A life on the ocean waves

Position: 33 57S 173 05E, 30nm NE of North Cape, the NW tip of New Zealand Speed 6 knots, course 150T Distance to go: 99 miles It's  3.30am  and I'm hoping this is my last night watch for a while.  I have just put a big cross through the "100 miles" box on our whiteboard, which is a good visual reminder of how far we have come.  The passage was 930 miles in a straight line, but we have sailed rather further. Some of the miles have been pretty easy, and some of them have been hard fought, especially those that we had to sail twice due to drifting backwards when we were hove-to for nine hours..  The past 24 hours have been a bit of an effort, as there was much less west than we had hoped for in the forecast southwesterly wind.  It was pretty much a southerly.  So we have been hard on the wind all day, which in 20+ knots and 2-3m waves, has been somewhat tippy and bumpy.   In the old days, Jack would have been in crawling mode on a day like today, but not any more.  Our

Day seven at sea.  Distance to Opua 315 miles. Position 31 02S, 170 00E Wind SSW 14 knots, speed 6 knots, full sails, course 135T, swell 2m Well, the last couple of days on Victoria have been absolutely action packed.  The half way cake ended up rather solid due to the arrival of dolphins while I was in the middle of softening some butter on the hob.  We all rushed up on deck to see some very small and beautiful creatures a few boat lengths from us.  They were very shy - maybe because Victoria was pootling along so slowly that we didn't look any fun to swim with - and they didn't come close at all.  We thought the show was over and then they started playing 100m or so from us, leaping clean out of the water at the top of the waves, in a sort of twisting flip, one after the other.  We watched, enthralled, for the few minutes that the show lasted, and then as quickly as they had arrived, they were gone.  The butter, meanwhile, had become a boiling liquid, so the cake turned out a

Day five at sea 29 48S 167 44E, speed 3 knots under sail, course 135T, distance to Opua 465nm This trip is flying by, even though we are not exactly getting the miles under our belt in the right direction at the moment.  We have a whiteboard with miles to go, and days on passage, and the children take great delight in putting a big cross through a day every morning, and a mile-marker every 25 miles.  We have just passed 465 miles to go, which marks half of the total distance, and are going to make a cake for afternoon happy hour in celebration.  We have actually sailed rather further than 465 miles to get to where we are now, but that's ocean sailing for you.  We are hoping we have put ourselves in a good place for the weather ahead of us, and a good wind angle for part two of the passage.  The second half of the trip should be faster and in a straighter line, hopefully.  We've heard there's a big rugby game here  on saturday evening , so will try to be in for that. Ri

Position 26 54 S  166 46E, motoring at 5.5 knots, wind SSE 5 knots. course 175, swell 1.5m Distance to Opua, NZ: 660nm Hello from a very relaxed ship, ghosting its way south through a calm, kind, blue, gently rolling ocean.  Today is day three at sea; we are already over 48 hours into our passage back to New Zealand.  Things on board are great - the boat is pretty flat, the sun is shining, and the crew are all happy.  OK, so there are still a few inter-child disagreements, but so far, it is unlike any other passage we have done; no-one has been sick, or peed in their bed, and we are neither heeled over nor being tossed about by waves.  It won't be like this the whole way - the last few hundred miles may be a bit of a rollercoaster ride - but we're enjoying every single mile of these conditions.  We've managed to sail quite a bit, despite the light winds, but have had to motor for most of today. We've had two fishing lines out the back all day, but no strikes yet, and it

Position 23 13 S  166 16E, motoring at 5.1 knots, almost no wind.. course 175, swell <0.5m Distance to Opua, NZ: 870nm We cast off our lines and bid a fond farewell to New Caledonia yesterday afternoon.  We have loved the country so much.  Undoubtedly, it has some political troubles, which will be ongoing for some years, as they have two more planned Independence referendums.  As a place to visit, and especially to sail, it has been fantastic, and we don't really want to leave.  Our amazing few months in the South Pacific islands have drawn to a close and we have set sail for New Zealand, where our adventure will continue during the southern hemisphere summer.  "Safe passage, don't sink!" cried the children with big smiles as they waved merrily to other boats as they left the marina.   So far, two boats have sunk on their passages south, neither of which we knew, but both of whom we crossed paths with in Fiji and Vanuatu.  The first was a large motorboat, who were

Current position: Port Moselle Marina, Noumea, New Caledonia, 22 16.8E, 166   25.9E Places visited since previous (very, very long ago) update: Ilot Ua                                    22 42.4S   166 48.5E Ilot Maitre                               22 19.8S   166 24.5E                          Amedee Island                        22 28.5S   166 27.8E Ilot Atire                                 22 31.6S   166 33.5E Baie de la Tortue, Ouen           22 27.4S   166 46.7E Baie de Yate                             22 09.2S   166 56.3E Doueoulou, Lifou                     20 55.3S   167 04.9E Port Sandwich / Port Vila / Mele Bay, Vanuatu Ahoy from the Good Ship Victoria!   Life has been non-stop for the past few weeks, first with our passage from Vanuatu to New Caledonia, and then with the arrival of my sister, Rosie, who we were lucky enough to have on board for a couple of weeks.   Naturally, we were all so excited to have her with us, that the pace of