsail. Wind speed 20 - 25 and 1m seas. The occasional slap on our side sends spray flying high. Quite exhilarating.

All well on board - Judy is concocting something imaginative for lunch, Trevor is in the sack, Pip on deck doing puzzles

well the front arrived in the early hours of the morning - 38kts with torrential rain for about an hour. Made for some excitement with the dog watch. Morning came and we have 30kts on the beam with building seas- pretty boisterous but we are making good progress now in bright sunshine. Forecast is to ease somewhat overnight so we cant complain about that.

Norfolk Island due south of us - but our course is SE from here for a few days - so wont be stopping there! All well on board

sorry - didn't update position on previous post....now have 147 miles since departure - slow going with much motor sailing involved. The lights of Prony Bay finally disappeared over the horizon astern in the early hours of the morning. Crew rotations working well, with getting sufficient sleep quickly becoming the main focus. Trevor's famous spag bog was a hit with the team last night This morning is bright and sunny - very light wind straight on the nose so we are motoring again. Expect to see the NW shift ahead of the front coming in tonight, which should give us a couple of days of downwind sailing. Unfortunately that will bring some rain with it.

All crew fit and well - no experiences of sea sickness.

now have 147 miles since departure - slow going with much motor sailing involved. The lights of Prony Bay finally disappeared over the horizon astern in the early hours of the morning. Crew rotations working well, with getting sufficient sleep quickly becoming the main focus. Trevor's famous spag bog was a hit with the team last night This morning is bright and sunny - very light wind straight on the nose so we are motoring again. Expect to see the NW shift ahead of the front coming in tonight, which should give us a couple of days of downwind sailing. Unfortunately that will bring some rain with it.

All crew fit and well - no experiences of sea sickness.

heading out shortly through the reef via Canal di Woodin taking advantage of the falling tide and assisting current ?Next stop is Whangarei

now anchor down at a deep bay on the south side of Canal Di Woodin - Baie Ire. Very close to the location of our encounter with the cruise ship on the way in. Not a soul in sight. Sunset just off the point - Pip is in the water for a quick swim before dark...about time I say, as she's been going on about a swim since arriving.

Quite a bash into 20knot headwind to get here from Port Moselle - 27NM upwind, and part of our cunning plan for departure to NZ. We will check the forecasts again tomorrow morning - thinking to head to Isle Di Pins and wait there for departure on Saturday, but we shall see.

Highlights of Noumea - the number 10 bus with the reggae blaring and the super friendly locals - not to be missed. Anse Vata and its ?????????? Baie Di Limon, dinner at Le petit cafe and Le Chaumiere - perfect French local cuisine and the friendly people of the Port Moselle marina definitely want more of this?

now moored at the Q dock in Port Moselle. Spent a pleasant evening motoring through the inner passages - encountered a cruise ship in Canal Woodin - she would have been as long as the passage was wide. Quite a spectacular experience. Finally dropped anchor outside the marina at 0030 hrs. Spent a pleasant morning clearing customs Now heading for an exploring mission in Noumea.

motoring under bright sunny skies and zero wind. The sea is glassy calm and 24deg. We are finally all catching up on sleep after an uneventful night - ran out of wind around 1500 yesterday and have had the motor on since.

We passed Ilse Lifou in the early hours this morning and turned our heading towards Canal de la Havannah - our entry point into the reef system that surrounds New Cal. We have about 4 1/2 hours to cover the remaining 26nm. ETA there is currently 1600hrs - we are pushing the current all the way.

We were thinking of trailing a line - but there is so much food on board we need to focus on eating that! Expect our anchor down at Noumea around midnight tonight - customs formalities in the morning, followed by new crew arrivals later in the day. It will be an interesting night threading our way through the reef system and up the SW coast to Noumea - but we understand that the charts here are excellent as are the channel markers, so not too worried about that.

under way at 1700hrs yesterday headed for Noumea. Rough start with 3/4 of creep feeling unwell. Winds and sea eased overnight with gorgeous easy sailing conditions by dawn. Wind is ESE 10 sea slight. We have made reasonable progress with 125nm on the clock so far - average just over 6.5 which is good given the light winds. All very short of sleep - so trying to catch up as we go.

under way at 1700hrs yesterday headed for Noumea. Rough start with 3/4 of creep feeling unwell. Winds and sea eased overnight with gorgeous easy sailing conditions by dawn. Wind is ESE 10 sea slight. We have made reasonable progress with 125nm on the clock so far - average just over 6.5 which is good given the light winds. All very short of sleep - so trying to catch up as we go.

now on the mooring at PV

We have arrived at Lenakel / Tanna Island! A little bit tired but excited to be here.

Total distance covered 1281.9 NM in 7 days 3 hours 45mins.

The last 24 hours have been busy - we have hand steered her for the last 14 hours - there seems to be some electrical issue with the auto pilot that needs investigating. That and the 30 knot winds have made for a pretty bumpy ride with a lot of spray flying. Max speed was over 12 knots under two reefs in the main most of the genoa furled. Last day 24 hour run was 206NM - pretty happy to his that milestone. Now for customs etc ...

Other than that we are in More photos will come through mobile internet soon!

A gibe at 7:40am, now the wave is behind us pushing forward to Vanuatu. M is doing minor fixing with D's help. Mr. T is make beer bread!! Hopefully we will get Tanna on Friday! Yeah

Just in case the update at lunch time with image upload has not show up.

We have had another beautiful day. Preparing dinner and waiting for the sunset. Engine is on for 2 hours just for battery charging. It is perfect sailing condition today! My guess we are close to 8 on average.

Just in case the update at lunch time with image upload has not show up.

We have had another beautiful day. Preparing dinner and waiting for the sunset. Engine is on for 2 hours just for battery charging. It is perfect sailing condition today! My guess we are close to 8 on average.

Weather is perfect - we re now over 1/2 way and it feels like a downhill run all the way from here. Bright sunshine and a few fluffy clouds. Some of the crew are in shirts and shorts as the temp is warming up. Contemplating Shirley's chicken pie for dinner tonight - with left over curry for lunch. Pretty much all we do is sleep and eat

After a whole night of into-wind sailing, we are closer to our destination. Everyone is fine. Small staysail has bee put up. We are trying generator at the moment. This is just a quick update

BBQ dinner!

We have to motor again, not only for the batteries but there is no wind again! Updated grib files shows we are in a no-wind zone. The whole crew has had a shower and all on board are fresh and happy. Sandwiches for brunch. Happy sunshine motor sailing in calm conditions - looking for some breeze to come in from the SW overnight.

glassy water

Just another afternoon update , we have a pleasant breeze southwestly at around 17 knots. M and T are busy at minor fixings, D and me are just eating apples and enjoy the journey.

We had a reef on the mainsail and furled the Genova back about a meter. The boat is swing in the swell in a period say 5 seconds. We are preparing dinner soon.

All good on board. NZ has disappeared into the clouds on the horizon. First 24 hours run 154NM - did a lot of motor sailing no have 17 hours clocked on engine time so far. Now sailing in perfect conditions heading north with wind on our port 1/4.

Happily chewing through yesterday's left overs for lunch.

All good. We disappeared from NZ land horizon

sorry, forgot to put our position on, here it is :position 34 56.01s 174 07.03e

First sunrise on the trip to Vanuatu! Wind drops since mid night, we tried serval times to sail but most of the time we are still motoring. The forecast says the wind is shift towards northwest this afternoon! let's see

Need land connection for photos so far as I understand

We need a little bit more breeze, heading 350T, speed 6.5kt at motor

Sail is up! As customs told us, there are 6 boats leaving today!

We are still motoring. Sea log has been done. It is 11:11 22Jun2018 now

Farewell ! We are on the road!

Thanks to everybody who came and ring us to say goodbye!

Special thanks to grandpa! It is really touching ceremony!

Michael, Trevor, Don and Sean...yeah right! >

Try at 21:29, 21Jun2018 at home from my gmail account.

? >

Finally hit the road! I updated the log through email 3 times on board and seems not been on yet. This is update at home now!

Title: the weather is beautiful Where is the pic of the update?

This is a test of the coordination format again!