[password] pilot25041
[position] 28 54.9s 178 22.1e
[status] Friday 19th October late morning & we're still heading south with all haste, having made good speed for the last 24hrs since our previous blog & currently doing 9kts in 20kts breeze direct to our target of Whangarei!

Not a lot of activity has been done over the last 24hrs, same sail plan, same heading, slight variations in course as the wind moves around, a bit of sail trimming here or there, but generally same as ..... still champagne sailing! We saw one other yacht yesterday Ganesh/Capt Fatty, he called us up on the radio as we sped past and is heading for Opua. We've had a problem with our cockpit wind instrument failing overnight, Barry found a loose connection on the inside wind instrument (the master) which he's managed to tighten, and although the one at the helm works most of the time, is still occasionally intermittent.

We had the last of the Spanish Mackerel Dirk caught for dinner last night, with chips & peas, which again went down well with the crew, who are all on fine form as the sea is 'fairly' calm. Tony cooked Pikelets (Scottish Pancakes) last night, apparently a NZ delicacy and again these were scrummy, the chefs will need to be inspired over the next few days as we gradually empty the freezer and fridges ready for the strict NZ Biosecurity inspection once we get to Whangarei and Marsden Cove.

The gribs show a large 'no wind' area for the last part of our voyage, but we should have wind until late tomorrow before we need to motor, currently we have more wind than the gribs show ...... not that we are complaining! Again we'll update daily on our progress and ETA 'home'!

Position 11.00nzt. 24hr run 174nm. DTG 462nm.

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