After an interlude of a month during which my first grandchild joined the world, Zephyr is back at sea headed for Nelson Bay in Australia. The crew for this leg is Micky St Aldwyn, James Willis (from UK) and two Australian sailors, Bruce baker and Alison Graham who were introduced to us by Paul Jackson. We all got together yesterday and thanks to the efforts of Herve Moal of Noumea Yacht Services, the boat was in good shape and we only had to focus on the all important trips to the supermarket.

New Caledonia benefits from being a French colony and everything that you can buy in Carrefour in Paris is available here.

The competitive spirit for 'cook of the passage' is in full swing and was started by Alison producing some delicious wraps for lunch before we set of. We fueled up and are now motoring through the islands around Noumea . The forecast was for 15-20kts but we are already seeing 30+ so it could be a lively first couple of days, with some nice quieter days in the middle and possibly building up again near the Australian coast.

It is wonderful to be back at sea and this will probably be the longest stretch we will do for some time, since we inted to leave Zephyr in Nelson Bay until March and then to ship her back to the Mediterranean, where my co-owner, Michael Grade, will finally have an opportunity to enjoy her.

Antipodean ribbing is already de rigueur and at this stage the Poms seem to be getting most of it! The picture shows waves breaking over the reef surrounding Noumea as we passed through the entrance.