We moved to the Westpoint Harbor Marina, Redwood City today. It's a beautiful day to sail to this fantastic new marina!

Marina Bay Yacht Harbour , Richmond, CA, USA

At last, we docked at the F pier end tie at the marina this morning! Hai Yun is finally arrive "home" safely!

Time:September 17th, 2015

Finally, at 15:30, we saw Point Reyes and 2 hours later, we saw the Golden Gate Bridge! Over 100 moving targets on AIS as we getting closer to the bridge. Beautiful but scary night view of the Bay! At 22:10 HaiYun passed the Golden Gate Bridge without incidence. At 23:25 we dropped the anchor at the Bay at 10 ft depth, we all had a peaceful good night's sleep.

Time:1700UTC September 16th, 2015 (10 am CA time)

We had a lovely evening yesterday - reaching along with the screacher in about 8 kts of wind making 6 kts. Occasional rain cells passing through with brilliant rainbows but mostly clear blue sky. We had delicious spinach pizza in the cockpit at sunset - a very nice evening.

With bad weather expected, we rolled the screacher tightly and pulled out the staysail. First one and then two reefs in the main - now beating into 15 kts S wind. Just after midnight we rolled the staysail and hove-to, drifting slowly east, as the wind was now up to 30 kts S. And so we stayed all night in 25kts gusting 35kts S wind, the waves rapidly getting to 3m and steep. Not much fun ! Hopefully the huge amount of rain we had will help dampen those wildfires.

We did see one tanker , the Cielo Di Dublino, who was on a collision course with us until about 5nm when we called him. He was obviously sitting with his feet up on the bridgedeck having his first espresso of the morning, all warm and comfortable, wondering what this silly sailing vessel was getting so bent out of shape about and why was there was so much wind noise in their microphone ? He did eventually alter course to starboard to avoid the strangely drifting sailboat !

This morning the wind has dropped and come around a bit more west. It is supposed to drop much further - which is very important uncomfortable as the huge confused seas are still around - oh well, we'll just keep on keeping on !

Time:1700UTC September 15th, 2015 (10 am CA time)

Yesterday was a lovely day - lots of sun and blue sky - two pods of dolphins came to visit us - both left eventually, upset we were only doing 8 kts. The first pod was only two small dolphins - amazing how they survive out here 200nm from land and in water 8000 feet deep !

Overnight the wind died - part of this low forming around us -unfortunately the heavy built-up swell is taking much longer to die - so we're motoring and rolling - really giving the new prop a workout. Wind is supposed to come in west this afternoon - and turn dead on the nose 20kts sometime tomorrow. Guess we'll take it as it comes.

Time:1700UTC September 14th, 2015 (10 am CA time)

LAT: 42 34.664N LON: 129 25.129W

DTR: 439nm DMG: 86nm

W 20g25N. AWA -135

SOG 8kts. COG 125mag

MSGs Grandad reply#2, BingFang #2

Hello Dad,

Weather forecast is showing stronger SW inshore on Tues night so we held the starboard gybe too long last night - that and the wind change to N gave us a miserable DMG - oh well, at least we look well positioned now for the weather.

We have some sun, patchy blue sky with a few low dark clouds hanging around. Wind is dropping - we will be missing our big jib soon! Still, we're getting there. Lots more traffic out here - very happy to have AIS working.

Time:1700UTC September 13th, 2015 (10 am CA time)

We've had a hasty re-introduction into passage life - at least we're headed downwind - it would truly be hell trying to make something to windward in these large seas. The biggest are probably 5m, but they're long now, proper dignified ocean waves - with the occasional impudent left-over sw swell that crashes over the foredeck to briefly bury us in green. The sky is starting to get that tradewind look - still a few dark clouds hanging around but mostly puffy white clouds in a blue sky. No obvious sea life; but anything would be hard to see in all that froth and foam.

Regarding the new prop performance - we had about an hour motoring at 2400rpm as we left the Bunsby's. With about 15 kts wind behind us we were making seven knots. Not certain what that translates to in flat water. The old prop got 7 kts at 2400 rpm in flat water. So close, probably slightly under-propped in comparison - definitely the preferred side to be on. Also, the new prop is considerably quieter - with the new prop I can clearly hear the turbo whine kick in around 2200rpm - with the old prop that was very hard to pick out. Will need to wait for some flat water to really check things out - far from flat out there right now !

I'm very glad Altech included a ton of extra parts in there - the prop is a Volvo-Penta prop which has the same spline as a Yanmar, but a much smaller prop nut - so the included cone didn't fit - but the Yanmar prop nut did - and Altech's thick washers made the retaining bolt fit so all was snug - and drenched in red loctite ! I'm not certain if loctite works under water but all the parts had a little air time before dousing so hopefully it will add some sticking power.

James has re-adjusted to Hai Yun rapidly. He's a little sea sick - not nearly as bad as our passages in 2007 - and he has all the coping strategies - eating outside, always looking at the horizon, etc... I was very glad of his brawn when wrestling in that big jib off the foredeck !! I just wish we could have showed him more of Vancouver Island before leaving.

The wind is down a bit - time to shake out a reef.

Time:1700UTC September 12th, 2015 (10 am CA time)

On passage again! Last night was a bit rough - the wind started at 15kts NW but built rapidly after we left the coast behind. We didn't pull the big jib in soon enough - the head of the jib disintegrated - we rolled it overnight and pulled it off the foil this morning to get it below. No idea if we can repair it at this time. Good thing we got it in when we did - we saw 35kts apparent while surfing downwind at 12 kts with double- reefed main ! Waves got huge and ugly - but Hai Yun was making good time !

Wind is down a bit now and the waves are lengthening - we're in deep water so hopefully they won't get nasty again. It's a gray day but not raining with the sun occasionally poking through.

As usual, grandparents came to rescue. A new prop was bought and delivered by a seaplane to our anchorage today! Since we have a window of NW wind to go to California now, we have no time to waste.

15:30 received new prop

17:00 Max finished the prop installation under water

18:15 lifted the anchor, bound for CA

19?20 stop motoring,sailed on jib

19?35 put up the main with 2 reefs, aws=15,sog 8-9

20:00 aws 20-25, rolled up the jib,but, the blocker was jammed,very difficult to roll, eventually rolled up.

Bunsby Island, BC, Canada

lToday was not our best day. As we were leaving Gay Passage in the Bunsby's this morning our propellor fell off ! Yep, gone. Max dove down to check - saildrive but no prop.

Luckily, it was calm and with no current. James and Max (in turns) rowed the dinghy with a tow line tied to HaiYun?s bow and a tiny bit of wind we managed to get back to the southern anchorage in the Bunsby group. It was a sweaty and nerve racking 1.5km, but James and Max made at 1.5kts SOG!

After we anchored, Max dove down again to take a careful look. The expensive Variprop (we paid over $4,500 USD!) actually fell apart. The remains of the inner bushing was still on the saildrive shaft spline. The inner bushing came off cleanly, the spline looks good, the large set of threads for the prop nut after that is good. The socket cap screw that prevents the prop nut backing out is broken off with three threads showing.

The solution to this disaster is the usual one: call help to Max?s parents!

Ououkinsh Inlet, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

Fantastic anchorage despite the rain. Rowed to explore the rivers, very interesting.

Bunsby Island, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

Motor sailed from 11 am to 7 pm to Bunsby Island. It was pretty rough on the way. The anchorage is very peaceful, so many little islands, very beautiful. Saw 2 giant blue herons flew out as we were anchoring, so graceful!

Julia Cove, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

Change of crew members: James arrived at Port Alice on Aug 28th, grandparents and Erik left on Aug 31st .

Left Port Alice today in the rain.

After we anchored, our good son James took his Mom for a row then accompanied his Dad go fishing in the cold rain. We had fresh rock fish for dinner.

Rumble Beach Marina?Port Alice, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

After 26h motoring (192 nm), we arrived at Julian Cove, Vancouver Island this morning.

Today is grandpa?s 89th birthday and grandpa and grandma?s 57th wedding anniversary! Grandpa took grandma for a romantic row in this peaceful cove this morning after we anchored.

However, the weather forecast predicted a big storm is coming. We lift the anchor and moved to the well protected Rumble Beach Marina, Port Alice this afternoon.

We had planked halibut for dinner and followed by a chocolate birthday/anniversary cake.

Etches Point

It?s a raining day. We got up very early, motored to an anchorage near the SGang Gwaay heritage site. Max was too nervous to leave Hai Yun on this windy site with rocky bottom. Erik rowed us to shore to visit this biggest Haida heritage site in the park. Watchman Jim met us on the beach when we arrived. He took us walked through the path in the forest to the watchman tents then to the village ruin. The natural beauty of the landscape embedded in cultural artifacts are astonishing! Jim is a very friendly and knowledgeable guide, he gave us a big piece of halibut fillet as a birthday gift to grandpa!

Etches Point, Haida Gwaii, BC, Canada

We had 14 crabs in our 2 traps this morning at Matheson Inlet! Unfortunately, only 3 male red rock crabs to keep, returned the rest.

We motored 5h to get to Etches Point to anchor.

So many deer on the shore! They are not afraid of human.

Matheson Inlet, Haida Gwaii, BC, Canada

Fantastic anchorage!

Haswell Bay, Haida Gwaii, BC, Canada

The weather is not that great, so, we stay put. Max, Jingli and Erik went to the shore for a walk/climb to the lake. It was very difficult (at least for Jingli), but beautiful.

Caught several crabs, delicious!

Haswell Bay, Haida Gwaii, BC, Canada

It?s a beautiful day today! We visited two Haida heritage sites, Tanu and Windy Bay. They are quite different but, very interesting.

Trotter Bay, Haida Gwaii

This morning, all of us, except Erik, went to shore had a great hike on an old logging road.

At 2:30 in the afternoon we lifted the anchor and motor toward the Luoise Narrow. This 1.8 km long pass was very narrow with many hard to see sand bans, we timed to go through it just before the high tied. With Max at the helm, Erik at the bow, grandpa at the mast relay the direction using his load and clear lecturing voice, we gingerly went through the pass without incidence.

Gordon Cove , Haida Gwaii, BC, Canada

Anchored at the north edge of the Gwaii National park after 12 h sailing. Very peaceful anchorage. Had salmon, pork and mushroom cap for dinner.

Queen Charlett City, Haida Gwaii, BC, Canada

Woken up by birds singing, about 20-30 swallow kind of birds were having a party on HaiYun.

Great to be here after 13 h of sailing across the Hecate Strait.

Glad to be back to civilization again; coffee shop, internet, supermarket, laundry machine, restaurant and liquor stores!

Had a great dinner at the Ocean View restaurant.

Prince Rupert, Vancouver Island.

After 13 hours sailing/motoring, we arrived at the Customs dock on Prince Rupert to check into Canada. It was very foggy this morning, so finding and tying on the dock was a frustrating challenge. On the way out of Alaska yesterday morning, Max and Erik trolled in 3 big salmon, they are much healthier than the ones caught in the river. Unfortunately, our freezer was too full to accommodate more fish, so the fishermen had to stop fishing. We will go to Haida Gwaii tomorrow. It is a very remote place, most residents are from the First Nation of Haida. Max's mother has been wanting to cruise there for over 30 years. Here we come!

Port Refugio, Alaska.

Fantastic place! We stayed here for 3 nights to wait for a good weather window to get across the Hecter Strait to Prince Rupert, Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful river, and many black bears were walking on the shore, but the fisherman did not catch any salmon. However, HaiYun's crewmembers were not upset with fresh crab for dinner every night.

Craig, Alaska.

We came here last night to drop off Aili and Inyoung. It was great to share some of the amazing wildlife and fantastic scenery of Alaska with friends and family!

Craig is a nice fishing town. We did laundry and bought some fresh fruits and vegetables here. The carrots are wonderful!

Devilfish Bay, Alaska.

We went to visit the El Capitan Cave today. After Climbing over 300 steps in the wonderful forest, we arrived at the cave. It was very cold and dark inside. Without a reservation for a guided tour, we can only go inside for a short distance, about 50 meters, but it was an interesting cave. The evening at Devilfish was very peaceful. Fogs rolled in, creating a picturesque dream world!

Dry Pass Cove, Alaska.

A peaceful anchorage with beautiful reflections of the hills on the mirror like water.

Gut Bay, Alaska.

This is a very beautiful anchorage. There was the white snow capped Mountain Ada, blue sky, green hills, and clear streams filled with running salmon. So many salmon running in the river, Erik can easily shoot one with his fishing bow.

We went to shore for a short walk along the beach, and would love to go for a longer one into the forest, but we did not do it for the fear of brown bears. The holding for the anchor was not good. However, the weather was calm, so no drama.

Kake, Alaska. We came to Kake to exchange crew members yesterday. Said goodbye to Susan and Doug and welcomed aboard Jingli's sister Aili and our friend Inyoung. Kate is a very quiet city. It shrunk rapidly due to the closure of logging business. However, we saw the most crowded salmon streams and the most sea birds there. The sea water is filled with small shrimps, therefore, sardine and humpback whales are everywhere. We also caught many big Dungeness crabs in the bay, unfortunately, most are females which have to be released, there was only one male to keep. Today, on our way from Kake to Red Bluff Cove, we met a group of 5-6 humpback whales. Max put the engine in neutral to drift. We are busy oohing and ahhing the magnificent sight of the whales feeding. Suddenly, one whale appeared in front of HaiYun! Max had no time to avoid it, and its tail bumped HaiYun's bow on its way down. Luckily, there appeared to be no injury on both parties. After this incident, we became very nervous whenever we see whales. Shortly after we anchored at our favorite spot at the Red Bluff Cove, Max and Erik took Inyoung to go salmon fishing in the river. Four salmon were caught in 1 hour!

Red Bluff Cove, Alaska.

The best anchorage we have ever had so far.

The passage into the cove is unbelievably beautiful. Especially in the misty rain, with the fogs rising from the dark forest, and countless waterfalls rushing down the step hills on both sides, it's like entering a dream world!

At the anchorage, the sound of huge waterfalls make the best background music. Eagles are soaring, salmon are jumping and brown bears are strolling on the shore.

Today is Max's 50th birthday and he and Jingli's 23rd wedding anniversary. Surrounded by his parents, his sister and her husband, his wife Jingli and his younger son (really wished his elder son James were not tied up with his summer internship and joined us too), Max couldn't image a better celebration! The dinner menu was freshly caught prawns and cod, followed by a triple-chocolate birthday cake made by his mother and wife, and champagne, of course.

Hoonah Marina, Alaska.

This is the main native Tlingit village. Very nice place to stop for fuel, provisions, laundry. And shower! We also had a crab dinner at the local pub called "The Office Pub". Delicious!

At Flynn Cove, Alaska

North Sand Cove, Glacier Bay National Park.

Last day in the Glacier National Park. What an enchanting place!

We enjoyed watching the big Steller sea lion colony on the South Marble Island. Many Humpback whales passed by,displaying their magnificent fins and tails. Sea otters lied on their backs,cracking away shellfish and crabs. Their white furred faces are very cute. They were mirror like reflections of the beautiful mountains.

The glaciers along the East Arm inlet were different than the well known glaciers along the West Arm inlet. The biggest visible glacier McBride is not very picturesque, but still impressive.

Blue Mouse Cove, Glacier Bay National Park.

Rain, rain and more rain.

The rain adds peotic elements to this beautiful anchorage.

We went to shore for a walk, and did see field mice, but no blue ones. For most of the time, we stayed inside HaiYun: reading, watching movies and eating by the fire place.

Reid Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park.

Finally, the true Alaska experience!

Our eyes feasted on the numerous gorgeous mountain peaks decorated with snow, the spectacular erosions on the hillsides, while the magnificent Margerie Glaciers came to life: huge chunks of ice broke off the glacier and smashed into the sea.

Our nerves were tested when we were going through the icebergs that filled Johns Hopkins Inlet. All hands on dock to help the skipper navigate through. We sailed when there was enough wind to avoid potential propellor damage.

Our hearts were charmed with the beautiful harbor seal laying on a floating iceberg, her curious eyes shining in the evening sunlight.

Our stomachs were contented with the delicious Alaska rockfish.

Bartlett Cove, Glacier Bay National Park.

We came back to the park in Bartlett Cove this evening to pick up Max's sister Susan and her husband Doug. It's wonderful to have the whole family cruising this enchanted world on HaiYun!

North Sandy Cove, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

As we drifted away from Bartlett Cove yesterday morning, the sun was out for a change. We marveled the calm silky water where the whales were spouting , the steller sea lions were playing, and the salmon were jumping.

At noontime, Max and Erik caught their 1st Alaska salmon, a 3-4lbs sockeye! Absolutely Delicious!!!

North Sandy Cove is a very nice anchorage, beautiful surroundings, good holding and well protected. We had one sailboat shared the anchorage with us the 1st night, and 3 more boats came for the 2nd night.

Much wildlife here. Huge whales came to the bay to play, adorable sea otters drifting on their back eating, many birds, including majestic eagles, soaring around. Jingli and Marjorie saw a brown bear through the binoculars during a walk on the shore.

We were going to see some glacier today, however, due to the rain and fog, the visibility was very poor and the wind was strong (Yes, we are becoming lazy, not keen to beat into 20kts wind). We stayed in the same bay to have a relaxing day.

The ladies went to the shore to pick up some berries, the beach strawberries were small and pale,but,they are so delicious, very flavorful!

The fishmen, of course, went fishing. They caught 6 rock fish. They have better luck with fish than with crab or shrimp.

Grandpa enjoyed the diesel fire stove on HaiYun while doing his anchor watch duty.

Dinner was spinach rice with smoked pork, the dessert was a wonderful non-baking cheesecake topped with wild berries we picked.

This hunter and gatherer life is not bad at all!

Sitka is a beautiful city with population of a little over 9,000. Fishery is the main industry. Over half of the boats in the marina are fishing boats.

Having had enough rest on the last voyage (yes, Stephen, we had much relaxing time, or boring time, on the sea as compared to the time on the land), we have been very busy turning HaiYun from a long voyage boat into a cruising boat since we made the landfall two days ago. We are looking forward to see Max's parents on the 11th of July, and will be heading to Glacier Bay on the 12th of July.

t = Tuesday 7 July 18:30 UTC, 10:30 AKDT Sitka Time Today's Run 110 nautical miles. Distance to Go 0 nautical miles.

Landfall! We were too fast last night - so we hove-to about 20nm from Sitka Sound to await dawn. Dawn came, we pulled out the staysail and immediately saw a humpback whale straight ahead. It dove and disappeared but a very good omen I think!

I'm glad we waited for light - Sitka Sound was packed full of fishing boats ! We saw sea otters ! Sitka itself was a beautiful sight - the jagged snow mountains rising behind the fishing village. The harbourmaster promptly gave us a berth, reverse on the Yanmar actually worked for a change and we gently docked in Eliason Harbour, Sitka at 10:30am Sitka time. Landfall!!

We're so pleased to be here - the end of a five month, 10,000nm odyssey ! And we wouldn't be here without the fantastic help we've had from so many people. Thank you Grandad for being our full-time ground support - we know it was a lot of work - from finding customs office hours in Mangareva to ordering spare parts. Thank you Yingfei for giving up three months of time, surviving wet bunks and suicidal sausages, and being a great crewperson. Thank you Bob for your sage weather advice and dry humour, the guiding hand that got us here past gales and thunderstorms ! Thanks Bingfang and Aili for dealing adroitly with so many shore duties we forgot. Thanks to our family, friends and our dedicated watchers/posters on yit, wechat and SPOT for your support and energy - many times it was the thought of you that kept us going. And finally, thanks to all the wonderful people we met along the way ! Max.

t = Monday 6 June 15:36 AKDT (Sitka Time) Getting Closer!

t = Monday 6 July 17:00 UTC. SOG 9 kts, COG 37 deg mag, Wind 17 kts WNW,Today's Run 164 nautical miles, Distance to Sitka 110 nautical miles. At 3:30am (Hawaii time) today, it was already bright. The moment we stopped the motor, raised the mainsail and were about to pull out the staysail, three Alaskan dolphins came to greet HaiYun! They look a little different than the dolphins we met before;have a white line on the tip of their fins and tails, they are also a little bit fatter than the ones we saw before. Guess they need the extra blubber for the cold water here. They zoomed gracefully in front of HaiYun's bow, back and forth in lighting speed. What a delightful welcome display! They played with HaiYun for about 20minutes then left. Perhaps they had finished their "greeting the new comers" assignment and were going somewhere else to play with faster moving targets (HaiYun was only moving 5kts at the time).

The dinner last night was Kiwi burger (freshly baked bread, double burger, fried egg and beetroot) and carrots cucumber for the boys, stir fried pumpkin and egg soup for Jingli. We all enjoyed what we had.

At 8:08am (Hawaii time), the remaining distance to Sitka changed from three digits to two digits! The ETA is 19:30 (Hawaii time) today or 21:30 Sitka time. If the wind doesn't drop later, we will try to reduce the sail, slow down ourselves to make the arrival at the marina early tomorrow morning. Speeding up doesn't leave us a big enough window to anchor before sunset. Luckily there is an anchorage just outside the two marinas the harbourmaster has assigned us to - so we can wait there if we're earlier than 7am. To prepare for that, we pulled the big Rocna anchor out of the locker and re-mounted it on the bow yesterday - the seas were down so it wasn't too difficult a task. Max.

t = Sunday 5 July 17:00 UTC SOG 6.5 kts COG 33 deg mag, Wind 3 kts WSW, Today's Run 166 nautical miles, Distance to Sitka 273 nautical miles. To celerate the 4th of July,( American Independence Day), yesterday , the dinner was spaghetti, green peas, smoked sausage with white sauce and topped with shredded three year old New Zealand cheddar cheese. Both boys in the crew enjoyed it very much; evidenced by the fact that they both asked for a 2nd serving. Jingli was happy with her favorites: tomato egg drop soup and stir fried spicy and sour cabbages. The desert was freshly made pink rice crispy squares. We're still motoring along - the wind has been calm for long enough that the sea is almost flat - and we have a little sun this morning - with a fog limited visibility of half a kilometer or so - much better than the "barely able to see the fwd pulpit" fog of yesterday. One big advantage of motoring is we can run our power hungry radar constantly. Bob says we're on a cold ridge which explains the lack of wind and the dense fog. It's still very foggy outside, even on the 4th of July night. Not a single star was visible, no chance of seeing any shooting star as Yingfei wished. The far north Pacific waters are very different from the tropical waters, not only it is much colder, it smells differently, and there are no fluorescent microorganisms making a beautiful sparkling skirt along HaiYun 's sides on the dark nights like last night. Max.

t= Saturday 4 July 17:00 UTC SOG 6.5kts, COG 10 deg mag, Wind 5 kts SSW, Today's Run 191nautical miles. Distance to Sitka 435 nautical miles, We had a great ride yesterday reaching at 100 deg apparent wind angle (AWA) in 19 kts or so of wind, and occasionally surfing down a big wave. After steering for a few hours I was freezing! Below with Grandma's heater on in the cabin I thawed out quick - the cabin got so hot we had ice cream mochi left over from Hawaii for dessert :)

Early last night, right after dinner, we met the British sailing vessel Aventura. Jingli had been tracking a small radar target that we thought would pass close (1nm) astern of us. We called them on VHF and they immediately replied - they had seen us first on AIS and then on radar. As their AIS had the CPA (closest point of approach) at over a mile, I think they were surprised at the worry in my voice ! They are bound north for the Northwest Passage ! Apparently they tried it last year from the Greenland side but there was too much ice - so they went through the Panama canal and will try it again this year from the Alaska side. Seriously adventurous folks ! And extremely friendly too - they called us back later in the night to say that we were now at range 11nm and our AIS signal was still strong. We were much relieved to hear that ! We wish the nice folks on sv Aventura good luck and a great passage !

After Aventura, we saw two other vessels last night - both with much larger radar cross-sections, so probably freighters. The biggest passed less than a mile away down our port side - try as we might, we could see absolutely nothing in that direction - even with binoculars. The visibility out here is scarily bad !

The wind went around to the S last night and pretty much died this morning. We're motoring, heading a little north of Sitka as Bob is predicting a NW wind coming up next. Max.

t = Friday 3 July 17:00 UTC (9 AM AKDT, 10 AM PDT) SOG 9 kts, COG 20 deg mag, Wind 20 kts SSE, Today's Run 176 nautical miles, Distance to Sitka 625 nautical miles. An overcast day, but o fog, at least not yet. Yesterday was mostly slow beating to windward in a dense and drippy fog. Overnight the wind has come around and Hai Yun is flying again. Bob's forecast has the wind continuing to veer all the way to SW, but dropping in speed. Yesterday we tried the diesel heater we installed for Grandma. It worked well even heeled 15 -25 degrees while pounding to windward into the waves. I was surprised the draft worked so well with such a gusty wind outside. Chalk one up for the "H" cowl that Bob in Dunedin aka "Charlie Noble" made for us. Max.

t = Thursday 2 July 17:00 UTC, SOG 7 kts, COG 4 deg mag, Wind 20 kts NE, Today's Run 179 nautical miles, Distance to go 801 nautical miles We had a lot of wind yesterday but unfortunately from too far north to make much use of it. It started off yesterday morning at about 19 kts NE and rose overnight to 25 - 30 kts NNE. During the day we added more reefs and rolled up more staysail. By midnight we were jogging slowly along under only double-reefed mainsail in a sharp and agitated sea. This morning the wind has come down, the staysail is out and we are only off course by 15 degrees or so. However we can't really push too hard as the sea state is still quite ugly. We are in thick fog right now and I so hope our AIS is at least blasting out a strong "stay away " signal. Note SPOT seems to be in range again and I will keep feeding it batteries to send out our position. From Jingli: For several days just different shades of grey - no sunset. Erik: "What's for dinner Mum?" "What do you want?" answered the cook. Erik: "Hot soup would be good in this kind of weather". Cook (& Mum): "Good idea. I have made bread dough, can bake bread sticks. We have BBQed smoked sausage,potatoes, canned beans, canned whole mushrooms - all of that will make a nice soup or stew. I will sprinkle with Cajun Spice to give it a little more heat. What do you think?" Erik; "Sounds good!". An hour later dinner was served and Hai Yun's crew enjoyed it very much! Max.

t = Wednesday 1 July 17:00 UTC, SOG 6.5 kts, COG 350 deg mag, Wind 16 kts NE, Today's Run 159 nautical miles, Distance to go 900 nautical miles. At 16:38 (Hawaii Time) yesterday the distance to go to Sitka dropped from 4 digits to three. Inch by inch (cm by cm?) mile by mile we are getting there. The wind died around noon and we have been motoring since then. It was a grey foggy day all day yesterday and it is raining this morning. The air smells so heavy. Hai Yun is blanketed in dense fog, visibility only about two boat lengths ( i.e. about 40 m). It is kind of poetic but spooky. We kept our tricolour lights and radar on all day and night. The wind has come up now, but from the NE, not quite as predicted. More beating to windward, hopefully it will fair us as the day goes on. No still jellies have been in sight since yesterday morning, perhaps we have passed their territory. Jingli made a big batch of delicious Indian chicken curry several days ago. We have had it for dinner twice, then she used the leftovers to make curry puffy pastry - a favourite treat for Erik and myself. Finally last night with the remainder she created a curry cream soup, it really hit the spot on a cold damp evening. A long lived curry! Finally Happy Canada Day to all Canadians. Max.

t = Tuesday 30 June 17:00 UTC, SOG 7 kts, COG 20 deg mag, Wind 15 kts SE, Today's Run 185 nautical miles, Distance to go 1059 nautical miles. Great sail yesterday - reaching along with overcast sky, no rain. When the grey sky became a darker grey and we assumed it was around sundown the wind piped up and we put a second reef in the main. A couple of hours into the night we started to get gusts over 25 kts so we rolled the staysail. The maximum was a bit over 30 kts I think. Around midnight Erik pulled the staysail back out again. This morning the wind is away down and has faired us considerably. However we are in avery dense fog bank - probably 50 m visibility. It is spooky sailing through this without our AIS. We are using the radar a lot more. We saw a log probably 4 m long and 30 cm in diameter yesterday. It was barely floating and both ends were covered in a dense collection of clams. It would not be fun to collide with that at ten knots! Dinner last night was fresh bread with Teriyaki beef hamburger and leftover bacon casserole from the night before. Yummy! Max.

t = Monday 29 June 17:00 UTC. SOG 8.5 KTS, COG 24 deg mag, Wind 15 kts ESE, Today's Run 174 nautical miles, Distance to go 1243 nautical miles. We had been expecting a gale starting today - so pumping bilges, cooking extra food, checking the decks and gear, and being grumpy at one another - standard pre-gale stuff. But loud and spontaneous cheers yesterday afternoon on reading Bob's prediction that our gale got bumped west of us and good reaching in the forecast ! We had a beautiful evening sail last night - no clouds, a bright moon and Venus shining brightly for a while. Still tons of sail jellies and no obvious garbage. Just so peaceful! But cold! We really need to get back into our Stewart Island mode - three layers to get out of bed and another three to go out on deck. Max.

t = Sunday 28 June 17:00 UTC SOG 7 kts, COG 24 deg mag, Wind 18 kts E, Today's Run 195 nautical miles, Distance to go 1416 nautical miles, Yesterday was drizzly and cold all day but we had a great S-SW wind and some fast reaching. This morning it has come around due magnetic east so we are almost hard on the wind - at least we are going in the right direction! Less drizzly today - still overcast but little patches of sky with blue. With the (relative) cold and the steel grey cast to the waves it really is a much more forbidding ocean than that friendly warm blue ocean down near the equator! I realize that the cold is very relative - I'm certain our Dunedin friends would be peeling off layers and complaining of the heat;) Hello to San Francisco! We are passing latitude 38 - only we are some 1600 nautical miles offshore! Can't quite smell the Fisherman's Wharf... We had curry puff pastry for dinner last night -the cold weather has re-awakened the cook's interest in baking! Max.

t= Saturday 27 June 17:00 UTC. SOG 7 kts, COG 355 deg mag, Wind 14 kts SSW, Today's Run 157 nautical miles, Distance to go 1610 nautical miles. Yesterday we were beating into a light NE wind which died after lunch - so more motoring. Early this morning a nice SW wind has come up so downwind we go. It is a very overcast morning with a continuous mist - probably related to the low predicted to be near us today.

Yesterday afternoon as I was sitting in the cockpit watching the garbage go by and having nightmares of running into something more substantial than a toilet seat I saw a patch of what looked like pieces of clear tape! And then more patches. We pulled one into a bucket and found that they are not garbage at all - they are sail jellies or velella! They have a clear semicircular sail about 2 cm or so in diameter sticking up vertically from a heavier dark blue base. They are beautiful and in huge numbers in this small area of ocean, definitely an improvement on the garbage! Max.

t = Friday 26 June 17:00 UTC SOG 6 kts COG 350 deg mag, Wind 12 kts NE, Today's Run 139 nautical miles, Distance to go 1752 nautical miles. Yesterday we had a bit of everything - some motoring to begin with, then reaching in a light WSW wind, then beating into a light NE wind. As night approached we entered a rather spooky dense fog and rain bank which brought gusts of up to 21 kts, still from the NE. We continued to beat north all night, rather slowly with one reef in the main and the staysail as we were expecting worse in such an ominous cloud. Much, much colder today - Jingli was wearing three layers - that is a good indication of the temperature. We cut into our first pineapple from Hawaii last night - fantastic and amazingly sweet! Not so sweet we are seeing garbage floating in the water quite frequently now - this huge expanse of empty water has toilet seats, old ropes and plastic bottles, and no whales! I guess we must be close to the north Pacific gyre? Max.

t = Thursday 25 June 17:00 UTC ( 7 AM Hawaii Time) SOG 7 kts, COG 8 deg mag, Wind 3 kts W, Today's Run 142 nautical miles, Distance to go 1869 nautical miles. Our wind was dead on the nose and light so we started motoring yesterday at noon. I am still trying to fix the AIS unit with help from Jeff Robbins of Vesper. We had a ship wander by yesterday, the first we have seen this passage, at precisely the right moment for testing. Unfortunately I saw no AIS info. I should have called the ship to see if they saw us but I didn't think of it until too late. I did get the movie box working on its own so watches will be more interesting. We had chicken curry for dinner - so not beating to windward and having movies again obviously put the cook in a better mood! Max.

t Wednesday 24 June 17:00 UTC SOG 6 Knots, COG 300 deg mag, Wind 11 kts N, Today's Run 176 nautical miles, distance to go 2010 nautical miles. Winds have turned light as predicted but also have gone almost north overnight, not expected at this point. We will be tacking over to port to get closer to the Sitka rhumbline. Yesterday was beautiful - good wind, blues skies, puffy white clouds, lots of birds. Today is starting off quite grey and cloudy but there is time for a change with these super long days. Our days are getting longer as we go north in spite of it being past the solstice, June 21! It is already quite a bit cooler - comforters at night and long pants during the day. It will be quite a shock for us when the temperature drops to 57 deg F (14 deg C)! Max.

t = Tuesday 23 June 17:00 UTC (7 AM Hawaii time) SOG 7.5 kts, COG 340 mag, Wind 15-20 kts NE Today's Run 181 nautical miles. Distance to go 2148 nautical miles. Conditions a bit lumpy but generally good so far. We are getting a lot of ocean over the foredeck but Hai Yun seems to be enjoying herself. We found yesterday that our AIS (Automatic Identification System for tracking vessel traffic) had quit. I did not do well at debugging it. It was shining its green LED happily but I hear a rattle when I move it and I think something has broken free internally. It is very good to see the miles dropping away in Hai Yun's wake. All the crew seem to be getting back into passage mode - it was a bit of a shock this time as Hawaii felt more "off the boat" and civilized than Mangareva. Max.

T = Monday 22 June 17:00 UTC (7 AM Hawaii Time) SOG 6 kts, COG 354 deg mag. Wind 15-20 kts ENE Today's Run 130 nautical miles. On our way to Alaska! Distance to go 2287 nautical miles. We left the beautiful Waikiki Yacht Club yesterday morning , Sunday, at 9:30 AM . We motored to Ka O'lina marina to pick up diesel- huge modern facilities there! We left the marina at 1 PM. The first wind we encountered was 13 knots SW - precisely the opposite of predicted - probably due to the effect of the big mountains. We had a nice sail down to the end of the island passing lots of recreational tuna fishermen dashing about in huge launches. Just short of Kaena Point the wind died and was soon replaced by a brisk 25-30 kt northerly. As we moved away from Oahu overnight the wind slowly dropped to 15-20 kts ENE - much more manageable and just as Bob had predicted. Max.

Our time in Hawaii is coming to the end. We have had a very busy 11 days in Waikiki (hard to believe unemployed people can be soooo busy!) , but, we also enjoyed the good food (green tea mochi, BBQ saba, Japanese ramen and the wonderful meals Yingfei and her family treated us), nice people at the Waikiki Yacht Club.

We were very sad to say goodbye to Yingfei. She is a fantastic crew member, did amazingly well as a new sailor. We'd love to keep her longer, but, figured we would not be able to win the tug of war with both of her sons and her husband (all came to Hawaii to snatch her back).

Hai Yun will be leaving the Waikiki Yacht Club today bound for Sitka, Alaska. All 3 crew members are looking forward to some resting time on the voyage.

t = Wednesday 10 June 15:11 Hawaii Time. Ala Wai Harbour, Oahu. We arrived at the Waikiki Yacht Club this morning at 9 AM Local Hawaiian time. The Waikiki Yacht Club had a great spot for us and they were all very friendly. We have been checked by Customs Immigration and Agriculture . It was an easy landfall and we are relieved that another big passage is done. Max.

t = Tuesday 9 June 23:59 UTC Today's Run 185 nautical miles. distance to go 115 n miles, SOG 8 kts, COG 280 deg mag, Wind ENE 15 kts. Land Ahoy! Jingli spotted the slow rise of the edge of Maui below a cloud bank this morning at 10:30 AM. We were unable to see the Big Island - we were too far away and there were too many clouds.. A gorgeous day - light trade winds - a sow roll as we are pulled gently downwind by the big screacher. Bright sun, blue skies, puffy white trade wind clouds. It seems that we could go on forever like this. However the serious business of land approaches. We have seen a ship - only the third since leaving Mangareva. We have also heard the Coast Guard broadcast a search for a missing diver. So, civilization! Civilization means fishing! Apparently there are "Fish Aggregating Devices" moored out here in 6000 feet of water! We have no idea if they are lit - our job tonight is to make our way safely past all these obstacles to hopefully be outside Ala Wai tomorrow morning, Max.

t = Monday 8 June 23:59 UTC Today's Run 165 nautical miles, distance to go 300 n miles, SOG 6-10 knots, COG 290 deg mag, Wind E-ENE 18 knots.Another good day - a bit of fluky stuff in the morning. Out went the screacher and of course then the wind came up! The main problem right now is that the course to our waypoint is almost dead down wind. As a result we are getting a little rolly. Max.

t = Sunday 7 June 23:59 UTC. Today's Run 173 nautical miles, distance to go 462 n miles, SOG 8 knots, COG 290 deg mag, Wind NE 10-15 knots.We had a period of fluky winds starting this morning and the 13 knot trades have just returned. Erik was complaining that the reason we have been pulling in small fish was the size of our lure - a 6 inch pink squid. Following Erik's urging this morning we brought out the 12 inch pink squid. It took until 3 PM before "wheeee...." the wonderful sound as a big fish makes the old Penn Senator reel scream. Half an hour later we had an 11 kg Ahi Tuna aboard - a beautiful fish, the kind with red meat just like a good steak;) Max.

t= Saturday 6 June 23:59 UTC, Today's Run 175 nautical miles, distance to go 634 n miles. SOG 10 knoys, COG 290 deg mag, Wind NE 10-15 knots. Our wonderful trade winds dropped to 6-8 kts this morning so I finally pulled out the screecher. The winds have slowly recovered so now we are blasting alone at 10 knots in 13 knots of wind. The cook will eventually bring order, and less sail, but for now Hai Yun is having fun:) In the morning we saw a pod of orcas moving very slowly as if asleep. No fish landed today though several bites. We aren't likely to starve though. Pork chops tonight! We need to finish all the frozen meat before the EP folks in Hawaii seize and incinerate it!! Max.

t = Friday 5 June 23:59 UTC. Today's Run 188 nautical miles, distance to go 802 nautical miles. SOG 8.5 knots, COG 290 deg mag. Wind NE 15 knots. More good trade winds today- based on the forecast I was expecting less wind, perhaps 10 kts so we are lucky to have current 15-19 kts. We caught another Mahi-Mahi this morning, reasonably small for the species, about 3 or 4 kg. Fish Curry for dinner. We all love these trade winds - may they long continue! I haven't touched a sheet for two days - which reminds me I should go and move them a little bit to prevent chafe. Max.

t = Thursday 4 June 23:59 UTC Today's Run 208 nautical miles, , distance to go 982 nautical miles, SOG 8.5 knots, COG 290 deg mag, Wind NE 15 knots. Good run today - we really do have the trade winds now, quite constant in both speed and direction. There are little puffy white clouds scattered everywhere in a bright blue sky - very nice sailing. We are now a very lazy trade wind crew - reading, writing, viewing movies and watching Hai Yun effortlessly putting the miles behind in her wake! We ate all of that wahoo yesterday -consumed three ways sashimi,, oyster sauce marinated and fried in garlic butter, and basted in wine with soy sauce and pickled vegetables. This morning we caught a small Mahi-Mahi - about 3 kg - a perfect size for us. My usual procedure is to cut off head, gills and pull out the innards and toss the lot over the side. I have to be careful now with two Chinese ladies aboard - throwing the head overboard is scandalous - the head is the best part! The MahiMahi head tail and fins made the ladies a delicious soup for lunch. Max.

t = Wednesday 3 June 23:59 UTC Today's run 198 nautical miles, distance to go 1190 nautical miles. SOG 8.5 knots, COG 300 deg mag, Wind NE 15 knots. We are not completely out of the strange weather associated with the nearby low. We started last night with 13 kts NE, which then died and rose and died again overnight. This morning we had a beautiful beam reach in 15 kts of wind with a pod of dolphins playing at the bow. Now the wind has piped up to 20 kts and it's drizzling. Better weather undoubtedly but not care-free trade wind sailing yet. We are seeing much more life in this part of the ocean - groups of 20 or so small brown birds and smaller groups of boobies are pretty much always in sight. I collected the multitude of flying fish off the deck this morning for Jingli but kept back the smallest for bait. A few hours of trolling and we had what we think is a small wahoo - about 80 cm long weighing about 2 kg. You know what is for dinner! Max.

t = Tuesday 2 June 23:59 UTCZ. Today's Run 134 nautical mies, distance to go 1376 nautical miles. SOG 7.5 knots, COG 300 deg mag, Wind NE 12 knots. We think we may have finally arrived into the region of the NE Trades today! We have been motoring for about a day in all kinds of strange conditions- rain and winds from all directions and different intensities. This morning the wind finally slowly turned around into the NE. It is just a bit too weak at the moment but I imagine that will change to too strong soon! Jingli saw some big marine animals this morning - they crossed the bow from starboard to port but then just kept on going. They were way too big to have been dolphins they may have been orcas. By the time the rest of the crew got their heads on deck they were gone. As JIngli was out on deck so early this morning she picked up all the fresh flying fish off the deck and later deep-fried them for lunch. - they were delicious! She didn't save any for bait unfortunately... We've had a couple of bites on our fishing lines but nothing has stayed on recently. Max

t = Monday 1 June 23:59 UTC Today's Run 140 nautical miles, Distance to go 1495 nautical miles, SOG 6 knots, COG N, Wind W to S, 0 to 20 knots. In our little ITCZ part of the world we have had calm, then 20 knots, one gust of 30 knots directions westerly mostly SW, some southerly, and all interspersed with rain. At times the sailing has been great, but then ten minutes later you have the wrong sails up! Pizza for dinner with chorizo from the Dunedin Farmer's market. We have learned our lesson the hard way - all our good stuff must be eaten before Hawaii or they will confiscate it there! The memory of that double-smoked Canadian sausage they seized the last time we were there still rankles... Max.

t = Sunday 31 May 23:59 UTC. Today's Run 149 nautical miles, Distance to go 1595 nautical miles, SOG 6 knots, COG 320 deg mag, Wind SW 10 knots. We are in our own little bit of the ITCZ today - although we are lucky that we are only feeling the effects of the low pressure near 9 N 143 W and not real ITCZ conditions. We have lots of rain squalls with winds to 25 knots and with tons of rain, then they go and we are back to our 10-12 knot SW wind. We will probably motor tonight to make sure we aren't caught in a squall with the big jib up. The forecast has the low continuing to move W and off our path with enhanced trade winds of 20-25 knots on our path. True ICTZ conditions with thunderstorms are forecast for slightly north and east of us, and also west of the low. Hopefully we can sneak through our little hole and only get wet! Andres is a thousand miles away and tracking NW just like us.Those gusty winds of 135 knots are scary to think of even from that distance. Max.

t = Saturday 30 May 23:59 UTC. Today's Run 154 nautical miles, Distance to go 1727 nautical miles,SOG 7.5 knots, COG 320 deg mag, Wind SW 4 knots Last night about midnight our lovely southerly trades finally died. We motored until 7 AM this morning when a brief SW wind came up (though we are supposed to be entering the region of the NE trades!) We had a nice sail for a few hours until it died. This weather is all due to the low pressure area hanging out around 10 deg N 138 deg W. The prediction is that we should have a day or so of reaching in a southerly starting tomorrow, then a day or so of motoring past the NE flank of the low in a calm and then finally the NE trade winds. We feel like little mice sneaking around the drowsy cat! Erik is enjoying the (infinite) supply of energy to play on his computer, Jingli and Yingfei are cooking , making jiaoze, dumplings, and I am fishing of course;) Max.

t = Friday 29 May 23:59 UTC. Today's Run 182 nautical miles, Distance to go 1838 nautical miles, SOG 7.5 knots, COG 10 deg mag, Wind SSE 8-12 knots, We crossed the equator today at 7:23 AM Mangareva Time. Libations of Rum and offerings to Neptune. We are back to white puffy trade wind clouds - no sign of ITCZ here. Wind has gone very south and light so screacher is up and we are turning more downwind. The weather is too hot to cook! It's a good thing we have a microwave we can use when we run the generator. Hurricane Andres is a long way away but we are keeping an eye on it. Closer at hand we have a low around 9 deg N 140 deg W that is slowly moving west and messing up the tradewinds.We will need to stay NE of the low and we may get some SW winds which will be bizarre for this region! I espect we will gybe over to port tack tomorrow. Max.

t = Thursday 28 May 23:59 UTC (1459 Mangareva Time)_ Today's Run 204 nautical miles, Distance to go 1938 nautical miles.SOG 7 knots, COG 0 deg mag. Wind ESE 10-15 knots Great mileage in the last day but we are starting to slow again Our trade winds went a bit south, which is good, but also got a bit lighter. We are starting to see those gray hazy undefined cloud patches reminiscent of the ITCZ (doldrums) instead of our cheerful familiar puffy white trade wind clouds. Tomorrow we should be crossing the equator, but we have no pollywogs aboard to initiate! We will have a wee celebration in honour of Neptune and sacrifice some of Stephen's excellent Kraken Rum to the deep:) Jingli is mandating bath time for everyone - the water here has the right temperature for a warm bath. It will certainly not be as painful as bath time at Stewart Island was! We are seeing various birds today including boobies. We are wondering if that is an equator thing as birds have been nonexistent recently. Jingli says these boobies are a different species than the three kinds she saw in the Galapagos. Max.

t = Wednesday 27 May 23:59 UTC (1459 Mangareva Time) Today's Run 187 nautical miles, Distance to go 2087 nm, SOG 8 knots, COG 0 deg mag, Wind E 13 - 17 knots, We had more beautiful trade wind sailing, however very very hot today. We had one squall with rain last night - not too bad probably only about 25 knots.Max.

t = Tuesday 26 May 1459 Mangareva Time. Today's Run 171 nautical miles. SOG 7.5 knots, Wind E 15-20 knots Distance To Go 2219 nm, More beautiful trade winds today - lots of flying fish! It is getting even hotter, Unfortunately we can't open the mid hatch to get some air as we get occasional waves right over the saloon so it's a bit roasty below!. Max.

t = Monday 25 May 1459 Mangareva Time. Today's Run 161 nautical miles SOG 6.8 kts, Wind E 15-20 knots, Distance to go 2357 nautical miles. Beautiful trade wind reaching again today though we are not pushing the boat hard due to worries over the autopilot. We are getting back into passage mode - lots of sleeping, reading and movies.The seas are a little big and rolly but we are appreciating the wind. It is getting hot now! We sadly threw away the few remaining Taravai bananas and papayas as they were rotting. Jingli managed to to use quite a few in cookies, bread and banana pancakes with chocolate sauce! Lots of grapefruit, pumpkin and potato left. Max

t = Sunday 24 May 1459 Mangareva Time. Today's Run = 253 nautical miles. SOG 7 kts Wind E 20 gusting 28 knots.We're definitely in the trades now - mostly around 17 knots but above 20 knots this afternoon. Unfortunately we've had two squalls - one last night and one this afternoon - both of which cause problems with the autopilot. In the first we had an accidental gybe caused by the autopilot shutting itself off. In the second I got on the wheel immediately and found it very stiff I could see that the bronze plate on top of the rudder post slides sideways under strong forces so that the rudder post binds on the side of the rudder tube and the autopilot gives up. Erik and I will have to have another go at tightening the bronze plate tomorrow when the seas will hopefully be down a bit. Max.

t = Saturday 23 May 1459 Mangareva Time. Present wind 13 kts ENE, SOG 7 kts. Wind came around this morning to the East so the engine was finally off. For a time it was quite strong, over 20 knots but has moderated all afternoon. Puffy white clouds, deep dark blue sea and light blue sky - a very nice day. Good progress reaching with main and working jib. Lunch today was banana pancakes with chocolate sauce - as tasty as it was caloric.

t= Friday 22 May 1459 Mangareva Time We've had a great trip so far but still motorsailing in fairly light wind. Hope we reach the easterly trades soon Our massive stock of bananas from Rikitea is rapidly being eaten or thrown overboard if rotting, but we still have nice hoard of grapefruit.

Erik is enjoying the engine time and its infinite energy potential which enables him to rebond with his computer. I would add comments from some of my fellow habitants but two are fast asleep and the other has his Headphones blaring. Max.

t = Thursday 21 May 2015 1459 Mangareva Time

t = Thursday 21 May 2015 7 AM Mangareva Time

some photos taken on the voyage from New Zealand to Gambier

A very friendly local man named Patrice gave us so many bananas today! Too many for us to eat, will share with other cruisers.

Back to Rikitea to wait for the arrival of the cargo ship from Tahiti and do some internet work on May 9th Sat. We were lucky to have the diesel tank filled with the help from Wigwan on Tuesday (May 12th), but had no luck buying fruits and vegs (only got potato and orange, 5 kg each cost 4,000 XPF, about 40 USD). However, we were given many delicious grapefruits and pumpkin by the locals. We bought 2 big breadfruit and hopping to buy some bananas from the locals before we leave. The weather is very hot here. We visited the famous cathedral of St. Michel, climbed the highest mountain in Gambier, Mt. Duff. We also attended a local celebration event. They are fantastic! Here are some photos taken in Gambier.

t = Monday 4 May 19:00 Mangareva Time. We have moved to a little island called Puaumu that was recommended by our friend Patrice. We found the anchorage at Rikitea not much fun and felt we needed some holiday. Puaumu is an island on the northern section of the barrier reef. It is well protected in the easterlies and has good snorkeling. It was tricky to get to but we were helped greatly by having Patrice's GPS tracks. We had a great snorkel yesterday. This was Yingfei's first real snorkel and she thoroughly enjoyed it. For the rest of us it was fantastic to be back in the warm tropical water with all the colourful fish.. Erik was very busy shooting them with the new underwater camera and he got some great results. Unfortunately the local lagoon fish are highly ciguatoxic, however, the ladies have been catching and eating small crabs from the shore as well as hermit crabs. Today we met a blue-water cruising family of six from France in their yacht "Wigwam" They were very friendly and spoke excellent English. They arrived here about a month ago via Easter Island and Pitcairn. Max..

t = Monday 4 May 19:00 Mangareva Time. We have moved to a little island called Puaumu that was recommended by our friend Patrice. We found the anchorage at Rikitea not much fun and felt we needed some holiday.Puaumu is an island on the northern section of the barrier reef. It is well protected in the easterlies and has good snorkeling. It was tricky to get to but we were helped greatly by having Patrice's GPS tracks. We had a great snorkel yesterday. This was Yingfei's first real snorkel and she thoroughly enjoyed it. For the rest of us it was fantastic to be back in the warm tropical water with all the colourful fish.. Erik was very busy shooting them with the new underwater camera and he got some great results. Unfortunately the local lagoon fish are highly ciguatoxic, however, the ladies have been catching and eating small crabs from the shore as well as hermit crabs. Today we met a blue-water cruising family of six from France in their yacht "Wigwam" They were very friendly and spo

t = Saturday 2 May 18:00 Mangareva Time. (UTC -9) Wind NE 14 knots. Barometric Pressure 1018 hPa and steady. We are anchored in the harbour at Rikitea, the main town on Mangareva, Iles Gambier. Finally! What a crazy trip! And all safe and sound. We arrived at 10 AM local time. Our friend Patrice had warned us that the huge lagoon here is full of black oyster farms, and it certainly is. It is very hard to see them let alone navigate around them. The harbour is mostly either coral or deep sand. Like all harbours we seem to anchor in these days it's a lee shore in the prevailing winds, so not particularly comfortable although not rolly. Finding the Gendarmerie to check in was not difficult. They were very fast, efficient and even spoke some English. We have left shopping for Monday as everything was closing up. Both ladies took a dip and wash off the stern - they were both a little shocked at the huge number of remoras that have clustered under the boat already. Jingli has done a massive job starting on drying everything that got wet and moldy on the trip. We will try to see if we can get some internet on Monday. Max.

t = Saturday 2 May 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind NE 14 knots COG 338 deg mag, SOG 7 knots AWA 55 deg, Barometric Pressure 1018 hPa and steady. Land Ho!! Mount Duff on Mangareva was clearly visible just before sundown. We have arrived too late today to enter the lagoon. We will tack back and forth outside the reef tonight and wait for morning light to enter the pass.We are all elated that this tough passage is coming to an end.We've had a fantastic reaching breeze from the NE since last night, with no squalls and no fronts., as a result the Captain was allowed extra sleep rations!

Today was a gorgeous day, clear sky, bright sun and the bluest deep blue ocean. Dinner was lamb with spinach and egg + flying fish for the brave Shanghai ladies. Max.

t = Friday 1 May 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind - calm, SOG 6.5 knots, COG 354 deg mag, Barometric Pressure 1018 hPa and steady. Last night was peaceful - slowly sailing upwind into 10 knots or so northerly. This morning we briefly had quite a strong burst from the east that died within half an hour. We've been motoring since then. Attempts at fishing have met with no success. Sunset was spectacular tonight! Shepherd's pie in the cockpit! Max.

t = Thursday 30 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind N 20-25 knots, SOG 5 knots, COG 56 deg mag, AWA 50 deg, Barometric Pressure 1014 hPa and steady. The front passed through last night and we still have frontal conditions Torrential rain with squalls up to 30 knots. Unfortunately between the squalls the wind goes back to norherly , direct ly from the Gamgiers. These conditions have produced a big sea. We only made 50 nautical miles today beating into this nasty weather. We hope to get easterly conditions eventually. We didn't intend to re-enact the Odyssey! Lots of flying fish, a few birds but no whales sighted yet. Crew surviving - chef produced a delicious dinner again. Max.

t = Wednesday 29 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind NE 20 knots gusting 30 knots, SOG 6 knots, COG 64 deg mag, AWA 40 deg Barometric Pressure 1015.2 hPa and rising. We have a strong gusty NE wind and we are beating dead into the teeth of it, so it's not much fun. It is a mostly sunny blue sky but bands of grey clouds are moving over regularly. Every hour or so we get a lull which drops the apparent wind to 15 knots and leaves Hai Yun wallowing in the seas begging for more sail. Then we'll get 30 knots and we'll scramble to roll up the staysail before it shreds itself.. Not exactly relaxing. N.B. Around 3:30 PM NZST during our send/receive session we got a message of about 1600 bytes. It was received by the sat phone but deleted by the software before we could read it. We know it is not from James Senior or Bob the Met Man. If you think it could be yours please resend. Max.

t = Tuesday 28 April 15:00 NZST. Present Conditions: Wind NE 10 knots SOG 5.5 knots, COG 2 deg mag. AWA 40 deg. Barometric Pressure 1018.2 hPa and steady. It has been a frustrating twenty-four hours. Seas have been calm but wind has been extremely fluky - variable in both direction and speed. Several times we have set everything up perfectly, gone about some job, and looked up to find ourselves way off course. We could probably just motor the rest of the way but we would like to save on diesel as we have heard that there is none available in Mangareva Our great chef has been picking up the dead dried flying fish off the deck that came aboard during the night. She and Yingfei are planning to eat two of the freshest for dinner. There are pork chops for those who decline the "house" delicacy du jour. Max.

t = Monday 27 April 15:00 NZST. Present Conditions: Wind NE 10 knots, SOG 6 knots, COG 61 deg mag, AWA 40 deg, Barometric Pressure 1019 hPa and steady.We were nervous last night given our beating from that rain cell the previous night so we went slowly with little sail. Dawn rose on a beautiful tropical morning, clear and warm and bright. Up went the screacher and soon we were doing 8 knots in 8 knots of true wind. Jingle got every wet cushion out on deck to dry in the strong sunshine. Everyone on deck enjoying themselves. Unfortunately the wind continued to drop and by 10 AM we were onto iron jib. Now after a gorgeous sunset we have a nice 10 knot breeze springing up so hopefully we will make some better time tonight. Dinner is "shepherd's pie". Erik has just described it as "glorious" through a crammed full mouth. I am leaving now as I am too hungry to write any more! Max.

t = Sunday 26 April 15:00 NZST. Present Conditions: Wind NW 20 knots, SOG 8 knots, COG 41 deg mag, AWA 110 deg, Barometric Pressure 1016.7 hPa and falling. The nice weather mentioned in yesterday's message lasted barely two hours after message sent! As dark set in we started to see flashes of lightning behind and to leeward.Strangely they chased us upwind and got closer and closer. There were huge flashes of discharges from cloud to cloud. As the lightning arrived overhead it started to pour and pour - absolutely torrential! Then pitch black and pouring, the wind switched from NNW to Sw 20 knots and slowly died away, then came up again to 20 knots NW, then died away to nothing again. Up, down, sideways, all over the place - very frustrating. Just before morning a NE wind directly from the direction of l'Iles Gambier came in and rose to nearly gale force before slowly subsiding to 20-25 knots for most of the morning. We were back to a double-reefed main and a scrap of staysail. This afternoon the wind has slowly gone back to NW giving us a much better angle and speed. We would love to have this wind for a couple of days but imagine that is too much to hope for. Max.

t = Saturday 25 April 15:00 NZST. Present Conditions: Wind NNW 12 knots, SOG 6.5 knots, COG 65 deg mag, AWA 80 deg, Barometric Pressure 1016 hPa slowly rising. We had a nice reach last night and today, Finally some great weather! Reaching under staysail last night in 20 knots, today in 15 knots with the working jib. As the sun is setting the wind has dropped to 12 knots which is a perfect strength for the screacher. - however caution has prevailed and we plan on putting up the screacher at sunrise. The weather is very damp with mostly grey sky and some patches of sun. Meteorologist Bob correctly predicted the flying fish - there were many of them on deck this morning. We're all happy to see the miles on this passage finally starting to wind down. Dinner tonight is fried chicken, so morale is high! Max.

t = Friday 24 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind N 18-20 knots, SOG 8 knots, COG 70 deg mag, AWA 70 deg. Barometric Pressure 1012.7 hPa and slowly rising. Weather was nasty again last night - 30 knots most of the time with a sharp sea. The wind dropped to 20 knots from the north this morning. It's much nicer and we're finally making decent time eastwards. The sea is still quite big but slowly dropping. It's getting much warmer now - we're down to t-shirts on deck - soaked t-shirts as the foredeck spends a good amount of time under water. Erik and I are now the cleanest members of the crew as we spent a couple of hours dog-paddling up there while getting the storm jib down and stowed and the staysail up. I used to think the staysail was a triangle with three corners, but under those conditions it seemed to have many more! Max.

t = Thursday 23 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind NE 25 - 30 knots gusting 35 kts. SOG 4.5 kts. COG 87 deg mag. AWA 50 deg Barometric Pressure 1014.8 hPa and steady. We're not enjoying this weather. We're pretty much hove to - as much as Hai Yun will heave to - jogging in one place waiting for things to get better. Thirty knots plus all day has raised a horrible sharp sea and it's pouring rain - it's not fun. We hope things will calm down tomorrow. Max.

t = Wednesday 22 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: WindENE 20 knots gusting 25 knots. SOG 5.5 knots COG 358 deg mag AWA 40 DEG TWA 60 deg. Barometric Pressure 1022.8 hPa slowly rising. The wind has been steadily coming around to the north and getting stronger. One big rain squall has come through - I guess we can expect more. We replaced the staysail with the storm jib at noon. It will hopefully give a little more drive to windward in the strong stuff. Max.

t = Tuesday 21 April 15:00 NZST. Present Conditions: Wind ESE 18 knots gusting 24 knots. SOG 6.2 knots, COG 45 deg mag. AWA 40 deg TWA 60 deg.Barometric Pressure 1025 hPa and rising. Wind was a little steadier last night - a few gusts up to 24 knots but mostly 15-17 kts Dinner tonight is homemade spinach noodles and meatballs. Max.

t = Monday 20 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind 8 - 20 knots SE. SOG 6.2 knots. COG 55 deg mag. AWA 40 deg. Barometric Pressure 1026.2 hPa and slowly falling. We were very slow last night - mostly 15 kts of wind with occasional unpredictable gusts to 30 knots.

We carried a double reefed main only - very frustrating! Today the wind is varying from 8 kts to 20 kts and from SSE to SE over a period of an hour. Very weird for an ocean breeze but at least we can now carry more sail and make better time.We've got mostly overcast sky with occasional patches of blue. Both air and sea are much warmer than Stewart Island. Jingli is making dinner with spinach, eggs and cheese - so it's got to be good. Chris, thanks for your good wishes. Max.

t = Sunday 19 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind SE 25 knots gusting 35 knots. SOG 5 knots. COG 60 deg mag Barometric Pressure 1024.5 hPa and steady. AWA 50 deg TWA 65 deg Last night and this morning we made reasonable time reaching with a southerly. Unfortunately the wind backed around toward the east and came up all day. Now we are in a 25 knot southeaster with squalls to 35 kts. We are close reaching with a double reefed mainsail - it is bouncy but at least we are still heading roughly in the right direction. These winds are considerably higher than predicted so we're hoping they will drop overnight All is not doom and gloom aboard however. We're having pizza with sausage for dinner. The sausage dropped from the rail onto Yingfei's head so she will be having hers with an extra side of sweet revenge. With respect to sea sickness - we are all doing better. Erik was searching for a can of smoked oysters the other day so that is a good sign.

t = Saturday 18 April 15:00 NZST Present conditions: Wind S 15 knots gusting 20 knots. SOG 8.5 knots COG 40 deg mag Barometric Pressure 1020.5 hPa and rising. AWA 100 deg. Good day, sunshine, blue sky and great sailing! We're reaching along nicely and most of the big seas have gone away. Jingli and Yingfei both took extra long watches last night so the lazy captain got a very sound sleep - the first since the "Week of Gale". I think Yingfei was on watch over six hours! We're all relieved we survived that "Week!"! Max.

t = Friday 17 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind SW 15-25 knots, gusting 30 knots. SOG 6 to 8 knots. COG 47 deg mag. Barometric Pressure 1011.3 hPa and rising. AWA 140 deg We held to staysail all night which was slow, but the gusty rain cells we have been seeing were quite intense. Things are improving this afternoon so we will try to keep the big jib up tonight. The autopilot died at 10 AM this morning. After much debugging found problem was a loose power cable. We have taken a real pounding in this last week of gales.The waves are still quite big and confused but are slowly calming. Jingli prepared a noodles with ground pork dinner which was fantastic That and blue sky and sun and a "no gales" forecast from Bob the Met Man has done wonders for crew morale. Max.

t = Thursday 16 April 15:00 NZST Present Conditions: Wind WNW 20-25 knots gusting 35 knots, squally rain cells. SOG 8 knots. COG 46 deg mag. Barometric Pressure 999.4 hPa and steady. AWA 140 deg. Tough night last night as the winds were were down around 15 knots but with occasional gusts to above 30 knots. We still have stupefying seas. We stayed under staysail alone as we could not anticipate the squalls in the dark.Very slow and rollyl and bang bang all night long. Not much fun. We tuned up the rig a bit in the morning as the gale had put a bit of slack in things. Seas are quite a bit down from yesterday, although we are starting to see a few big swells from the north. Wind is down to a nice 20 knots but squally so will to go back down to staysail tonight which is so slow. This afternoon found the Yanmar main engine had come off its Flexi-mounts. With a full crew effort we got her back on her mounts, wired down with stainless wire and stabilized port and starboard with spectra line. It is amazing how many birds there are out here - sooty shearwaters everywhere and some little ones we have yet to identify. No one has had the appetite to dig out the bird books! Max.

t = Wednesday 15 April 14:00 NZSTPresent Conditions: Wind WNW 20-25 knots gusting 30 knots SOG 7 knots COG 60 deg mag. AWA 150 degrees Pressure 1005.2 hPa, rising slowly.Our morning started in the early predawn darkness with a bang. A nasty 45 knot gust and a rogue sea brought Hai Yun beam on with the sail flogging. i never thought I would see the day when a double-reefed main was way too much sail! With a colossal effort from Erik we got the main in and ran under bare poles for a while. Now we've added about one-third staysail. The wind has come down to a steady 20-25 knots but the seas are huge! The biggest ones are easily 8 metres high. Not many are breaking except when a left over NW wave gets on top of one of the gigantic SW swells. The big swells have a period of about 10 seconds and are over 100 metres between crests. We are approaching a line of seamounts, one of which is only 256 metres deep. We are trying to pick a path well away from any of them. I realize that that depth is still two and a half wavelengths bur would prefer to give these mammoth giants no reason to get ugly! Jingli in an unbelievable tour-de-force produced tea, fresh bread and baked pork sandwiches for lunch. Worthy of an Olympic Medal! Boat and crew are holding up remarkably well considering the conditions. Erik has had a flu which he is finally getting over. We're roughly one third of the way to the ILes Gambier today, so that helps morale. Max

t = Tuesday 14 April 14:00 NZST . Present conditions: Wind WNW 20 knots gusting 30 knots. SOG 9 Knots. COG 49 deg magnetic. Apparent Wind Angle 130 degrees. Barometric pressure 989.9 hPa and rising slowly. Last night was horrible! A continuous 30 plus knots from the NNW. We tried to steer at 70 deg AWA but the huge seas were just too much, so we opted for 100 deg instead.The pressure dropped to 984 hPa which I think is the lowest I have seen at sea.This morning brought the welcome shift to WNW along with blue skies. We pulled the big jib out at 10 AM and Hai Yun has been much happier since.We're expecting a bit more wind tonight from WNW, then a shift to SW Some really big swells from the SW are expected to start showing up. Max.

t = Monday 13 April 14:00 NZST. Present conditions: Wind NNW 25 knots gusting 35 knots. SOG 6.2 Knots COG 50 deg magnetic. Apparent wind angle (AWA) = 80 deg. Pressure =992.3 hPa and falling. Still the same big wind and huge seas Wish the wind had more west in it as 80 deg AWA is pretty uncomfortable in these seas. Lots of seabirds but otherwise a very empty bit of ocean. No whales sighted, but then we haven's been spending much time on deck!

t = Sunday 12 April 14:00 NZST Present conditions: Wind NNW 25 knots gusting 35 knots. SOG 6 knots COG 35 deg Magnetic. Pressure 1001.2 and falling. Conditions are pretty wild right now. Our nice southerly of yesterday slowly died in the evening and was replaced by a NNW wind which built to 25 gusting 35 by 10 AM. We're fore reaching at 70 degrees apparent under double reefed main Huge Seas. Hai Yun and crew are holding together but it is a scary experience. It is probably the biggest and longest sustained blow we have been in, and is expected to last for at least another day and a half. In spite of conditions Jingli baked fresh bread.

t = Saturday 11 April 14:00 NZST Present conditions: Wind S 20 knots, SOG 7.7 knots COG 51 deg M. A very good run today (first 200 nm Day) With strong S wind had her speed up in the high teens util we got sensible and pulled the main in. Rolly, rolly, big seas (3 metres) but beautiful day. Sun and Blue Seas. First sunny day since we left Dunedin. Definitely warmer now. We're all feeling a touch sea sick, but imagine that will pass..

t = Friday April 10 14:30 NZST Wind SW 25-30 knots, SOG 10 knots. COG 20 deg magnetic. We had a tough night NE 20 knots came up and the hydraulic vang fitting crumbled at the mast as I was putting in a reef. This is the same fitting that broke on the way to Australia in 2009. I was planning on replacing it with dyneema and tackle. The screacher also tried to escape the foredeck - but that's my dumb fault for leaving it up there in the first place. Then the wind died leaving us with a messy sea! We're all tired of the too much wind/too little wind thing. We are hoping conditions will stabilize a bit in a few days.. Max

t = Thursday April 9 15:48 NZST Wind 15-20 knots NE SOG 6 knots. Our exit from Dunedin was blustery! We stopped in Port Chalmers on the way out for diesel and Customs clearance. It was gusting 30 knots SW by the time we left and cold, brrr! We were making 10 kts overnight on the working jib alone. Wind has unfortunately pulled around to 20 knots NE now, so we're going slow, charging batteries and waiting to get a somewhat better angle. Forecast is SW by morning.

Everyone is doing well - catching up on sleep from the hectic shore life. No sea sickness at this point. Unfortunately Erik still has his nasty cold.

t = Wednesday 8 April 15:37 NZST Leaving Otago Yacht Club for Port Chalmers

A big project was done at Dunedin: Grandma's seat is ready! We were lucky to meet a very skilled stainless genius, Robt Watt, here to help Max built and installed the diesel heater within a week of time. It worked beautifully!

Arrived the Otago Yacht Club at 10:30am (high tide), calm weather. Rafted along the side of another boat. We joined the club member dinner gathering tonight, met some extremely friendly people. Very glad to be here! Photos are courtesy of Peter who lives up on the hill and came down later to say hi.

Drifted under the sail the rest of the way, waited at the channel entrance from 2am until day light.

Left the Sylvan Cove, Stewart Island at 15:22 on 25th March, 2015. Had some good wind going 8 kts under main and screecher at beginning, but the wind died about 3 hr later, had to motor sail until the next morning around 10:00. Worried about the limited diesel onboard, we stopped the motor, drifting under the main from this point on, waiting for the forecasted south wind to pick up. Silky sea, saw a hammer head shark close by. Had veg and egg filled buns and egg soup for dinner.

t = Tuesday 24 March 20:00 NZDT Very Windy. Rainy. Probably leave for Dunedin tomorrow.

t = Sunday 22 March 19:57 NZDT Another beautiful sunny day. Ladies fishing. Success!

t = Wednesday 18 March 19:32 NZDT Great Walk. Rakiura. 31 K steps. Cockles for dinner.

Moved back to Golden Bay. Female crew members did part of the Rakiura great walk from Lee Bay, absolutely gorgeous! Poor captain had to stay on the boat ordering spare parts to be delivered to Dunedin for Hai Yun.

Sent Erik off to his big North American University tour in the morning. Walked on Ryan Creek trail to the airport and back, very nice! �Moved to Sydney Bay, Ulva Island as forecast predicted 25kts south west wind.

Sailed back to Golden Bay. With the main sail only,�Hai Yun reached 9 kts with the 25-30 kts wind on the nose. Crazy captain!

On Stewart Island, Brown Kiwi is estimated about 20,000 while only 387 humans live here all year round. We got up at 4:30am, went to the shore at 5:30am, walked to the east side beach to see kiwi feeding. It was very dark since the moon was blocked by the thick clouds, we were the only people on the beach. Sharp eyed Erik spotted one, we all quietly watched this dark shadow picking on the washed to shore seaweed. Later, we saw 3 more kiwis feeding as the sun came out, the last one was very cooperative to our photographing; concentrated on her food, totally ignored us. By 8:00 am, we left the beach, leave her eating her breakfast in peace.

Moved to Glory Bay, female crew members went to shore for a walk and male crew members went diving for blue cod, paua (abalone), kina (sea urchin), sea cucumber, oyster and mussels. Great walk, fantastic sea food dinner!�

We moved to Boulder Beach, Ulva Island on this beautiful day. Went to shore for a walk. Very nice short trials. Heard many birds singing, saw fearless robin and weka came to investigate our boots. Also saw fan tails, red-crowned parakeets, kereru (NZ pigeon). Took another walk the next morning, saw more birds including Kaka.

t = Saturday 7 March 20:28 NZDT Anchored off Oban, Stewart Island. Civilization! Internet! Rainy cold�day, but Beautiful.

t = Wednesday 4 March 19:47 NZDT Blue Sky. Butterfish, Scallops and a Good Hike. People!

t = Tuesday 3 March 20:01 NZDT Slow drift with Screacher to Port Adventure. Calm Evening.

t = Sunday 1 March 21:04 NZDT Huge Waterfall. Great Hike. Good Weather. All fine.

t = Friday 27 February 18:35 Islet Cove Stewart Island Lazy Day Today. Eat, read. sleep,eat. All fine.

t = Wednesday 25 February NZDT 18:02 Sylvan Cove Stewart Island. Excellent Anchorage for front passing.

t = Sunday 22 February 19:47 NZDT Still in Luncheon Cove. Sunshine! Paua. Crayfish. Butterfish. All dry and happy.

t - Thursday 19 February 21:09 NZDT Tons of rain last night. Sunny and calm today. Blue Cod for dinner!

t = Wednesday 18 February 16:49 NZDT At anchor in Luncheon Cove, Dusky Sound. Great Day No sandflies! Fish Dinner.

t = Sunday 15 February 21:17 NZDT At anchorage Beach Harbour, Dusky Sound, Fiordland New Zealand

t = Saturday 14 February 18:42 NZDT Land! Majestic! and Erik's birthday! One day left. Conditions - calm

�t = Thursday 12 February 18:26 NZDT. �Light Wind. Sea Calming. Reaching with Screacher. All fine.

�18:17 NZDT Rough today. 25-30 kt headwinds.Easing now. All fine

19:18 NZDT Off North Cape. Calm. Motor and Mainsail. All well.

Left Whangamumu anchorage at 8:15 with a pot of dolphins playing at the bow. Slow sailing/motoring with little wind. Max caught his1st tuna at 15:05. Anchored at our favorite spot at Waitepipi Bay, Whangaroa near the Dukes Nose. Sashimi and seared tuna for dinner, yummy! Will stay here for 2 nights to sort out weather.

�At anchorage, in the gusty 30 knots wind and shower, with help from Erik, Max climbed the mast to check�the�staysail�jamming problem, Jingli repaired broken battern pockets in the�mainsail. Lifted anchor�at 12:30, wind built to 20 to 30 knots WSW, making 10 to 12 knots with main and staysail, fantastic sailing!�Anchored at Whangamumu near Cape Brett at 19:00.

left Gulf Harbour Fuel dock at 11:40. Great sailing to Whangarei, SW ~20 knots. Anchored at Bream Bay by 20:30

Docking at the Gulf Harbour Marina, Auckland, NZ. �Madly preparing her for the long voyage...