AND THEY'RE OFF! We had a 1030 rally start from Opua Marina. It was pretty fun; there were about 35 cruising boats weaving in and out of the boats on the moorings positioning for a start across the yacht club pier. We were headed into the wind trying to get our mainsail up when a 65ft. boat attempted to cut in front of us at the gun. I held my course and made her think better of it! She was sleek and glamorous, but we're the "Little Boat That Could!"

It was a splendid day; bright, clear, turquoise skies framed by cotton ball cumulus on the horizons. I am so happy to be cut free from the dock lines! Boats are not made to sit in marinas having their bottoms assaulted by crustaceans. We were escorted out of the bay by dolphins for over two hours. Large bottlenose wove across our bow for about 3 miles, then, we were picked up by playful spinners swimming on their sides looking up and smiling at Abbey and playing "pass the strand of seaweed."

The winds are light and variable. After the storm went through last night, they can't figure out where they want to come from. We tried all kinds of sail configurations while they clocked around 360 and only blew 3-5 knts. The seas are still big and rolly giving us a "bucking" ride. Most of the boats took off with the hammer down, but we purists insist on sail power! It takes a while to get back in the rhythm of passage making, especially when it is rough to start. I managed to cook lunch and dinner underway. Clint and I are pretty exhausted though after working on the boat day and night. Now that Joel and Colin aren't here, the watches fall to us. We let Abbey take the 9-12 watch last night and she did great! One of the big negatives of traveling with a rally is that there are a lot of boats around at night. We had one close call during Clint's and my watch change at 3 am. We were on an obtuse heading with another boat that was under power while we were under sail. We had our main tied out with a preventer and were as far off as we could. They kept their course and we barely cut across their bow. That's no fun at night especially because it is really hard to judge distance of running lights and hard to discern correct angles. Another scary phenomenon that happens out here is the presentation of rising and setting planets. There is a certain point that they get off the horizon and suddenly appear like a bright mast light heading straight for you! It's freaky and takes a few runs of tachycardia before figuring out that it is a heavenly body and not a crash target. We're trying to keep a heading so we can stop at Minerva Reef again on our way. We hope to get there and take a break for a day or two. Remember, we love to hear from you too! TONGA BOUND, Janet, Clint, and Abbey.