From the Captain...

I'm sitting in the heat in Raitrea and the decision has been made that I'm going on to New Zealand and not exercising the other options that were available. I have to clear French Polynesia in a week because my visa expires, so I head for the Cook Islands and then Tonga, in basically two 5 day hops. After that it's island hopping to Fiji, than hanging around until mid October for the final leg to NZ. Then find a marina, work on the boat, probably fly home for Christmas for a month or 2, come back to NZ and,with crew, sail home.

That exercise will, I figure, be in three legs. NZ to Tahiti (3 weeks of getting beaten up), some cruising around here, then Tahiti to Hawaii (3 weeks) with a couple weeks at most there, then 3 weeks to Vancouver Island. If I leave NZ after mid March, I get here around April - but I shouldn't leave here until about June 1 -- so there's an opportunity for some cruising time in Fr. Polynesia if one wishes to avoid the long hauls. Alternatively, time spent in New Zealand might be fun as well. So, if you wish to book some time, proceed to plot - I don't think I need to know until say Christmas. I will be posting a request for crew and see what I get for each of the three hops. Apparently crew is generally not a problem as people are looking for the experience etc. See what happens.

I think I outlined the diving I did, the only other thing was time spent with a mechanic trying to find the cause of the noise that haunts me - without any success. The engine etc. "looks" fine - I just hope there's nothing seriously wrong that won't wait until NZ. Getting fuel from the main fuel tank may be a challenge - I think I may have to cut in the fuel pump I had your Mom bring so I can pump into a gerry can and put that into the keel tanks and run the engine from there - seems to work. Then there's the main water tank that seems to have a leak so it's empty and not in use. I've bought a couple of 20 l jugs and I'm trusting I won't have a problem with the short hops before NZ. That's about it. Take care.

Dad

Anyway, moving on.

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At 31/07/2011 6:29 AM (utc) our position was 16°43.64'S 151°28.76'W