The wind backed off a bit this morning, back to 13-17 knots now. It's amazing how quickly the seas calm back down when the wind abates. Now we have a gentle, long period swell from the south and perfect winds for moving fast along the tops of them. We'll cross the halfway point between Tonga and Brisbane, Australia today - only 950 miles to go, then! At present, we're a little more than a hundred miles south of New Caledonia and have decided to bypass it and continue on straight to Australia. Our weather router has us moving south now to skirt around a trough hanging out around 170E, and forecasts that we'll get another bout of stronger winds for a day or two at the end of this week, but then it should subside as we cross the Coral Sea. The forecast he sent doesn't show anything stronger than what we've seen already, which is good to know.