[password] Ridingmore
[position] 17 42.1S 154 57W
[weather]N 10-14 knots from 300 degrees
[status] The first 24 hours complete, and we have calm seas and light winds, perfect for us to slice through as we make progress across the trough of low pressure that stands between us and the SE trade winds. Its not nearly as fast as the perfect conditions we had for the first few hours yesterday, but good speed is being made anyway. The winds should drop shortly, and we'll likely have to turn the motor on this afternoon as we transition through the trough, but in the mean time we're rocking along in perfect conditions. Overnight we had consistent 15-25 knots on the beam, and now we have 10-15 knots on a tight reach.

Everyone got a bit of sleep last night, but the first night is always tough, so the coffee was definitely appreciated this morning. Tuna for lunch, and probably dinner too, num num!

It looks like we had about a 20 mile head start on friends of ours on the boat 'Bacchus', who left from Bora Bora yesterday, so it'll be awesome knowing there's friends of ours just over the horizon, transiting this piece of the Pacific as well. We'll try tag them on the VHF if we can, and maybe share some crossing-the-international-date-line scones and tea with them!

Alls going well on Patea, and everyone is happy, and mostly sleeping!

Team Patea signing off
[END]