We have now completed six days at sea and covered nearly 1,200 miles with 1,900 to go. Pretty uneventful really and we got a good transition through the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (what sailors call the ITCZ) and others the Doldrums) with days of 166 and 172 miles covered before we got to around 4 degrees south and the SE trade winds - then started piling on the miles with a best day of 214 miles. Yesterday a crash gybe in the early hours of a dark and wet night caused some minor damage that was easily repaired. But today back in the sunshine, moonlight nights and the rolling South Pacific with nothing over 20 knots so far.

We did have some excitement a couple of days ago when late afternoon Pam sighted a white sail on the horizon ahead of us. They did not show up on the AIS or respond to VHF calls. Several hours later around 2200 hrs the VHF came to life with the yacht Oynas calling us as we were 800 metre to leeward by which time they had their AIS on. After a bit of chat we were asked if our call sign was NZ. When replying in the affirmative and asking as to their flag the reply was we are from the Manawatu! Small world and no other sign of life seen since apart from two Mahi Mahi we have landed. We are sailing quite a bit faster than their Elan 41 but will no doubt catch up with them in the Marquesas.

Yannick the famous French chef (and sailor) on board turned the first Mahi Mahi into Poisson Cru (very scrumptious) and the second is fillets tonight.

All well onboard and the usual maintenance at sea keeps us busy some days. Keep the emails coming with news - our own stories will run out soon. We did hear about Ponytailgate!

Cheers
Keith & Pam