We have arrived safely to Neiafu, Tonga from Suwarrow after a five and a half day passage plagued with problems. From the get-go, the passage was off to a rough start. With seas in disarray and winds gusting over 35 kts, even Captain Dave resorted to seasickness meds as a precautionary measure knowing he needed to be at his best, while Rob, unfortunately, succumbed to his first ever bout of seasickness. And that was just the first night.

Then halfway through the passage on day three, in unyielding 20-30 kts "breezes", the tiller armature to the main auto pilot - thick, welded hefty aluminum - broke off, necessitating jury-rigging up the emergency tiller. Picture David strapped on, head in the transom starboard engine compartment, waves pounding, me handing down tools while Eric struggled with hand-steering an unhappy helm. Not quite what I had signed on for. Next up, in the commotion of readjusting sails to accommodate the back-up autopilot (thanks to spares!), the main halyard wrapped around the steaming light housing which sent Eric climbing up the mast, in the trashing waves, to free it. As he safely descended and I managed a brief exhale, we discovered that we had not secured the preventer line which first stalled and then subsequently fouled the starboard prop. We also lost our wind instruments and depth readings; now we could only guess at the speed of the howling winds.

The boat itself was beginning to look as bad as we all felt. The cockpit had been unusable for days as the cushions were drenched through from the breaking waves. The plastic enclosure was impotent against the unrelenting blasts of wind which pulled the snaps from their bases eliminating any barrier at all to the wind and waves. Inside, our sofa made for two became our indoor huddle and, ultimately, Robert's new bed after hatches leaks on the port side, dousing his and Eric's berths. I was grateful that I had prepared ahead days worth of meals and treats as cooking became down-right dangerous. We ate meals crammed around the small table, plates on silicone trivets to secure them in place. We tried to nap off and on, exhausted from the nights of abysmal sleep disrupted by watch schedules and, well, being just generally tossed about. The square footage of bruises on my body quickly increased, a sea-battered wife. While providing only validation not consolation, even the guys said it was pretty much "the worst passage ever", especially given our equipment failures.

Somehow, with prays, patience and the use of only one engine and one rudder, we ended up limping into Neiafu after midnight on a cool, dark moonless night, exhausted from the edgy alertness and hyper vigilance the final 60 hours had required. Even at this hour, or maybe because of it, we had our customary arrival-ritual beers, finally allowing ourselves to toast two milestones achieved during this passage: reaching the 10,000 mile mark since departing Naples and crossing the date line which occurs here at Tonga.

After sleeping in a bit Sunday morning, we set out cleaning up the cockpit so that we could enjoy our Sunday brunch in this gorgeous Fall-like weather. Since we could not deal with finding a welder until Monday, next up was laundry to get these guy's bunks back in shape. David took that last sip of his coffee, grabbed an armload of soggy sheets, blankets and mattress covers, and loaded up the washer. Privately down in the head, as I heard his dreaded words, those crocodile tears that I had successfully suppressed all week suddenly gave way as I realized "the worst passage ever" had also wrecked the washing machine.

Safely here and looking forward to Tonga for sure, but I am also counting-down.......Seven weeks until my boat break.