Position report sent via Iridium GO

it's a beautiful sunny day with a gentle breeze and we have grand cayman in sight! Progress is slow as the wind is very light now but we hope to arrive in Georgetown by early afternoon.

we picked up the trade winds and turned off the engine an hour ago, looks like a nice day for a sail and the shipping has thinned out. Wind ne 15kn, gradually shifting more easterly. Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

We are ready to depart tomorrow bound for Grand Cayman, Chris, Steve and Luke on board. Looking forward to some tradewinds and slightly cooler temperatures, it's way too hot and humid here! Forecast looks pretty good.

arrived safely in panama this afternoon, very busy shipping lanes on the approach... time to catch up on some sleep now.

we used the spinnaker all day today as the winds are getting very light and behind us. For the night we have the big reacher goose-winged. Winds getting lighter, progress slower, might have to resort to using an engine soon...

i've had a couple of emails reporting that our positions are heading south! We are still on course at position 1 34N 87 14W so there is a bug in the software somewhere, either in our satellite phone or YIT. Good to know you are out there watching our reports and please ignore any positions in the southern hemisphere!

crossed the equator this morning, toasted neptune with a glass of the finest sea water!

On our way to panama after a wonderful time in Galapagos! Departed this morning in fine weather. Forecast is for an easy downwind passage all the way. 5 of us on board. Dozens of dolphins played and jumped very high around us this afternoon!

We are enjoying being in Santa Cruz - the "big city" of the galapagos islands! Explored a 1km long lava tunnel yesterday. Heading for Panama soon!

Sorry for the lack of updates, we are all having such a great time in Isabella that I've not got on the internet very often and it's very slow when I do. We welcomed new crew members Uta and Lise last week. Everyone is having a great time here and really enjoying the wildlife, volcanic landscapes and snorkeling. We'll be in Isabella another week or more before a short sail to Santa Cruz, our last stop in Galapagos.

anchored in San cristobal celebrating our arrival! Sea lion defences in place! Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Land in sight! We can see the volcanos on Santa Maria and Gardner islands. We should arrive in San cristobal this evening. Today the seas are flat and we are gliding along with a good breeze for the reacher, speed is 8-9 knots but there's 1-2 knots of current against us.

still making good speed toward galapagos, not long now! Today we completed installing the new seat I've been building on top of the stern arch. It's like a giant deck chair/hammock, made from half of the old trampoline net on an aluminium frame we built. It has turned out to be every bit as awesome as i imagined it would be. Very comfortable indeed and the view is amazing. You can see twice as far as from the deck and can see everything on board too, with no blind spots. Many happy hours on watch will be spent in it! Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

We are now at 96 degrees West longitude which means we are more than 90 degrees from our starting point at auckland at 173.4 degrees East... That's quarter of the way around the world already! This planet is pretty small and seems to be mostly made of sea! Celebrating this milestone with a banana cake, using the last of the pitcairn island bananas which we saved in the freezer.

ohana is in her happy place with 18-20 knots of wind dead on the beam! Flying along at 10 knots average speed with spurts to 15 knots, the seat belt sign will remain illuminated throughout the flight due to turbulence... bumpy ride but fun! We can ride the trade winds all the way to galapagos now. Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

after three days of motoring with no wind we finally had a light breeze from behind us today and have started sailing again, albeit slowly. very peaceful drifting along in the sunshine under the big reacher and jib goosewinged. Trade winds are forecast to be back in full effect from tomorrow afternoon, should be a fast trip north from then on. We're getting lots of jobs done meanwhile in the calm weather - today i made a new remote control for the autopilot and completed the first stage of installing the new stern arch/seat which we started building back in auckland.

if you're wondering why we slowed down, unfortunately the bottom part of the main sail got torn yesterday so we have to sail with two reefs in it to avoid using the damaged part. It will slow us down having a smaller mainsail if we have to go to windward in light wind (like today). Otherwise it's not a big problem, we have many sails and hopefully this passage will be mostly downwind. I guess I made it happen by posting an ETA yesterday, I won't be doing that again!

making great speed, got ohana so perfectly balanced that she has been on course for an hour without touching the wheel, autopilot off! Perfect sailing weather. Sunshine with patchy cloud, 18 knots wind, speed 8 knots, course over ground 060. Heading direct for Galapagos without stopping, looks a bit windy around easter island this week and we're lucky to have an ideal weather setup so we don't have to go that far south. ETA first week of September.

A wonderful sail so far with mostly sunshine and starry skies. great conditions where ohana is so balanced she will steer herself at 7 knots for 5 minutes without using the autopilot. A front just passed through and the wind has switched from NW to SW, equally favourable for our course, just a quick gybe and on we go! Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

had a wonderful ten hours in pitcairn before the wind changed, lovely people, spectacular and beautiful scenery. On our way again as the wind is coming round to the north now but it's still calm. A nice quiet night to catch up on sleep and tidy up all the fresh fruit and veg we've been given.

excited to be approaching pitcairn at last! It's only possible to anchor there when the weather is perfect so we will probably only stay one day. Very calm seas and light winds today, motoring as fast as we can now to maximise our time at pitcairn.

On our way to Pitcairn! We have a very brief weather opportunity to visit pitcairn so we departed rikitea as quickly as possible yesterday. On our way, motoring with no wind. Hope conditions are still like this when we arrive! 3 POB, Chris, anthony and joachim.

Arrived safely in Rikitea and enjoying some rest and relaxation!

everyone wishes pauline a happy birthday from mangareva, especially nico! Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

course 050m, speed 6 knots. Beautiful sunny day today, gentle rolling swells, perfect weather as we approach the tropics and the trade winds start to pick up from the south east. Hope to arrive in the gambier islands tomorrow morning after a nice easy passage. Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

departed Rapa Iti at 1115 tahiti time bound for rikitea, gambier islands. 5 persons on board. On the move again! Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

safely anchored at Rapa Iti. Yay! Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

we motored through last night but we don't want to arrive in rapa in the dark so now we are conserving diesel and waiting for the wind, planning to sail into Rapa at dawn tomorrow. Mark took advantage of the calm to climb the mast yesterday on a successful mission to sort out a problem with the jib halyard. Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

baking cakes and bread, whistling for a wind, catching up on maintenance. Port engine all fixed and put back together last night! Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Nico has baked me an awesome catamaran shaped cake for my second birthday on Polynesian time and the sun is shining at last. Yay! It has been cloudy almost all the way from new Zealand, probably my fault for bringing a sextant. We are experiencing what i think David would call isolated convective systems and what most people call showers, but they don't seem to have much wind in them. Still gliding along with the reacher but the wind is slowly dropping. Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

saw a pod of very large whales this afternoon! They followed us up close for about an hour. Making good speed again with the reacher up and calm seas. Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

jib furler jammed so we're going a bit slower under main only until the wind drops enough to set the big reacher. New oil pickup pipe improvised and manufactured, hopefully use it to get the port engine back in service later today as we might get becalmed tomorrow. Reading the waves to find Rapa, thanks mum (still on nz time on board!).

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

lots of maintenance to do during the last two days of light winds and calm seas. Not a rest and relaxation period! Joe took an exciting trip to the top of the mast to reeve a new rope after the main halyard chafed right through and I've spent a lot of time getting the sump off the port engine to find a crack in the oil pickup pipe. Looks fixable! Meanwhile the starboard engine is good to get us into harbour if we can't fix the pipe before we get to Rapa. All's well and we're back up to speed again with a light northerly breeze and calm seas.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

no wind, motored all night. Made lots of fresh water, water tank now full, showers for everyone! Electricity tank also full again. Very slowly motoring north east hoping the northerly winds will catch up with us soon so we can sail. Making lots of tea until then.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

light southerly wind still holding, it picks up again whenever we think of starting the engine. Gliding along under the big reacher at average 4kn. It's still cloudy in the middle of this high pressure system... we expected a sunny morning and we want a refund! Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Mark's birthday messages to the outside world... Russell Coyne Clan:All is well but please send supply of venison steak and Malbek... Kim: I opened your card, thank you so much, keep writing lots!... Eleanor: your pygmy hippo gift arrived safely, perfect pet for a boat! Tell Oceania hello! ... Frank, Noel and Gers, you are on Ohana in spirit!

Nico on night watch. Conditions calming right down but we are pushing hard while we still have enough wind. making very good speed with the wind behind us at 16kn and still ahead of the high pressure. It might start to catch up with us tomorrow, which is mark's birthday! Weather routing suggests fair winds for Rapa after the high goes over. (N-NW then SE).

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

not comfortable but good progress. Good radio signal.

Going great speed, reaching with steady southerly 18kn wind, 9/10 cloud, comfortable(ish) long period 3m seas. Fun sailing weather, racing to stay ahead of the light winds in the high pressure system behind us. Pizza for dinner!

On our way! Dolphins said goodbye off Tauranga, light winds, motored for most of day 1 but been sailing since then. Had the big reacher up for a while but now wind direction is too much ahead. Mark says hi lovely Kim. Nico performing well despite copious vomit! All's well.

In Tauranga awaiting the right weather to depart then we'll be heading east towards Rapa Iti.

Testing. At anchor in auckland. Heading for Rapa Iti soon!