18th March 2019

We sailed through the night in light winds, and as predicted Gisborne was abeam of us before dawn. The wind eased and backed to the extent that we started the diesel again and we have been motor-sailing or dare I say motor-idling as it only required about 1500 rpm to get the wind to hold the sails even though there was no more than 6kts across the deck we were doing an easy 6.5kts boat speed. In the afternoon the wind has freshened and we are currently sailing doing 7-8kts in a wonderful sunny afternoon. We have been delighted by a large pod of dolphins that came to play for quite a while. East Cape is clearly in our sights and we should start rounding it in an hour or so that will necessitate running dead down wind then jibing.

The entire country seems covered in the this high with light winds all the way down to the Auckland Islands. We fortunately are on the correct side experiencing Southerlies while the west coast is having Northerlies.`````

Spirits are high as we enjoy these lovely sailing conditions

See accompanying picture of some of the dolphins that came to play with us for the afternoon.