We left the island of Ua Pou yesterday afternoon, bound for the Tuamotos. Our current target is the atoll of Raroia, the island that Thor Heyerdal's Kon Tiki ended it's journey on. We had westerly winds at first, but for more than 15 hours, we've had to motor. The weather forecasts call for increasing winds from the south east---we've just turned off the motor and are making about 4 knots in a light southeasterly breeze. We covered 106 miles in the first 24 hours---where are those trade winds when we need them?

This morning, we passed Avatar, a Spanish sailboat also headed for Raroia, but under sail only and only making about 1 to 2 knots. They are low on fuel, and they asked if we had weather information. Our weather information told us that by 11 degrees south, we should have up to 10 knots of southeast wind, we've essentially been motorsailing to the start of the wind.

At Ua Pou, the friendly gendarme had no trouble extending Bruce's visa for another month, in case it is needed.