They say all good things must end, and so the time has come for us to leave New Caledonia and make our way to Australia. While this is about a week or so earlier than we would have wanted to leave, the weather dictates sailing passages and after lots of discussion with our weather router for this passage (Bruce Buckley), and considering input from other sources (Met Bob, Gulf Harbour Radio, etc) we have elected to go now given the settled weather.

The first half of our first day out saw great sailing with 18-20kts of tue wind from the east, allowing us to sail comfortably downwind at 7kts. The swell was from the SE, putting it on our rear quarter. Our first hick-up came when the wind shifted slightly to the ESE, moving our apparent wind forward such that it was time to take down the screacher. While we were furling it, we managed to tear a panel in the head, taking that sail out of play for the rest of the passage. Then around 9PM, the winds went light, forcing us to start motoring. We motored all night, through a few rain showers - which unfortunately brought no accompanying wind. This morning the winds finally started to fill in, although we still haven't seen 10kts of true wind yet. It has moved southerly so, we have put up sails and are motor-sailing at 5kts or so.

Cindy and I are listening to the new Bill Clinton and James Patterson book, "The President is Missing" , the skies are clear, and the sea-state is only about a meter, still on the aft quarter, so all things considered a comfortable day at sea. We were originally hoping to do this passage in 6 days, but with the light winds, we are now hoping to get to Bundaberg in 7 days. I'll do my best to get a post out each day so you can follow along with our progress.