After a two-week hiatus back in White Rock catching up at the office, I returned to Hilo where the crew was already aboard, awaiting final preparations and departure.

The next morning involved a quick trip in the bo'sun's chair up to the top of the mast to check all the standing rigging to ensure that there are no obvious cracks or defects as a result of the trip down, lashing the dinghy and the outboard motor on the foredeck as well as securing the anchors and plugging the hauser holes to prevent flooding in the forward anchor lockers, after which we eventually got underway mid-day.

I wish I could say that our our departure was auspicious, but unfortunately it was marred by a major case of "Mal de la mer" affecting the entire crew. No sooner having left the sheltered port of Hilo into the Pacific swells within two hours we were succumbed!

There's an old saying that the sailor who's never been seasick has never met his personal seas Yet I had always prided myself on having an "Iron gut", but I must admit that I was one of the worst affected.

It did not help that we had a failure with the front jib furler necessitating the need to work in the pulpit for an hour and a half in plunging seas with water washing over the bow in an attempt to untangle the furler before dark. With Herculean efforts by Kevin Dean and John Naylor, the job was done but not without a major expenditure of energy.

With each day our sea legs are returning, and at 400 miles north of Hilo at this time we are continuing to enjoy the fine weather and laying around in the cockpit in shorts and bare feet. We are making our way slightly northwest to get to the outside of the high and find ourselves working through lines of squalls, particularly at night where wind gusts can be up to 35 kn with spray and seas washing into the cockpit.

It is critical even though the winds may be light at dark to ensure that marginal sail is aloft, even if it means that we must suffer loss of speed at night, in order to prepare ourselves for the inevitable sudden squalls that come upon us that would otherwise make the boat quite unstable.

Come morning, the sky seems to miraculously clear and fresh breezes of 15-20 kn come out of the Northeast and we continue to make our way northwest at a stately pace of 6.5 - 7 kn.

The crew is now all getting used to life aboard and settling into the tasks each day necessary for running the ship. Everyone is pulling together nicely and with three engineers on board, I'm getting a fair briefing of the electronics and electrical systems aboard and expect if we face any difficulties, we shall not be amiss for technical talent to address the problem.

And other than the brief pothole at the start of our trip, we are off to a good beginning!