Yayyyyyy! We are on the customs dock in the port of Victoria city in absolutely dreamy calm conditions after a long day of whales diving and breeching only meters from the boat, dramatic scenery the whole way down the 80 miles of Juan de Fuca Straits, tons of bird life diving and cavorting, dolphins playing the finally at around 9pm today after battling 5-6 knot currents at the end of the straits we arrived in flat calm conditions, to the beautiful looking city of Victoria. We will sleep the sleep of the dead tonight then head down to the marina for a week then to Galiano Island in the Straits of Georgia where Siri will lie to a dock for a while while Jeff and I catch up with sons and daughters in laws in Vancouver and Seattle.

Winds light again today. About 150 miles to go. Starting to get prepared for docking and eventually leaving our home for the last nearly 4 months! A grey overcast and misty day today. Tonight we were escorted again by a large pod of dolphins, excitedly playing all around the boat, looked like playing hide and seek diving under the boat and re-appearing at the bows, all the while leaping out of the water and spouting out from their blowholes and looking up at us, seemingly wanting us to join them and play too! What lovely company they are.

Very light winds again today. Motored for about 6 hours. Only 200 miles to go. Some weather coming in a couple of days, and we hope to get into the straits of Juan de Fuca beforehand. Full main and furler, around 4 knots, a bit frustrating when we are so close. The toilet spat the dummy (again) and the fuel filters blocked up with crud from the tank but we managed to get that all sorted. All good now. Bring it on!

One of the problems with hitching a ride on a High Pressure system can be the lack of wind. We are currently idling along at about 2 knots in 5 knots of wind. Hoping for the breeze to fill in as it gets dark. Less than 300nm to go and no wind! We have motored for about 3 hours, but need to conserve fuel for tackling the Juan de Fuca straits and getting to a Marina. Fortunately there is very little swell and almost lake like conditions. 7 various ships currently showing on our AIS vessel tracker. Busy place! I must go and whistle up some wind. Ciaou for now.

We were escorted by a pod of about 20 dolphins for an hour or so. They were playing about and chattering, showing off their speed and agility and being super curious and friendly. We were spellbound. Good progress, only about 500 miles to go to the straits of Juan de Fuca. Our High pressure friend is also staying with us and keeping us safe from the weather bombs.

We are enjoying listening to CBC radio stations while heading North East with the Southerly winds courtesy of the high pressure system we are hitching a ride with. All good on board, looking forward to arriving in Victoria. Plenty of food, water and fuel to get us there. Having a dream sail.

Great sailing, easy low swell, a few showers. Furler rope broke - replaced it, sooner now than in a Force 22 storm and 20 meter swells lol. Seeing lots of rubbish in the sea around here. You could almost play hopscotch on it all. We were passed by two container ships doing around 20 knots, both within our 5 mile guard zone on the AIS. Good progress, we have Canada just around the corner of the High we are riding on. Fantastic.

Trundling along north at good speed, some big swells rolling in making our ride roly poly but we get rocked to sleep. No surprises in the weather department, we have dodged the bullets and are secure for the moment hitched to the high pressure system that came along in the nick of time as some of the storms and hurricanes were heading our way. We had to disable the wind generator that had become a screaming banshee and upset the self steering and our ears. Otherwise all good in the hood.

Our two hitch hikers that we thought were Cormorants turned out to be Red Footed Boobys. We renamed them Brian and Beryl. Brian took off yesterday and hasn't returned and the same with Beryl. I miss them, but not the guano left behind :-). It was simply amazing to have such large beautiful birds so close that we could touch them. We have had a change of weather systems and now have 35-30 knots of wind on the beam and fairly lumpy seas as we head for shelter under the wing of a big high pressure zone between here and the straits of Juan de Fuca, the entrance to Georgia Sound where Victoria is. Straightline only about 1200nm, a bit like going to Fiji! Just a tad colder lol. We should be in the high zone tomorrow morning and a bit less wind and quieter seas. The temperature is dropping daily, we will probably need jackets and beanies soon. We will look like Noddy and Big Ears lol. The mainsheet traveler fell to bits so the boom is held to the traveler track by several turns of rope instead which seems to be working fine. We double reefed the main and rolled up half of the jib a couple of hours ago as the wind started getting over 40kn, but it has settled a bit to around 30kn now. Our current course puts us almost on a direct line to Canada. It's a bit like being in a washing machine on spin cycle at the moment, but we are comfortable enough.

Awesome day/ Finally got the perfect wind to launch us into North American orbit. We picked up a couple of hitch hikers that are camped out in the cockpit. Cornelius and Conny Cormorant. So cute. Looks like they are here for the night. We can sit right next to them, they have no fear. They have tucked their wee heads under their wings and gone to sleep. Our good luck charms for sure.

Well I sat outside in the cockpit tonight with a cup of coffee and watched a fiery sunset followed by the emergence of the northern hemisphere night sky with a resplendent milky way to die for. All the while Jeff caught up on his sleep in the forward cabin while being gently rocked by an easy swell and quiet waters sliding past the hull. Listened to some great music on my Mp3 while gazing up at the myriads of twinkling stars and glowing planets. Phosphorescence in the sea leaving a lit up trail in our wake and around the boat. Magic. Bliss.

Biggest event of the day was finding a packet of chocolate chip cookies, which we then demolished in short order, all the while reminiscing about Mellowpuffs......But hey, we are mindful of our good fortune and baked a loaf of bread to celebrate. Easy sailing, heading NNE to escape a low with our name on it and trying not to take it personally.... not working...... :-) PS Hello Evelynne's class of 31, I have sent you more answers to your tricky, insightful and cheeky questions about our trip :-)

Hmmmmm.......found that the boom was close to falling off due to the screws holding the boom bracket to the mast were flogging out. Jeff is retapping some bigger bolts in and we will lash the boom to the mast as well to keep it contained. Never a dull moment. Checked the latest weather maps - looks like Picadilly Station on a Friday afternoon. A possible cyclone forming just to the south of us and up ahead a melee of lows, troughs and gales before we gain the relative safety of the North Pacific High. We are close to Hawaii now but about 350 miles East, looking for a way through the maze. All good on board, missing French wine and Mellowpuffs, but surviving despite this. :-)

Absolutely no wind most of the day. Motored for about 3 hours in a long easy swell and often mirror-like sea. Listened to some fave music with good headphones while motoring - nice! Finally picked up a light wind and now sailing north west heading off Hawaii the pass. A large pod of dolphins visited us just on dusk and frolicked around the boat for about half and hour and crissed crossed the bows of the boat clearly playing around and having a great time while we whistled to them. Picked up another cargo boat on the AIS about 8 miles south of us heading for China.

Another perfect day in paradise. :-) Lots of seabirds today, mainly storm petrels following small schooling fish and feasting up big time. Saw a large cargo ship heading NW towards Hawaii. We picked it up on our AIS first. What a great device, it lets us know of any vessels in the vicinity and sounds an alarm if we are on a course which could result in a collision. Handy to know that.......

All good on board. Collected fresh water off the mainsail into buckets to use for showers and washing. Made a loaf of bread with the breadmaker, worked a treat! Had a clothes washing day, stretches and exercises on the deck while hanging on and trying not to fall overboard.(Yes, had harnesses on!) Some quite big swells rolling through from the South. Had a pod of about 20 small dolphins gamboling around the boat huffing and puffing and showing off. They stayed with us for about 15 minutes then suddenly seemed to remember a previous appointment and took of at great speed.

Thanks Patricia for fixing my position glitch. All good in the hood. Hello Mrs Gilmour's class, what a great bunch of questions. It's great to share this journey with you guys. I have sent an email detailing my answers. Here is the first one : 1. Yes, we saw whales, dolphins and sharks around Tahiti when we were sailing towards the island of Moorea. We fed manta rays,sting rays and sharks with fish while standing in waist deep water with them swimming all around us! The manta rays would cosy right up to you and sit on your outstretched arms and try and nuzzle into your tummy. Feel free to keep asking :-)

Sorry, wrong hemisphere on previous lol. Having a great sail with occasional sort sharp cool showers in between hot tropical winds. Nice to have cold drinks aboard in this 34 degree (C) heat. Saw some wildlife today, a bunch of Bulwer's Petrels, dark grey-brown mottled plumage, always in pairs skimming, weaving and twisting only a metre above the waves looking for a feed. Also came across a Dong Won - Korean? 50 metre fishing boat in the middle of nowhere minding it's own business busy longlining.

Having a great sail with occasional sort sharp cool showers in between hot tropical winds. Nice to have cold drinks aboard in this 34 degree (C) heat. Saw some wildlife today, a bunch of Bulwer's Petrels, dark grey-brown mottled plumage, always in pairs skimming, weaving and twisting only a metre above the waves looking for a feed. Also came across a Dong Won - Korean? 50 metre fishing boat in the middle of nowhere minding it's own business busy longlining.

Hot as on board. Looking forward to some cooler weather in the northern hemisphere - but not too cold! Line crossing is imminent. A good excuse to dress up, act stupid and drink lashings of rum as we cross over into the civilized world. All fine aboard ship, good shipmates, fair seas.

Crisis on board . Can someone organize an air drop of chilled mellow puffs as we cross the equator? Need it for this Saturday morning. Special request from King Neptune.

The Starship Siri is in good shape and having easy days rocking and rolling up to the equator. Meanwhile Jeff and I sip Intergalactic Gargle Blasters and enjoy the ride.

The Starship Siri is all repaired and launched into the great unknown yesterday. The next port of call will be Victoria, Canada around 5000nm away, 6-8 weeks with no stops. Are we crazy, heck yeah.

The Starship Siri is back on the launchpad due to equipment failure in the form of the galactic windstar guidance system, often disparagingly referred to as Mildred the wind pilot. And yes we had to turn back after the catastrophic failure of a tiny component in the mechanism. The thought of hand-steering at warp speed through the milky way made us blanche. So after only 40nm or so we ran back to Papeete, sleepless, fatigued and mostly incoherent (no change).Went though all the official re-entry proceedures, and ordered more parts from the US, shades of NASA. We were welcomed back by the cruising fraternity like we had never left. No wonder people get stuck here, like Sleepless in Seattle. More news tomorrow.

Welcome to the intergalactic news from the Starship Siri.We have left the orbit of Papeete and are headed at Warp speed to the distant galaxy of Canada. Everything is being managed by our onboard computer called Hal, so I envisage no problems.... Late crew members need to contact Scotty to arrange Teleporting to Siri, but bear in mind there are some issues with the Teleporting receiving end reconstruction phase as Jeff and I can attest to.....Also prospective crew should note that being able to wave a bone around does not automatically qualify you for a position. So lay back on your virtual couch and join us for this epic voyage.

Update to departure date, Sunday 19th August NZST. Lost gas bottles and water issues, just the usual pre-departure stuff. Jeff and I (the odd couple) continuing on to Vancouver.

Getting ready for the big trip to Vancouver. Reprovisioning, refurbishing the self steering, sail repairs, furler repairs, engine maintenance, refuelling, extra water,extra fuel,extra gas bottles, extra mellowpuffs. Waiting for the current perturbation to change back to trade wind weather. Probably leave Papeete Thursday 16th NZ time. Looking forward to the peace and tranquillity of the ocean. (What do you mean - storms?) We have lots of books to get through.

All ok on board . Reinforced trade winds, reducing to 10-20 kn tonight. Reefed main and jib. Less than 150nm to Papeete. Self steering vane arm failed. Now held together with cable ties and allen keys until Papeete!

All ok on board . Full main and jib. Less than 90nm to Papeete. First really good trade wind sail. Still a windward bash to get to Papeete, but we remain philosophical............ :-)

All ok on board . Reinforced trade winds, reducing to 10-20 kn tonight. Reefed main and jib. Less than 150nm to Papeete. Self steering vane arm failed. Now held together with cable ties and allen keys until Papeete!

All ok on board . Reinforced trade winds. Still battling 20-30kn headwinds, triple reefed main and small jib. Less than 200nm to Papeete. Sizeable swells with occasional deck sweepers.

All ok on board . Reinforced trade winds. Still battling 20-30kn headwinds, triple reefed main and small jib. Less than 300nm to Papeete.

All ok on board . Reinforced trade winds. Different day, same shit lol. Still battling 20-30kn headwinds, triple reefed main and small jib. Less than 400nm to Papeete.

All ok on board . Complete change in weather. Battling 30-35kn headwinds, triple reefed main and spitfire jib. Like being in a runaway washing machine.

Motored another 7hrs, low swell, no wind. No pumps to clear the bilge. Fixed leak in exhaust mixer outlet. Low swell, Set up electronic auto pilot to work with windvane. Breadmaker kept busy. All good on board

Motored 7hrs, low swell, no wind. 30 pumps to clear the bilge. Found leak in exhaust mixer outlet, needs new clamp - fit tomorrow. Extraordinary low swell, like a lake. Restful day. All good on board . Jeff : awesome sunset, velvet mauve mercury like sea. Renfred: The best day so far. Stunning sunset photos.Only 5 more days to Tahiti. It will be interesting to compare with when we were there Helen.

Motored 3hrs, low swell, head winds. 20 pumps to clear the bilge. All sails up including sheets and table cloths. All OK on board .

Another Lovely day, low swell moderate winds. 270 pumps to clear the bilge. No obvious leaks. Shook out all reefs. Brett badly bruised a rib on a mast winch during sail changes.Quiet day for him today. All OK on board . Looking forward to getting to Papeete.

Lovely day, low swell moderate winds easy day. Sorted out house battery corrosion faults and topped up with generator. Shook out reefs. Quiet restful day.

Still 3 reefs in the main and a small jib. Great sailing with large swells and continuous passing small fronts. Solved self steering problem with 2 clothes pegs! Overall more settled weather now and directly on track for Papeete.

3 reefs in the main. Small jib. Great sailing, getting warmer. Repaired bathroom sink leak. Everybody tired from the rough night of winds going from 20-40kn. Lot of sail changes. Looking forward to a quieter night tonight.

3 reefs in the main. Small jib. Re-reeved frayed wind vane servo lines. Chart plotter heading function still kaput.Fish Aggregation Device shows on AIS 2nm but not seen. All good on board.

3 reefs in the main. Changed tack for some easting. Washing, tidy up. Chart plotter heading function failed. Back to charts for the moment! All good on board.

Good fast sailing with wind almost astern. Fixed toilet after dismantling it and replacing another hose. 3 reefs in the main now. All good on board.

Good sailing with wind astern. Fixed battery connections and motor problems - all day job. Saved the best job(fixing the toilet) till tomorrow. All good on board. Sorry, I didn't change the longitude to west on my position report, hence it appeared we were returning!

Plenty of breeze for sailing,up to 35kn. A few problems with the batteries and toilet rather suddenly. Still sorting them out. A bit too rough to grovel in the engine department today. All good on board.

Plenty of breeze for sailing. Low key day with a few repairs done, reading and enjoying the cook's cuisine.

Light weather motorsailing, long low swell beautiful day

Light weather sailing, low swell beautiful sunshine

Great start with light sw and se winds 10-15kn. 2hrs motoring.

definitey back home as we will see them next weekend!

Arrived Sunday after a beating passage of�9 days. Welcome home Tove

on course for eta tomorrow at 11am

all Ok on board

eta Sun 2200

all Ok on board

eta 1400 Marsden. Wow, that is precise!

eta WR Oct 18 Sunday

left Vuda for Whangarei

arrived and checked in.

smelling the barn. Good trip speed

all is well

great signal

2 POB back to Fiji!

S/V SIRI safe arrival at Marsden Thank you for all your passage help. We are now safely docked at Marsden Cove. We arrived in NZ at 1300. Those stronger winds along the NZ coast turned into a day of gale force winds for us and unfortunately we had to keep to as hard a beat as possible to make Bream Head and not to be driven ashore too early. For the first time, no cooking was done that evening

eta sat marsden cove- via relay as too close tohear directly

Marsden Cove 3-4days arrival

all is well onboard on: 26 33 S 173 18 E

all is well onboard on: 24 18 S 173 58 E

all is well onboard on: 21 53 S 175 03 E

left Fiji for Whangarei, NZ yesterday

1st update