[p]pjr4728
[s]
pos: 35 18.9s 174 17.3w
sp: 0
h: 0t
w: 12-20kn NW, cloud 7/8, SS 1-1.5m SSW
d: 03/11/20 12.42 GMT+1300
Well we have made it to Opua, covering 2,393nm over ground (2,589nm on log) from Huahine, in 18 days 3 hrs and 12 minutes.

Day 13 (145.2nm) was really superb sailing and a great day for catching Vitamin D. Even with one reef in to look after our bamboom, we were still clipping along at 6.5kts sog in 13 kts apparent wind. At night however, the chill was starting to get noticeable - the skipper even had to break out his 40 year old blue and pink homemade pile romper suit!

Day 14 (142nm) saw flatter seas and more awesome sailing...We passed into the Eastern hemisphere and clicked over less than 500 miles to go.

Day 15 (129.2nm) continued with a stonking breeze and commensurate speed (for us!) in the afternoon - until the wind died around dusk. We persevered slopping around until the early hours, then fired up the donkey, old Perky. The following morning the wind rose a little, to 8-10kn, and moved dead aft on our desired course. With current clearly against, we bit the bullet and hauled up that big colourful sail that has been lurking in the back of a locker for 10 years! Yup, not only the first time we had hauled the spinnaker up in the 30k miles since we left NZ, but (he say's sheepishly), for the first time ever! A bit of a revelation given the added speed even sans engine!, why oh why hadn't we tried this earlier??!!

Day 16 (116.4nm) was more of the same...Little wind in the afternoon, so time for the spinnaker again- but dropping too much to fly it later on, so overnight motoring it was (14 mind-numbing hours in all!)

Day 17 (110nm) got us pondering how bad is Chinese Water Torture? We imagined the 'drip, drip, drip' must be similar to watching the speedo, and the DTG countdown, when you have not far to go, no wind, up to a knot of current against - and a donkey that makes Sancho Panza's look like a thoroughbred racehorse. Our Perky, of course, is that in name only and was driving Windchase along like a slow-moving sloth from Slowsville, Kentucky.
We were somewhat grateful however, as the boats behind us were being subject to the Polynesian version, with the difference being that theirs inflicts its torture with a lot more water in a lot less time. Their torrid tales of tropical torrents certainly made us grateful. There were other causes to hope too, with the apparent wind ticking up to 3kn in the afternoon...so it was time to break out our new favorite sail again...and a great excuse from tidying-up for the skipper too!

Day 18 (134nm) was a mixed bag, with the promised increase in wind from behind failing to materialise until late. We did break out the spinnaker again, but dropped it by evening and poled out the genoa - and even though we had Perky ticking over, again we were still losing over a knot of boat speed to adverse current at times.

A beautiful red dawn heralded the first sight of NZ - Cape Brett. Kind of poetic, given our friend Brett started this journey with us! At around 0815 we crossed the track that we took when making (our) maiden voyage on Windchase, when delivering her from Auckland to the South Island, back in 2010. As such, I guess it might be said that we had just made our circumnavigation, albeit an extended one! However, we'll be saving the bubbly and bunting for a few weeks (and about 700nm) more - when we cross our track when leaving Nelson for New Caledonia with Brett and Sam in 2018!

Despite being extremely sober as we approached landfall, the end of the genoa sheet decided to deposit itself overboard while beng 'tidied', just as the mainsail was being dropped a few hundred metres from the Opua channel marker. Not embarrassing in itself, but it quickly became so, when said sheet immediately wrapped itself very firmly around the prop. Bloody amateurs - who would think that they could have sailed around the world?! We quickly hoisted the mainsail again, put a quick call into Customs to get their for permission to anchor before the Q dock, and we sailed off to find a quiet spot out of the 20kn breeze, so the skipper could head overboard and cut it free. The water temperature was certainly a step down from the tropics! Another 20 minutes later and we were safely docked. Since our arrival we have already had health, customs and MPI come and visit and within a further 20 minutes had been spirited off for the required Covid test.
We are currently in a separate fenced off area from the others because of Mili..She will get picked up tomorrow and taken to her posh hotel for a wee quarantine holiday. The crew are looking forward to some undisturbed sleep in the meantime, although given they are now both firmly in the habit of 3hrs on/3hrs off, doubtless this will probably take longer than you may think!

All in all we feel we have been pretty lucky with the weather window for this passage, which despite it's occasional excitement and extended quiet periods, had us avoid the worst of the potential weather that can afflict the route - The poor rear-guard of NZ-bound yachts behind us have experienced some of that - and look potentially set for more...One more reason we are very grateful to be here!

TTFN
Paul, Sue and Mili

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