Docked in Dutch Harbor after 32 days at sea. Total miles sailed: 3400 nm. Next stops will be at small anchorages on the way to Kodiak, AK, where we will winter with the boat.

20190711 1400 UTC, Day 4. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Wakayama, Japan. Inbound Port Townsend, WA USA. What excellent sailing. We've rediscovered upwind sailing. For most of the voyage around the Pacific, we've been sailing mostly downwind, with some beam reaching. The few times we've sailed upwind the seas have been large and rough...not fun. But these last few days with moderate seas, with tumbleweed at full sails 24 hours a day, we've been impressed with how well tumbleweed cuts through the waves and squeezes some speed out of so little wind. Of course the seas have to corelate with the wind, smooth seas if light wind, etc.. 4155 miles to go.

20190711 1400 UTC, Day 4. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Wakayama, Japan. Inbound Port Townsend, WA USA. What excellent sailing. We've rediscovered upwind sailing. For most of the voyage around the Pacific, we've been sailing mostly downwind, with some beam reaching. The few times we've sailed upwind the seas have been large and rough...not fun. But these last few days with moderate seas, with tumbleweed at full sails 24 hours a day, we've been impressed with how well tumbleweed cuts through the waves and squeezes some speed out of so little wind. Of course the seas have to corelate with the wind, smooth seas if light wind, etc.. 4155 miles to go.

20190710 0800 UTC, Day 3. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Wakayama, Japan. Inbound Port Townsend, WA USA. Winds have been consistently from the east for 2 days, 15-20 kts. Because our general route is ~50 degrees T, we have been sailing to weather for those 2 days also, and at times it has been rough. 2-3m seas, several wave trains, strong currents dominated by the Kuroshio, and complex coastal seabed topography result in confused seas for us. We are happy to have the winds to sail though. 330 nm VMG total for 3 days sailing, including 24 hours of motorsailing. 4370 miles to go.

At the transient dock, Smiley Cove, Garapan, Saipan

20190212 0600 UTC, Day 10. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Weather is a bit calmer than yesterday, but it's still blowin'. We sail with a reefed genoa, staysail, trysail during the day, but furl in the genoa during the night. An excellent 146nm day, VMG. 240 nm to go. We're planning landfall on Thursday, 02/14.

20190211 05 UTC, Day 9. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Big seas and high winds. Wow those large squalls were powerful. We had not put away the double-furled headsail, given the calm weather. That decision, in retrospect, was not great. So with Headsail(double reef) + Stays'l + trys'l, we sailed through the night. When the first squall hit unexpectedly

20190209+10 03:45 UTC, Day 7+8. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Big seas and high winds. Wow those two large squalls were powerful. We had already reduced sails, given that it was night: Stays'l + trys'l. Tumbleweed + Monitor windvane handled the squalls beautifully...we didn't touch a thing during the squalls. On Sunday the weather settled to 22 kts NE. So now, reefed genoa + stays'l + trys'l. 550 nm to go.

20190208 05:30 UTC, Day 6. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Big seas and high winds. We had to put away the reefed genoa, and put up our favorite trysail on the mast, so now just it and staysail are up. Still sailing 6.5+ kts. We are expecting more wind, based on EC and GFS. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14. 822 nm to go(just about half way there)

20190207 03:30 UTC, Day 5. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Great sailing conditions continue. We are hitting 150nm-days without much effort. We expect to pickup some free speed as we sail into westward currents at 1 - 1.5 kts. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14.

20190207 03:30 UTC, Day 5. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Great sailing conditions continue. We are hitting 150nm-days without much effort. We expect to pickup some free speed as we sail into westward currents at 1 - 1.5 kts. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14.

20190207 03:30 UTC, Day 5. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Great sailing conditions continue. We are hitting 150nm-days without much effort. We expect to pickup some free speed as we sail into westward currents at 1 - 1.5 kts. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14.

20190207 03:30 UTC, Day 5. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Great sailing conditions continue. We are hitting 150nm-days without much effort. We expect to pickup some free speed as we sail into westward currents at 1 - 1.5 kts. Our ETA for Saipan is Thursday, Feb. 14.

20190206 05:30 UTC, Day 4. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. We are now west of the thick of the Marshall Islands, with the Saipan approach as the next waypoint 1122 nm away. It's a simple straight course we hope the NE tradewinds will help us keep simple. Many squalls near lunchtime. Seas are fiesty. VMG so far is 144 nm/day.

20190205 06:30 UTC, Day 3. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. Isn't it superb when crew and yacht and nature align to bring about wonderful sailing? We are on a rhumbline to Saipan, sailing on a broad reach with a reefed headsail and full staysail. We're making 144 nm days (VMG) without effort. Ahhh....

20190204 03:30 UTC, Day 2. Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Marshall Islands. Inbound Saipan. We are headed for Chichijima, Japan, but first short stops at Saipan and Muag (just a sail through given that it's a protected wildlife habitat). Weather forecast with GFS and ECMWF look good for the next week. More to come...

20181217 0600 UTC, Day 28. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. We have arrived at Majuro. Because of the vagaries of weather and ocean currents, we managed to turn a 12-day 1500 nm rhumbline passage into a 28-day 2000 nm extravaganza. But as I have written before, we are not complaining about the distance or time...it was a wonderful passage. Part of our plan was to drift instead of motoring if the winds slackened and that's what we did. During the 28-day passage, our motor was on only 16 hours. We don't see this as some sort of a merit badge or as a bragging point. We aren't critical of others who choose to motor more. But motoring to us on Tumbleweed destroys the magic of sailing, it breaks the zen like connection to wind and sea, and it's something we avoid, even if it means doubling the length of the passage. We are so fortunate to be on this journey. Next up, the continuing passage toward Japan in January?

20181216 0600 UTC, Day 27. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands, ETA 12/17, maybe 12/18. Wind speeds have fallen to about 11 kts. To maintain boat speed and to stay in areas forecasted with higher winds, we changed course and are now going over the north side of Arno, the atoll east of Majuro. At the time we made the course change, it added about 10 nm to the route, but with the benefit of sailing on a beam reach in 10 kts, which gives us > 3 kts. in boat speed. We also expect to be able to gybe and sail SW toward Majuro's entrance once we have reached the northern tip of Arno. At this point, reaching Majuro by 1600 12/17 looks unlikely, so we may have to postpone until 12/18. 80nm to go (course).

20181215 0600 UTC, Day 26. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands, ETA 12/17. Weather and seas have settled a bit since yesterday, but 30 kts are forecasted (GFS) for our area during the next 6 hours. I had a bit of a panic today when I realized the passage was coming to an end...had we made it as excellent as we could have?....did we do everything?...when would the next passage be? One of the luxuries we've had on this passage is taking a daily shower. Tumbleweed has a dedicated shower, but we usually fill it with fenders and such on a passage. Not this time. It's been grand to shower, especially on the hottest of days. We've had a great time on this longer-than-expected passage, but I must admit that I'm ready for a little break. 140nm to go (course).

20181214 0600 UTC, Day 25. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands, ETA 12/17. Another existential threat: Chinese fishing vessels with AIS and lights OFF at night. We've heard similar reports from other sailors. If it weren't for Morgan's good watch habits, we would have hit one two nights ago. After Morgan changed course, the vessel we had been headed for turned on a small light, and then all 5 vessels in the group turned on their AIS as we sailed through the armada. 240nm to go (rhumbline) (we reported incorrectly on Day 24 yesterday, it should have been 360nm to go).

20181213 0500 UTC, Day 24. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands, ETA 12/17. When the first squall hit this morning, we were thinking that it would pass and then we'd have sunny weather again. Instead, that squall turned out to be the first of many that would morph into one large front or squal-line, blowing us to hull speed and showering us all afternoon. We want to arrive on Monday and must pace ourselves, and while exhilarating, the high winds aren't helping. The seas built swiftly today to at least 3 meters from the northeast, ~70T. 290 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181212 0500 UTC, Day 23. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands, ETA 12/17. NE Tradewinds have arrived. It's been a beautiful sailing day with sunny skies, a constant 13 kts on the beam or quarter, seas are coherent with ~ 1m swell, 90T. Smooooth sailing, nice enough for a fancy Thai curry fresh! veggie lunch...good to still have ~fresh veggies after 23 days at sea. EC and GFS forecasts look good through Monday 12/17. We are a bit ahead of schedule and with the coming higher winds, we'll probably have to slow down a bit. One of our slow sail plans, which I love, is trysail + staysail. The trysail is a good alternative to the battened main, which in light winds will slap back and forth when the swell rocks Tumbleweed. The trysail is not battened, and when sheeted tight, won't slap at all, ditto for the staysail. So the combo is great for varying conditions and quiet sleep cycles. Tacking and gybing are a breeze. With 20 kts o n the beam, we easily see 6 kts. boat speed. 400 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181211 0500 UTC, Days 21 & 22. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands, ETA 12/17. What a long strange trip it's been. Yesterday's theme was crazy seas. We happened upon an area of converging currents and swell and it was hell. Tumbleweed had a difficult time making headway in light winds. With yet another electric-wonderland squall homing in on us, we decided to turn on the engine and motorsailed for an hour exiting the swirling seas and evading the super squall. Speaking of super squalls, this morning's excitement, and I mean that in a good sense

20181209 0400 UTC, Day 20. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands, ETA 12/17. Only 30 nm VMG, but prospects are improving. Last night was a weird mix of wild currents and an odd fishing vessel. We were tired of the 1.5 kt eastward current, and with our newfound source of current current data via saildocs (thanks shesan), we began to consider motoring a bit north to escape it. But when a Chinese fishing vessel (70m) poped up, headed right for our drifting Tumbleweed, it was all engine full speed ahead! An hour later we had escaped the fisherpersons but were distressed to find that we were in a 3.5 kt. eastward current! Arggh, or is that arrgh!? But at this new location we had sailing winds and we were off and happy and soon to be free of the 3.5 current. Come morning, the Chinese were back, headed right for us again. I radioed them and told them where to go...literally. (Through miscommunication? or kindness? we thought they as ked us where we were headed, and we said Majuro, their reply was "Okay, we go towards Majuro!" and then they were gone.) Favorable sailing weather is forecasted to arrive by Tuesday and then stay through to the following Monday. 560 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181208 0400 UTC, Days 18 & 19. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. -15 nm VMG. Although we're sailing a bit in the mornings, we mostly continue to drift, now a little more NE, further away from our destination than the day before. Someone, please make it stop. We had an excellent crossing-the-equator party, with swimming, games and a fancy dinner with a glass of wine (otherwise we are teetotalers on passage). The enhanced NE trades that we have been waiting for are a bit delayed and now GFS is forecasting a cyclonic cell near Majuro later in the week. This and the need to avoid a weekend arrival into the Marshalls means that we are now targeting December 17th for landfall. Egads. Oh well, lots of reading time. 590 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181206 0600 UTC, Day 17. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. -20 nm VMG. We are drifting eastward, further away from our destination than yesterday. This 1.5 kt eastward current is bugging us. We're not quite sure what it is. The Equatorial Counter Current is supposed to be much more north, 3-10 N. In previous posts for this passage, if I reported "no wind" I was misleading. Now we know no wind

20181206 0600 UTC, Day 17. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. -20 nm VMG. We are drifting eastward, further away from our destination than yesterday. This 1.5 kt eastward current is bugging us. We're not quite sure what it is. The Equatorial Counter Current is supposed to be much more north, 3-10 N. In previous posts for this passage, if I reported "no wind" I was misleading. Now we know no wind

20181206 0600 UTC, Day 17. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. -20 nm VMG. We are drifting eastward, further away from our destination than yesterday. This 1.5 kt eastward current is bugging us. We're not quite sure what it is. The Equatorial Counter Current is supposed to be much more north, 3-10 N. In previous posts for this passage, if I reported "no wind" I was misleading. Now we know no wind

20181205 0600 UTC, Day 16. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. 5nm VMG. DOLDRUMS. HOT. But we really love the open sea. It's so peaceful. Dolphins visit us multiple times each day now. They are feeding on the school of fish under Tumbleweed. At times the water is smooth, rippleless, with large undulating long-period swell gently lifting us. We are going to continue to drift and wait for sailing winds, perhaps 5 days out. Our biggest concern with this plan is the potential for building swell from high winds to the northeast. 555 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181204 0500 UTC, Day 15. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. 55 nm VMG, yippee. We had sailable winds averaging 7 kts all last night and most of the day. These NE to SE winds, combined with a favorable eastward current and calm seas, helped us get 3-4 kts SOG on a mostly northward heading. Dolphins and more dolphins. Not sure if they are the same group on each visit. 560 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181203 0500 UTC, Day 14. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. A return to good sailing conditions. We had no wind from yesterday evening to just after sunrise today

20181202 0500 UTC, Day 13. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Only 30 VMG. We had no wind from yesterday evening to just after noon today, when a nice westerly arrived. We managed to find a northeastward current at 1.5 kts. Changing wind direction, scattered atolls, and currents have resulted in a bit of a meandering course for us, shaped like an 'S', but as long as we have a little north and a little west in our heading, we are happy

20181201 0500 UTC, Day 12. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Another wonderful slow day. Although we hitched a power ride on a couple of squalls, for the most part winds were very light with 4 or 5 big directional shifts, causing several sail changes and course ineffeciencies. We have seen 1 tanker, 3 fishing vessels, and 0 yachts so far on the passage. We have motored a total of 7 hours with 1050 nm sailed, 670 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181130 0600 UTC, Day 11. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Because wind speed and direction are varying quite a bit, we've had to adapt our sail plan for easy single-handing during watch. We set up the whisker pole for the genoa which allows for broad downwind sailing angles...we were sailing on the lee a bit this morning. Checking Admiral W.H. Smyth's Sailor's Word Book, we are neither adrift nor becalmed, as I've said in previous posts. I'm not sure how, but we have managed to keep the boat headed in the direction we want, albeit sometimes at speeds around 1 kt. I guess we are just slow. At lunch we noticed a turtle swimming directly behind our boat. After playing around the boat a bit, the turtle swam on, passing us. 720 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181129 0600 UTC, Day 10. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. As GFS and EC forecasted the winds have dropped to under 5 kts. Tumbleweed is adrift but we don't mind. CAPE is really low, so there's not much threat of squalls...none in sight today. The calm seas make being adrift a joy. Tumbleweed is fully stocked with food and books. 760 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181128 0530 UTC, Day 9. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Good sailing weather continues with favorable winds and seas. But wind direction at 30-50T is more northerly than we want, pushing us to sail a heading of ~310T. While Majuro is northwest of us, we are using up too much west too early, risking an easterly heading as we close on Majuro

20181127 0500 UTC, Day 8. 2 PonB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. A return to excellent sailing weather with favorable winds and seas. Sailing mostly on a close reach with reefed genoa, full staysail, and reefed main (reefed sails allow us to single-hand tumbleweed through squalls during watches). Winds are expected to fall by Thursday, but CAPE is very low, so perhaps limited squalls. So far 780nm sailed realizing 640nm VMG. 900 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181126 0600 UTC, Day 7. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well, kind of. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Electrical squalls were a continued threat last night. Torrential rain and many cloud-to-sea lightning strikes. I read somewhere that marine lightning is 95% inter-cloud, but that's not the percentage we are seeing, 60/40 cloud-cloud vs. cloud-sea. Squirrelly weather meant for many sail changes. Some drifting with winds < 5 kts. Crew showing a little fatique. 1100 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181125 0600 UTC, Day 6. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Lightning puts us on edge like not much else (piracy?). Yesterday evening the winds dropped to less than 4 kts and we started drifting. Just before midnight, with a beautiful full moon, Morgan spotted a very large cluster of squalls headed our way. In the bright silvery moonlight, the cluster was black-black with lightning tendrils. We decided to motor to escape them and then spent the next 5 hours dodging spawning electrical squalls.1060 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181124 0400 UTC, Day 5. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Good sailing conditions continue, but at slower speeds. After many downwind passages with high winds and big seas, we've rediscovered upwind sailing in light winds and calm seas, squeezing 5 kts out of 8 kts of true wind on a close reach with full sails. Several days of very light winds are forecasted by both GFS and EC, so we're planning our drifting sea-spa vacation. It is getting hotter. 95F/35C in the cabin midday. All of our hatches and portlights are covered with aluminum foil. 1140 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181123 0400 UTC, Day 4. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Great sailing weather. GFS and EC both predict diminishing winds by Sunday 11/25. If the winds go below 5 kts, we plan to drift and wait for winds, rather than motor. Too bad Tuvalu has anti-gay laws, we may have stopped otherwise. 1240 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181122 0400 UTC, Day 3. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Last night, general area winds increased as we passed to the NW of Bligh Water with its own geographic amplification, giving us 18 kts SE with seas < 1m. This gave Tumbleweed his sweetspot conditions, sailing a beam reach at 8.0 kts (hull speed) with a reefed main, full staysail, and reefed genoa...along with a big moon. As we sailed north of Fiji the winds shifted to the east and our heading shifted to the north, so we're still on a beam reach making good way. GFS and EC forecast these same wind conditions for the next several days, but the chance for rain will increase as we pass through the SPCZ. 1360 nm to go (rhumbline).

20181121 0430 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. Slow night with light winds and < 1m seas, but we didn't mind. It was an easy first night. Today the winds have been S to SE 12 kts with 1m seas. Dreamlike sailing with the Yasawas to the east and a delicious hummos sandwich and backgammon at lunch. Winds are expected to build as we pass northwest of Bligh Waters. Winds look good several days out.

20181120 0830 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Outbound Fiji. Inbound Marshall Islands. After good times and good friends in Fiji, we are thrilled to be back at sea. We had a beautiful sail from Denarau to Navula Pass, and then sailed west into a sharp sunset to make some sea room from the reefs. The winds are a bit higher than GFS and EC forecasted, while Fiji met was correct.

Docked at Denarau Marina, Fiji, waiting for favorable weather for our passage north to the Marshall Islands. Candidate departure date is 2018-11-16.

20180924 0700 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. After good times in Falaga, Fiji, we are inbound Musket Cove, west of Viti Levu, Fiji. ETA is Wednesday 0700 local at Navula Pass. We are concerned about forecasts of increasing SE winds in the vicinity of the Navula Pass on Wednesday morning.

20180901 1900 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. After good times in Savusavu and off Taveuni Island, we are now in Falaga, Fiji, anchored amongst floating limestone islets in 3 meters of turquoise water over a pure sand seabed with 300 degrees of protection from winds. The village on the seaside, reached by a 45 minute walk through the jungle, is filled with some of the friendliest people on Earth. We plan to stay here about a month.

We arrived in Savusavu, Fiji at 10:00 local time on Tuesday, July 10, 2018. Check-in with Fiji Customs, Biosecurity, etc. went smoothly with some of the friendliest government officials we've ever met. Town is filled with more friendly people and lots of supplies. Lunch at Grace Road was outstanding. We bought a 1.5 kilo fresh (alive) crab at the market that is within sight of Tumbleweed on a mooring. Suvasuva will be an excellent place to supply for our adventure around the Fijian islands.

20180707 0400 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Next destination Savusavu Fiji. After light winds last night, we've been sailing in strong winds all day, 25-30 kts. SE, combined seas 2-3 meters.With just a double reefed genoa, we have no problem approaching our hull speed, 7.8 kts. Because there have been several light squalls with winds above 30 kts, we plan to downshift to our staysail by sundown. We expect to arrive in SavuSavu either late Monday or early Tuesday. As we enter Fijian waters, we are going take the channel east of Totoya Island to preserve our easting.

20180701 0600 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Next destination Savusavu Fiji. Because of unfavorable winds and seas in Fiji, we diverted to Minerva Reef, and we're so happy that we did. Apart from avoiding the "HIGH SEAS" forecast in Fijian waters, meaning +6 meter seas, we are being mesmerized by Minerva Reef, with its beauty and history. Led by s/v Aka, we saw an ancient anchor on the reef from a centuries-past shipwreck. Ah, the sailing life.

20180627 0615 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Destination Savusavu Fiji Calmer conditions today as high pressure builds to the west of us. Winds for the last 24 hours have been 12 - 25 kts, excluding squalls. Combined seas at 2 meters, period 12 secs., manageable.

20180626 0700 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Destination Fiji. Another night & day of fantastic sailing. More squalls last night. Combined seas at 3-4 meters, period 13 secs., manageable.

20180625 00700 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Destination Fiji. Another night & day of fantastic sailing. Stays'l only last night helped us through 15 or so squalls, two with 2-minute sustained winds of 43, with gusts to 50 kts. Today was another brilliant sunny day, with a steady 25 kts., sailing at 7 kts. most of the day, with just a single reefed 110% genoa.

20180624 0100 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Destination Fiji. Slow start, but now full sails. Strong winds arrived last night. Beautiful sailing with crisp air and brilliant sun. Swell fully built and confused, 2 meters.

20180623 2030 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Destination Fiji. Adrift in very light winds, waiting for the front from the Tasman Sea to blow us to Fiji.

20180615 1830 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Preparing for passage north to Fiji via Minerva Reef. Waiting for a favorable weather window, departure likely 6/22.

20180615 1830 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Preparing for passage north to Fiji via Minerva Reef. Waiting for a favorable weather window, departure likely 6/22.

20180602 2030 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Preparing for passage north to Fiji via Minerva Reef. Waiting for a favorable weather window, departure not likely until after 06/10.

We arrived in Opua yesterday 11/5 at 13:00. NZ Customs and Biosecurity check-ins went smoothly, but we had to ditch quite a few beans. The hills surrounding Opua seem to be manicured. The marina is really nice, new and modern. Quite a few yacht-focused businesses meters away from dock. Lots of space to anchor too. Opua will be a good place to be for at least a month if not longer.

20171104 1800 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. More dolphins! We have 36nm to go to the Q dock in Opua and are busy eating the last of our delicious tropical fruit. We are really looking forward to our time in New Zealand.

20171103 1800 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. Dolphins! After a night of below ~10 kts wind and boat speed of 3-4 kts, we decided to motor for a bit to avoid missing our Sunday 11/5 target for landfall at Opua, New Zealand. We have 155nm to go, and after a few hours of motoring to get back on schedule, we plan to turn the engine off and sail in with the better wind forecast ahead of us.

20171102 2300 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. At daybreak we set about to deploy the whisker pole for the genoa, so that we could point the boat dead downwind, and immediately several problems popped up. Of these problems, all minor, the Monitor windvane power train lines had developed chafe and had to be replaced. While repairing it we lost track of time and missed the Gulf Harbor Radio SSB net. We'll be sure to post and to dial-in to GHR tomorrow.

20171101 1800 UTC. 2 POB, Douglas & Morgan, all is well. When there is brief lull, we keep thinking the winds are subsiding, but they keep roaring back. Last night we had hours of 25-30kts. This is now day 5 of good sailing winds, straight toward our destination, Opua, with an ETA of 0800 Nov. 5 local, 2 days ahead of schedule.

...

20171031 1800 UTC. 2 POB, all is well. Another spectacular day of sailing. Beautiful clouds and seas with fresh winds. Winds last night were sustained in low 30's with gusts to 40 kts, all completely comfortable ( relatively) without sail changes. Winds are beginning to back anti-clockwise gradually as forecast. We are one full day ahead of schedule, with expected landfall at Opua, Bay of Islands on Sunday Nov. 5. Special thanks to Patricia & David for the excellent Gulf Harbor Radio. Weather discussion is superb.

...

Wonderful sailing. Seas are 3m but relatively smooth with longish wavelength, so we are able to sail beam to seas, riding the ridges and troughs. Must hang on tight though. We are making record time for Tumbleweed with the help of the South Sub-tropical current, sog often +9 kts., which is above our hull speed of 7.8 kts. 740 nm to go, and we are headed straight for Opua NZ, thanks to the big blocking 1038 high east of NZ. Concerned about landfall weather on Sunday, Nov 5, our current ETA.

Wonderful sailing. Seas are 3m but relatively smooth with longish wavelength, so we are able to sail beam to seas, riding the ridges and troughs. Must hang on tight though. We are making record time for Tumbleweed with the help of the South Sub-tropical current, sog often +9 kts., which is above our hull speed of 7.8 kts. 740 nm to go, and we are headed straight for Opua NZ, thanks to the big blocking 1038 high east of NZ. Concerned about landfall weather on Sunday, Nov 5, our current ETA.

all well

Thrilled to get back onto the open seas. Looks like the 20-25 kt winds forecast for our area are here. It's what we wanted for a fresh sail, we hope it's not too much. We plan to call in to the Gulf Harbor Radio net tomorrow morning (radar interference this morning).

Moored in Tapana, Vava'u Tonga. Checked-out of Tonga and ready to set sail to Opua, NZ tomorrow, 10/28. Thrilled to get back onto the open seas.

Moored in Port of Refuge, Vava'u Tonga. Preparing to set sail to Opua, NZ on 10/28.

We are still in the Vava'u island group, Tonga, having fun and preparing for our passage to New Zealand, with a target departure date of November 1, 2017.

We're planning our passage to Opua, New Zealand, targeting November 1, 2017 for departure from the Vava'u Group in Tonga.

In La Paz, Mexico, finishing up preparation for our passage to French Polynesia in March, 2017