Both Melody and I want to thank a number of you for your recent comments on our posts about this current passage to New Zealand. Although we do not have internet access while at sea, we do get emails from Sailblogs that tell us your comments, emails that we receive with our SSB radio. In particular, the comment from Ian Macrea is right on �- this passage is infamous for dishing it out and we are in fact, quite fortunate to be experiencing the motoring side of the spectrum rather than the batten-down-the-hatches-and-hold-on-for-dear-life end that this passage is known for.

Lisa Danger also commented on how it was looking like we might have a good weather window for the crossing. She should know �- she and her guy John did this crossing last year and got the crap beat out of them and their boat Orcinius. If I understand my last correspondence with John, he is in Whangerie right now, supervising the remaining repairs on their boat, a Lagoon 440 similar to ours. We hope to see him in the next few weeks and compare notes.

The night before we embarked on this passage, we had the opportunity to have dinner and drinks with a group of Aussies and Kiwis who among them in total have made this crossing probably 20 or 30 times, maybe more. They chuckled about how the American sailors seem to sit around their potluck dinners and endlessly fret about this crossing. But then they all admit to having been pounded on it at least once. They did seem to have some good advice, though.

1. Get to know the weather patterns of how the high pressures systems move from Australia east to New Zealand. Timing the movement of these highs �- and timing the movement of the right kind of high pressure system - is key to a successful crossing. 2. Have the patience to wait for a good weather window. Don�'t get in a rush and pick one that�'s marginal. 3. Don�'t hesitate when it does look right. Drop everything and go. Now! 4. Take the advice of Bob McDavitt, the local sailing weather guru with a grain of salt. He�'s past his prime (their opinion).

Lisa Hegna, my dear sister, asks what�'s next. Well�... Good question. Yes, we plan to be home for Thanksgiving �- your house this year? But besides that, there are a lot of details to fill in.

The first detail is that before we leave New Zealand, we plan to list Double Diamond for sale. This has been our plan all along and now we need to follow through with it �- or at least try. This means that in the next few weeks, we will be scrambling to make the mostly minor repairs she needs (fingers crossed on the �"minor�" part �- this passage is not over with yet!) and catch up on all the maintenance stuff �- oil and filter changes, waxing and polishing the hulls, cleaning the stainless and the like. The other big task is to empty all our personal stuff out of the boat and put it in storage. Why? An empty boat simply shows better.

If we are unable to sell DD for a reasonable price, then we will return to New Zealand in their fall (spring in Kirkland) and spend another season sailing the South Pacific, this time ending up in Australia. Or maybe we�'ll just sail home. That�'s all yet to be decided �- we have lots of time to figure it out. If it in fact the boat does sell, we will return to New Zealand anyway. All that stuff we plan to put in storage needs to be liquidated or put in a shipping container and sent home. The other detail is that we very much want to see New Zealand and would use this time to travel around it.

But before all of that can unfold�... we need to get there. And we�'re close �- less than 100 miles to go.

Position: 33.46.002S :175.13.172E Course: 219T Boat Speed: 6.8 knots (motor sailing) Wind Speed: 10 knots Wind Direction: WSW Temperature: 60F Skies: Cloudy Barometer: 1021 steady Miles to Opua: 99