We recently took a week off from boatyards in New Zealand and flew across the Tasmen Sea to Australia. We went to visit our friend, Keith Bushnell, who has a magnificent property on Kangaroo Island, located south of Adelaide. Each year, he organizes a little party to celebrate Matthew Flinders birthday. Flinders is the one who voyaged and did much early charting of South Australia. It seems that Captain Flinders first set foot on Kangaroo Island on Keith's property, so we all took a walk over to the cairn to remember and honor him.

Thu, Dec 15, 2011:	AMBRYM - VANUATU - A few days ago we were on the island of Ambrym, which is famous for its wood carvings and for its two active volcanoes that each have a lava lake. It's quite an exotic and primitive scene to be on the anchor at night and see the two towering volcanoes glow red. The lava lake reflects on the clouds that form as the gasses escape and make for quite a show. When we were on Ambrym three years ago, there were no roads and no cars, and the volcanoes were off limits to hikers during October through December because the chiefs feared it might bring bad luck to the yam harvest. Yams are very big in this culture and certain rituals are performed to try to ensure a good harvest. Well, now there are two trucks in the village and rough roads made from the locals clearing some bush by hand with axes and bush knives. The chiefs have decided that the yam gods won't mind if they collect some money by selling tours to see the lava lake. Last time we were told that it was an overnight trip...first to hike up and over the caldera, then across the ash plains and finally up to the crater's rim. Well, this year we were told that it is now a one hour truck ride and then just a one hour walk. We thought this sounded a bit unreasonable for the distance, so asked a few people and they all agreed it was a one hour hike. The Ni-Vanuatu people, as most island folk do not have the same sense...or any real sense of time....and why should they?? There life style certainly does not demand it, until they start dealing with the Europeans. It had not even crossed my mind to undertake this climb, especially as Commodore does not like to hike. So, I was quite surprised when he announced that he wanted to hike up to see the lava lake, now that it was only one hour to reach the summit. Well, you may know that Commodore is a very slow walker, and I guess it is good that he paces himself but I find it very frustrating as my pace is much faster. So, given the local sense of time, we figured it might take twice as long to reach the crater's rim. However, it took us FIVE hours going up and THREE hours walking back to the truck. The lava lake was quite a spectacle. The lava slushes around like the ocean on a rocky shore, sometimes crashing out of the hole and continuously howling like a storm at sea. On our ascent, we walked for maybe five miles across the ash plains before working our way up the crater. We walked for about an hour through a mostly dry gully that had rocks, sand and a few odd pools of fresh water from the last rain. As we worked our way upwards, we could see rain clouds coming across the plain towards us. It rained a bit near the top, but stopped long enough for a few photographs. However, on our descent, the storm broke loose with crashing thunder that shook the ground along with a deluge. Maybe the yam gods were upset after all.......As we continued down through the gully towards the plains, the rain quickly filled the gully and now we were tramping through a small river. This certainly changed the appearance of everything and also served to keep us cool. It would have been blistering hot had we not had both cloud cover and rain. So we enjoyed the downward walk back to the truck, walking under large umbrellas and finally arrived back to the boat around 6pm. As we had rowed ashore at 5am to meet up with the truck, it was certainly a very long day. Ambrym is a special place for us and it was our second visit. We left Ambrym about a week ago, sailed back to Santo/Luganville for a few days and are now back in Port Vila. It took us about thirty hours to cover 160 miles from Santo to Vila and was a beautifully mellow sail. We are enjoying Port Vila and will stay through the weekend then clear out on Monday and head over to New Zealand. We might stop at the Isle of Pines along the way. It is 300 miles from Port Vila and from all reports is a gorgeous place. Once we leave the Isle of Pines it is about 830 miles to New Zealand, which should take us around one week for the passage.

Sun, Sep 25, 2011:	Hello from Vanuatu We are on the move and sailed twenty miles yesterday from Vanua Lava to Gaua Island in the northern Banks Group. The trades were doing their thing 15-25 knots and the seas that go with it. The anchorage on the northern shore of Gaua is found in a narrow break in the reef. It was pretty exciting as the seas were breaking heavily all around and the chart was 1.5 miles off on the location of the entrance. When we eventually found the entrance to the east, we dropped and stowed our sails and started heading into the pass. It was right around this time that our spinlock gear lever went beserk and when Commodore tried to shift it got stuck in reverse!! I took the boat offshore bare headed in the wind, while he figured out how to get us into forward gear, as the sun was getting lower and lower in the western sky. By the time we got inside it was impossible to see through the water to look out for rocks and coral heads. Luckily, a local noticed our strange movements and paddled out in his canoe to lead us to a good place to drop our anchor. This morning Commodore was able to fix the spinlock gear shifter so I think we're back in business. More soon

Sun, Sep 4, 2011:	UTUPUA to ANUTA We spent the past three nights anchored in the center of Utupua....a sublime/divine anchorage, completely protected from any sea and wonderfully circular being inside an ancient volcanic caldera.....I just loved it there! The other three places we anchored were near various villages amidst the coral and within easy distance of the fringing reef. It was lovely being close to the villages so we could interact with the locals and spend time in their villages. The pace of life is slow and easy. However, we also enjoy our solitude from time to time and this is one of the nicest anchorages we've seen. We finally got away around 1500 hours this afternoon and are heading 200 miles east to Anuta, an island only about half a mile long and three tenths of a mile wide. It is inhabited by around 200 people of Polynesian descent and if we make it there, we will be only the third boat to visit in three years. They will pick us up in their outrigger canoes and ride through the surf to the beach. We hear that custom and life style there has not changed much in the past hundred years. This should be a very interesting stop and if conditions remained settled we will be able to visit. As it is such a small island, there would not be enough protection from sea and swell in a big breeze. From Anuta it is about 75 miles to Tikopia. There is a half moon overhead, the sun has gone down and the winds are 10-15 knots. We are sailing with the #3 jib and one reef, close hauled.

Sun, Aug 28, 2011:	Hi there It is now four days on and the wind is still blowing fresh here in Utupua. Yesterday we considered moving to a better anchorage, but those blasts of 25-30 knots kept up on the hook even though on a not very distant lee shore. The fathometer read a minimum of ten meters but the visible edge of the coral was on the order of less than two boat lengths away. The saving grace in this anchorage is that the wind did not shift into the south. Had it done so, we would have been driven off. At 0900 this morning, we set about recovering our anchors. The good news was that neither anchor was lodged in the coral. We were fortunate enough to have a local help us move clockwise around the island about four or five miles from Nembao to a new village and new anchorage on the lee side of the island. Presently, our anchors are down in seven meters and their are fourteen meters under the boat. The two anchors are about sixty degrees apart and seem quite effective in preventing sailing around in the williwaws which still beset us. When we anchored, these gusts were quite fierce, in the high twenties. Presently, the situation seems to have subsided and gusts are peaking around eighteen knots. Unlike the previous anchorage, this one feels small swell wrapping around from the northwest, despite being inside the reef. Both Nancy and I are greatly relieved to be away from that very close lee shore. This village, Aveka, is a Tikopian settlement. We took a walk to check out the village in the cool of the afternoon. It has two streams exiting into the lagoon and a strip of very traditional thatch houses along a broad walkway, parallelling the beach. This village is at the same time nicely organized, geometrical, spacious and spotlessly clean. In our walk I saw only two pieces of plastic. Interestingly enough, these people have been supplied with small solar panels, so these very attractive and otherwise primitive looking houses all have a pole erected outside, crowned with a solar panel or two. You may be amused to know that my services were requested to test and repair a solar panel and regulator system. Accordingly, I went ashore, with our trusty Tikopian guide, carrying multi-meter, screw driver set, flashlight, jumper cables with bull dog clips and of course a spool of waxed twine. As it turned out, the guys regulator had a blown fuse and we substituted a smaller fuse and the system worked. Later on, I found that I had the appropriate size on FLASHGIRL and gave him a couple. This clearly, is a study in perspective: you know you're in the wilds when Tompkins looks like a technician! All hands on the beach were pleased with the effort. During the entire process while we were there, we were closely studied by a large segment of the village, including all manner of little brown children. We expect to spend a day or more here, relaxing and waiting for the trade winds to stop blowing so damn hard. The grib files suggest that our hopes may be gratified in a few days. I guess the really good news from FLASHGIRL is that our autopilot is working well. Looking forward to a restful night's sleep tonight. Cheers Commodore & Nancy Utupua, Temotu Province Solomon Islands

Mon, Aug 22, 2011:	UTUPUA FOUND! We cleared into Honiara on 11 August, provisioned up, and headed out the following evening. Had a lovely moonlight sail around Guadalcanal, arriving at the southeast corner the following morning. Spent a week in the Marau Sound with its perfect white sand and splendidly clear waters. It was a hard place to leave, but managed to pry ourselves away four days ago, sailing east into the tradewinds, heading for the far eastern Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. It took us four days to make 450 miles from Guadalcanal to Utupua (1116S 16629E). We had 24 hours of pretty unpleasant going at the onset, then still windward work, interspersed with motoring in no wind and some really sweet sailing. We arrived through the pass to Utupua just before sunset and scrambled to find a place to drop the hook before dark. We saw no less than five sailing canoes as we approached and were greeting by gaggles of youngsters in a handful of canoes surrounding our boat; a lovely welcome! Turns out we are just in time to be on hand for their annual festival with kastom dancing, singing, etc.....so we are stoked! We will leave Utupua in a few days and sail 150 miles further southeast to Tikopia and then south to the Banks Islands of Vanuatu.

Tue, Aug 16, 2011:	The boat is anchored bow and stern in 7 meters crystal clear water over whi te sand and hard by a coral reef. Palm trees sway over the white sand beach es surrounding us. here in Tavanipupu, a small island in the Marau Sound wh ich is in the Southeast corner of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands Last night we had a great rain storm. As you may know, we lift Taxi Dancer clear of the water every night with the high roller hailyard. Clearly, if i t rains hard enough, the boat will fill, putting an unconscionsionable load on the hailyard and slings. Consequently, I try to bail the boat the last thing before sleeping and did so last night. Fortunately, I also left the b oat close to the water against the chances of a lot more rain. As it happen ed, it really rained hard while we slept and in the wee hours I noticed a s light list to starboard. Came the dawn, a clear and sunny one, and Taxi Dan cer was about half full of water. She was lying, rather sluggishly, alongsi de, tied bow and stern, with a goodly load on the hailyard. The water in th e boat was crystal clear and delicious to bathe in. In mid-afternoon, I was able to con Nancy into the boat and out of her gear, so we had a really pl easant tropical water game!

Fri, Aug 12, 2011:	August 8, 2011 We are out of wind and not nearly enough diesel.....gosh, this is not what we expected! So turns out this will be a slow passage to Honiara, on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands We just turned off the engine and are off for a swim Might as well take advantage of this big fat high and huge calm...will clean the bottom too Shiny, glassy seas with a small swell, clear sky overhead and a few puffy clouds like a daisy ring around the horizon. ....now back from our swim, and it was delightful! We jumped in with faceplates and fins with various scrubbers to clean the underside of the boat. The clarity of the sapphire water and equatorial temperature was sublime! We spent about an hour and a half in the water and never got chilled. We have had the slowest passage ever with way too much motoring, but there was absolutely no wind for hundreds of miles and then we got light airs astern....too light for carrying a spinnaker. Two nights ago, we realized that we would be just like Captain Cook and Bligh, floating/rolling around waiting for wind. We had just ten more hours of motoring time before we would have to save the rest for generating and our arrival in Honiara. Around midnight I spotted a fishing boat, about 200 feet long and motored towards them trying to raise them on the VHF. No go. We went across their stern and saw they were Korean....no speekee English. They shone a bright searchlight on us and we grabbed our empty jerry jugs and waved them suggestively at them and they finally figured out what we were up to. We managed to get all four jerry jugs filled with diesel and are now back in business. It was a very exciting maneuver another classic Captain Tompkins exercise. Late last night we finally got some wind and have been sailing with our #1 carbon fiber "Black Beauty" ever since in 8- 13 knots of wind.....lovely! Nance Yacht FLASHGIRL 0351S 16052E

Sun, Aug 7, 2011:	It's wonderful to be at sea again. After slowly pulling away from Pohnpei at 7 degrees north, we've had mostly light airs and sometimes no air at all. The first morning I was on watch at sunrise and was visited by three dolphins, which appeared to be mother, father and baby. The little one was about one-fourth the size of the adults and kept up the pace! The baby at first was along side his mother but then would break out on his own or swim between the two adults. It was adorable to watch and they swam in our bow for at least twenty minutes, and I was transfixed on the bow the whole time. The sailing has been gentle, which I love. We've had a fair bit of motoring too. While on watch I lay on a bean bag and watched the sky, picking out the stars and constellations I recognize. Yesterday morning, while motoring, I saw a dark pile of clouds on our track and got ready for some wind, rain and a shower on deck. The rain never came, as we skirted along the squall, but somehow we remained in its effect for four hours, enjoying perfect smooth sailing conditions and wind 8-12 knots. Finally the clouds moved away and so did the wind. We motored in silky smooth seas from late yesterday afternoon until about 3am this morning when we the wind began building from 1.8 knots to about 6- 7 knots. Off went the engine, up went the #3 jib and we were back in sailing business again. I went off watch and awoke just a few minutes ago to see Commodore pulling our #1 'black beauty' carbon fiber sail up on deck. It is a blue sky morning with a few scattered high cirrus clouds and no squall clouds anywhere to be seen. We are skimming along in 6-11 knots of wind and 6-7 knots of boat speed. Heaven! We are just two degrees north of the equator, so a crossing will be in the no too distant future (120 miles). This will be my fourth equator crossing, and the second southbound crossing. We are headed to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and will go east to Tikopia and then south to the Bank Islands of Vanuatu. We are so fortunate to be here out in the middle of of the world and so far from civilization. The feeling of peace and calm is hard to describe, but suffice it to say that this is why we like to voyage out on the great blue highway. Life is good! Nancy & Commodore Yacht FLASHGIRL 0159N 15927E

Thu, Aug 4, 2011:	MICRONESIAN ATOLLS We arrived in Micronesia in February 2011, as we cleared out of Kavieng, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea on the last day of January. While I was on watch sailing north on that first night, I hear a sound and realized it was dolphins, coming for a visit. There was quite a lot of phosphorescence, which illuminated the movement of the dolphins. I had never seen this and was amazed! There were about twelve dolphins swimming around the boat and the light show displayed was like ballet as they dove down into the depths and then circled around away and back towards the boat. What a delight! Our first stop in Micronesia was at Kapingamarangi atoll, located just one degree north of the equator. It is interesting to imagine the Polynesians wandering the Pacific in their sailing canoes eons ago and deciding to settle in this remote place. We carefully picked our way through the "S" shaped pass and made our way across the lagoon to the atoll's village. We were welcomed to their village and given a basket full of coconuts. There were some sailing canoes ripping across the lagoon in the breeze, which of course added nicely to the Polynesian ambiance. The village encompasses two small islands and they are connected with a sturdy concrete bridge. This was the only modern looking structure, as there are no cars or electricity. The sandy walkways were well kept and the people were very friendly, many inviting us into their homes. We stayed a few days then sailed 160 miles to Nukuoro, another small atoll, settled by Polynesians. The pass into Nukuoro was mush easier to navigate as it was deep, straight and well marked. As the weather was rather boisterous, we zoomed in with full main on, making for an exuberant entry into the lagoon. Once inside, we took down our sails and motored to the village, which was close to the entrance. This time the local officials were not so friendly. These two atolls are enroute to Pohnpei, which is the port of entry, so we had not officially cleared into Micronesia. The Kapinga people understood the logistical problem and wre happy to accept us under the circumstances. However, in Nukuoro, the officials would not allow us to visit without a proper cruising permit. We were allowed to stay for a day, then had to move on. It was a pretty place and it would have been nice to explore this remote atoll. I was allowed to visit ashore for a few hours, and enjoyed the people I met. Nukuoro at one time had 700 inhabitants, but as many have gone off island, there are currently only about two hundred people living on the atoll. The pathways were immaculate and the thatched houses in excellent condition. The spacing between the houses was much greater here, than in the rather crowed Kapingamarangi. These two atolls are very interesting as they are the only two places in all of Micronesia settled by Polynesians. We ended up staying two days, leaving late in the afternoon, bound for Pohnpei, about 300 miles northeast.

Tue, Feb 15, 2011:	NAN MADOL, POHNPEI We have just returned to the boat at 2300 hours after leaving this morning at 0730. We spent the entire day touring around Pohnpei via 120 horsepower boat with seven other people...and it was terrific! As this is only our second day in Pohnpei, it helped to give us a sense of this diverse and interesting island. We began with a twenty minute cab ride to get to the Village Resort and had breakfast in their gazebo with sweeping views overlooking the inner waters and out to the reef. Our tour left from this location at 0930 and we had two jovial, helpful and friendly Micronesian tour guides that were happy to make a living messing around with boats and playing on the water. We spent an hour snorkeling along a reef in very clear water and the perfect temperature. The coral was not wonderful but the swimming was super. Our next stop was a remote island within the lagoon for lunch, and then afterwards we proceeded directly to Nan Madol. We learned a little bit about this very interesting ruin of a past settlement, where something like 100 little islets were man made from gathering reef rocks to build up the level and bordering these little islets with basalt logs in a variety of configurations. We walked around the main temple, which looked like a giant lincoln log construction and then kayaked through the canals and waterways between a hadnful of the islets. Some people call this place the Venice of the Pacific...It was interesting, the weather perfect and it was heaps of fun to kayak around this area. Following the ruins we went to a waterfall and took another swim...these falls were pretty impressive! Our last stop was to see the manta rays but it was getting late...the sun was low and the few that offered to check the waters for mantas saw none. So we returned to the Village Resort and had dinner with some of the people we met on the tour. We jumped into the showers in their private rooms and then dined with them. Turns out they are from my stomping grounds in California and we are all scheduled for the same flight to San Francisco this Friday....what a small world!

Sat, Feb 12, 2011:	ATOLLS We left Australia the day after Christmas and sailed through the Torres Strait and on to Papua New Guinea; arriving on New Year's Eve. We spent the month of January exploring a handful of places in PNG and covering quite a bit of ground, or should I say ocean?! The PNG people that we met were very gentle and sweet. The country is quite diverse and contains something like 20% of the world's languages. Clearly, we merely scratched the surface, and I would love to delve more into their cultures. We sailed away from Kaieng, New Ireland in PNG on the last day of January and are heading north to Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. We stopped at two very remote inhabited atolls along the way. These atolls are little circles of existence in the vast Pacific Ocean. I is really quite amazing to think how many eons ago that people set out in sailing canoes, navigating by the stars and finding these remote places and deciding to settle. The two atolls we visited are Kapingamaragi Atoll and Nukuoro Atoll, and are the only two places where the Polynesians settled in Micronesia. It felt a bit like being back in French Polynesia, which felt like home. The Polynesians are well know for their warm and welcoming spirit.

Wed, Feb 9, 2011:	Greetings from Nukuoro! Another day....another atoll! Yesterday afternoon we cleared out of the pass to Kapingamarangi around 1700 and were delighted that we slid through that dodgey pass without incident. We took a couple of hours once outside to disassemble and stow the dinghy, roll up the awning and make sail. From the get go, we had a nice steady NE breeze. As the night wore on and morning arrived, the sea state took on the look of classic trades....12-18 knots, some swell and fantastic sailing. The wind made some easting which gave us a very nice wind angle of 70-90 degrees. The distance from Kapingamarangi to Nukuoro is about 160 miles and we were pretty sure that we would not arrive in time for good daylight to get through the pass. We were pleasantly surprised to arrive at the pass at 1700 hours this afternoon. It was a bit boisterous as we barreled in at 8.5 knots with the sea breaking on the reef, but the entrance was deep and well marked and we sailed through lickety split! Once settled and checked in with the local officials here, we settled into a delicious meal of lobster in ginger sauce with green beans. We enjoyed our meal al fresco in the cockpit. After dinner, one of the locals heard we were looking for a few papayas and brought us a bucket full. The moon is just setting, so I will send this off and make my bed on deck Sweet dreams Nancy 350N/15458E

Tue, Feb 8, 2011:	Hi there: I slept out in the cockpit last night and it was divine. It was balmy with a light breeze and heaps of stars, as the first quarter moon set early. I was awakened at 0800 this morning by the sound of gentle voices talking among themselves. I thought it must be Commodore and Tarn quietly talking, but as I listened, it seemed that they were not speaking English. I told myself that it just must be that I was not fully awake and that they must be below deck chatting over morning tea....then as I became more conscious and less asleep, I thought for a second time that the voices were not speaking English...so I raised my head from my pillow to see a banana boat drifty right next to Flashgirl with two Kapinga men patiently waiting for me to awaken.....Well.....Good Morning! There has been a terrible draught on Kapingamarangi and the locals have been coming by the boat, asking us for water. So, this morning was no different. They presented their five gallon plastic jug and we filled it for them. Our water maker has been working overtime to help out. Life on an atoll is a perfect place to install a water maker for the village. We know the proprietor of Spectra Watermakers and know that he was developing a self contained machine for remote villages that runs on solar power. After our visitors left, we took a swim and cleaned the bottom of the boat, and then had lunch, which was fresh tuna with rice and salad...yum!! The village chief came by and showed us where there is a sunken ship and a sunken airplane in the lagoon from WWII. I took a swim to check out the plane which was in about four meters of clear water and very easy to see. It was very well preserved and did not have any coral growth on it. A giant sting ray came up from the bottom as if it wanted to play with me, but as his stinger was as long as my leg, and decided to swim back to the boat. We cleared out of the pass around 1730, then put away the dinghy, rolled up the awning and made sail. We are now underway for Nukuoro, about 160 miles away. The conditions are fabulous. We are on starboard tack with full main, number three jib, full ballast and sailing 7.5 knots in 15 knots of NE wind...apparent wind angle around fifty degrees.....sweet!! We are romping into the night and all hands are in good shape. We really enjoyed our stay at Kapingamarangi Atoll and it would have been easy to stay on for weeks...but ah....we are really looking forward to seeing Nukuoro Atoll. These are the only two locations in Micronesia that were settled by Polynesians. There is nothing quite like the welcoming spirit of these people. Nancy Yacht FLASHGIRL 0112N/15442E

Tue, Jan 18, 2011:	Hi there! We arrived to Cape Saint George and New Ireland yesterday morning and had a lovely sail in between some islands and the mainland. There are little hamlets of settlements everywhere, even in the most remote places. Children laughed and sang out to us as we ghosted by and all was very pleasant and serene. We spent the afternoon and evening in Irish Cove, a lovely little place where the locals come to work on their gardens. We did some trading for fruit and vegetables during the day, and rested from our rather arduous three-day trip up the Solomon Sea from Woodlark Island. We had experienced some strong head winds and just sailed under triple reef with no headsail for 30 hours, until things moderated. Anyway, last night was magic in the almost full moonlight glowing on the tropical landscape. There are lofty mountains that rise steeply up just beyond our little cove. A gardener decided to do some land clearing at dusk and set the hill near us on fire. It was quite dramatic and primal to see him walking through the bush carrying a fire torch. We sat out in the cockpit until past midnight just soaking up this exotic, remote and quiet place....no lights...no motors of any kind, no roads, no cars, no outboards, no generators and no electronics of any kind. We realized and appreciated how rare it is to find such a place these days. This morning we were up before sunrise, raised the anchor and motored off towards Mioko, our next destination in the York Island Group about fifty miles to the north. Commodore reeled out our fishing line as it was a calm morning. We both pretty much ignored it, as we have never caught anything. After some time had gone by, I was idly glancing around and noticed that the line we were pulling had what looked like a fish! I casually mentioned to Commodore that it looked like we caught a fish...at least it looked a lot larger than the lure. He reeled it in, and sure enough....we had hooked a meter long mackerel...but we'll just call him "Mac". Thankfully we had a few tips from our keen fishing friends Tarn and Fabian, which helped us successfully capture our very first fish. Commodore tied a loop around its tail and we dragged it for a while behind the boat. Then he cut it into nice sized fillets and put them in the ice box. Then it was my turn to go to work and cook us up a tasty feast. I guess this makes us official cruisers now! Nancy Nancy & Commodore Yacht FLASHGIRL Mioko Island 413S/15227E

Sat, Jan 1, 2011:	We had a five day passage from Thursday Island to Samarai Island, in Papua New Guinea. We are presently anchored off this tiny speck of an island, we read 24 hectares! Samarai was once the second largest city in PNG, after Port Moresby! All the rest of the folks lived in villages, I guess! Most still do. We read in Lonely planet that the wheel was unknown in PNG when European contact occurred, and that no animal power, such as horses, oxen or mules were employed. Pretty primitive. This end of PNG is dotted with small islands, bommies and reefs. It is high land, vividly green at this season, and altogether lovely. We will sail next to Alotau, in Milne Bay. After checking in this morning, New Year's Day 2011, we strolled the circumference of the island, a matter of an hour or so leisurely walk. We returned on board about noon, FLASHGIRL was bobbing in a fifteen- knot chop, but the big awning was set, and the breeze made her cool on deck and below, (Let's hear it for Casper!) I am reclining in the cockpit of this fine yacht, we are about 10 degrees south and 150 degrees east, the South Pacific for sure, unless you wish to be precise and mention the Coral and Solomon Seas on either west or east... Down below, while I gaze at the spectacular scenery, my taller, younger wife is building brownies, and the aroma is wafting up through the hatch. I ask you, have I died and gone to heaven? Pretty good stuff! I tried a new gambit enroute from Thursday Island: We had to beat hard to windward the last hundred fifty miles or so, including one stressful night of closely spaced squalls with drenching rain, nasty seas and winds to 30 Knots. The beating placed us in a position to transit the reef at night, very weary, and we elected for a daylight entrance instead. Without autopilot, how to jog along through the night, awaiting dawn and our entrance? In 14 knots to 20 knots of wind, I put in three reefs, and lashed the helm slightly to leeward. The boat sailed upright and easily, without luffing unduly, at about 45 to 65 degrees AWA, making about 2.5 knots and a lot of leeway, I am sure! Both Nancy and I were able to get sleep and did not steer for about ten hours. I slept on the cabin sole under the stream of air from Casper, and actually had to cover myself with a sheet! I was pleased to find something like heaving to, although in more wind the smallest mainsail would probably give too much speed. On this occasion, however, it was superbly restful and satisfactory. Much better than deploying the sea-anchor which allows the boat to roll indiscriminately. Tonight is gorgeous, a brilliant star exhibition, no skiffs or inflatables buzzing about, and a 19 Knot breeze cooling all. NLPT dozing in cockpit on a beanbag or two. Tomorrow a little more walkabout on SAMARAI, and a bit of work on he Autopilot. We heard about a place about nine miles from here where you can see manta rays with five meter wing spans get cleaned by tiny wrasses....sounds like a must see! We will try to find a local to take us there tomorrow. After that it is off for Alotau.

Fri, Dec 31, 2010:	PAPUA NEW GUINEA - ARRIVAL AT SAMARAI ISLAND We just completed our passage from Cape York, through the Torres Strait and across to the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea. The first three days went really well, then we ran into the NE-SE trade winds which have slowed down our easting progress. We finally made landfall after jogging around for a few days, delaying our arrival so we could enjoy the scenery! Total passage time from Thursday Island to Samarai Island just about five days. We could have done it in four days if we pushed ourselves, but decided to keep ourselves as comfortable as possible, especially since we had no auto pilot and took turns steering the entire 600+ miles passage. This morning the winds turned NE and the most northery was 050 Magnetic. True wind speed was mostly 10-15 knots all day today. We were able to sail through the pass but ended up motoring through the channel when we headed straight into the wind. We are grateful to be anchored and spent the afternoon washing down the boat and shifting the boat from a passage making machine back into a home. It was a great passage with all sorts of interesting variety. We had a brisk NW wind that blew us through the Torres Strait in about twelve hours, then things got light with a fair bit if motoring, but the nights always brought good sailing in various flavors. Two nights ago, we had some pretty hefty squalls, and one of them surprised us with a 30 knot gust that blew Nancy right off the rail and into the cockpit! We arrived to an achingly gorgeous day......one of those magic moments with the surrounding islands and mountains crisp and clear...the natives seem friendly and there have been waves and smiles all days long....we are turning in early tonight for our first full night's sleep in five days and will clear customs in the morning. We'll probably go into Alotau tomorrow to diesel up and reprovision and perhaps take in the sights. We will let you know when we're on the move again. It's New Year's Eve....... Wishing you a very Happy New Year!! Nancy & Commodore Yacht FLASHGIRL 1036.5S 15039.6E

Wed, Dec 29, 2010:	Christmas Day 2010 Greetings - Christmas Day a year ago, we sailed into Sydney Harbor and anchored in front of the Opera House. There was only one other boat in the cove, our friends, whom we last saw in Fiji three years ago. We got together to catch up and enjoy a meal together. This is one of the fun parts of cruising85.you never know when or where you may run into friends made along the way! We stayed in Sydney to watch the start of the race to Hobart the following day, then flew to Tasmania to see the boats finish and tour the island. Today we are on Thursday Island, at the very top of Cape York in the Torres Strait. We have taken one year to cruise most of the east coast of Australia, from Sydney to Thursday Island, some eighteen hundred miles. We have made many interesting stops, visited with old friends and made some new friends too. Nancy took some time to return to California to visit family and pursue some business opportunities whilst Warwick managed boat projects. We were reunited on the 5th of July in Sydney, and stayed with an old Olympic sailing friend, Carl Ryves. He has a lovely waterfront home in Woolwich, and even though it was wintery and cold, the warmth of his hospitality and friendship more than made up for the cold weather. We hired a car and took a road trip through the hinterlands and worked our way north to our boat in Mooloolaba. We had but a few days to organize ourselves and button up the boat, as we had plans to join the Wylie 65-foot yacht CONVERGENCE in Darwin, for the race to the Banda Islands of Indonesia. We flew to Darwin on the 17th, and had one week to help get things organized for the race. This was our first trip to the Northern Territory. We visited the Kakadu National Park, with its crocodiles, giant termite mounds and ancient Aboriginal art. Darwin is an interesting frontier city and we enjoyed perusing the local art galleries. The race left on the 24th and our boat was the first to finish about three days later. Banda is the island where nutmeg evolved all those years ago, and it was fascinating to see the old Dutch buildings and learn about the history with the old trading routes. We were grateful to have the opportunity to sail with our friends and to see this special place. After two weeks, we bid farewell, and spent the month of August on an overland adventure through Sulawesi, Java, Borneo and Bali. We returned to FLASHGIRL on the 7th of September, and after a few weeks in Mooloolaba, headed north. Our first stop was in Hervey Bay to watch to humpback whales during their migration to Antarctica. We were not disappointed! We saw whales broaching very near our boat and even had several curious whales swim right over to check us out on the anchor. We invited a lively couple to join us for a week on our boat and sailed north from Rosslyn Bay to the Whitsundays85.a first for us! Our boat is designed for two people, but somehow it never seemed too crowded, and we were sad to see them go. As we progressed northwards, we found the scenery become even more spectacular as the anchorages became more remote. We especially enjoyed the protected Hinchinbrook Channel, which is between Hinchinbrook Island and the mainland. The mountains were so lofty that they reminded us of the Marquesas. We stopped over in Cairns for a few weeks then hop scotched up inside the Great Barrier Reef to Cooktown and Lizard Island, both places full of history from Captain James Cook. We anchored our boat on the Endeavor River in Cooktown, just a few boat lengths from where Captain Cook repaired the Endeavor after she was holed on the Reef85.exciting stuff! We had many fabulous sails as we continued north. Sailing inside the Reef is smooth, and the wind was usually aft of the beam, so we had some amazing spinnaker runs that kept us smiling all day long. Most people turn around after Lizard Island and return south or go back to clear out at Cairns. We decided that we wanted to make it to the top and to Torres Strait and have been rewarded for our efforts. We stayed t few days at the Flinders Islands just past Cape Melville, and visited a cave with Aborignal paintings depicting early European ships, along with images of local sea creatures. It is easy to see how the Aborigines carved out a good life in these islands. After Flinders, the climb to the top was in earnest, and we arrived to Thursday Island on the 8th of December. This place does not feel like Australia, as it is mostly inhabited by the Torres Strait Islanders. We have been staying with a local Islander family for the past two weeks. We have cleared customs and tomorrow we are off for Papua New Guinea and then Micronesia. Warmest wishes for 2011 Nancy and Warwick

Sun, Dec 26, 2010:	CAPE BARROW - QUEENSLAND We are now about halfway to Cape York, anchored tonight under Cape Barrow. It is very mellow and muggy. On departing Lizard Island, we motored out to the reef, Cook's Passage, naturally, in absolutely flat calm. There was so little sea the reef was barely visible! We made a half-hearted effort to anchor to leeward of Hicks Reef, but it was late in the day, we could not find sandy bottom, so moved on and ultimately anchored under Howick island, which was actually a very pleasant stop. We entered the anchorage after dark, Nancy using the pistol-light from forward. She warned the beach was close, while the soundings indicated we were well offshore. What she had seen was billows of foamy off-white stuff, as if some giant had been indulging in a bubble bath! The stuff blanketed the shore, and was threatening to surround us...we backed off several lengths and anchored. Daylight revealed us comfortably offshore. We suspect the foamy stuff was coral bloom, altho we had thought that was red or amber in color. In any case, it was gone by daylight. Spent the next day reworking our refrigeration so that each compressor/cooling unit has a separate five gallon fresh water reservoir. We are hoping this will enable our refrigeration to cope in the increasingly hot weather. Right now there are ominous signs that our system is inadequate. It is quiet, but the quiet pumps are not self priming, and therefor cannot utilise seawater. The closed system we have now gets quite warm, which is bad for the compressors...we think we have seriously damaged the freezer at least. It will be tough going to and across the equator without refrigeration. I used the reserve water bottle to rig the system, and while in the middle of the job, the watermaker ceased making water! So there we were, at Howick Island with about four gallons of water in the tank... rations for sure that night! The following day I was able to change out the pump-head on the "feed-pump" and get the thing going again. What a relief! How awkward is it, to give up your spare water, and at that precise moment, have the watermaker fail? We will be replenishing our store of watermaker spares, I assure you! The cruising life! You know, feet up, reading under the awning and pulling fish in over the transom until your arms ache! Actually bought a lure in Cooktown and dragged it a few miles to no effect. Discovered I had been fishing in a prohibited zone, but have apparently dodged the law this time. Fishing gear will remain under wraps until we are well out of OZ, there are just too many hurdles and regulations. We hope your delivery was successful and not too difficult. Did you get paid for this one, or were you "neighbor labor"? Did you receive the data/mini drives we sent some days ago? We are now using the Toughbook exclusively, since the northern limit of our paper charts is just six miles north of here. I feel as if I am approaching the edge of the known world! Today, coming to point Barrow, Nancy had the Toughbook in the cockpit, while I battled yet another boat problem below. Later I used it in the dying light as we entered the anchorage. I found it to agree very well with the soundings we recorded on our fathometer. We are very pleased and grateful to have this gadget aboard! We have run into a problem with Australian Customs/Immigration: Our visas, issued for ninety days when we returned from Indonesia expire on 07 December. We can get there from here, albeit by running day and night. The good bureaucrats in Thursday Island, upon being asked for a short extension, have invited us to return to Cairns, which from here, is equidistant with Thursday Island, but against the prevailing winds. We will not be going back to Cairns! Sadly for us, we are expecting mail and boat- parts at Thursday Island on or about the 7th December. Stay tuned, this is not yet resolved! Any suggestions about softening the officials stance gratefully accepted! Cheers! Commodore

Thu, Dec 2, 2010:	3D AUSTRALIA 2009 3D It has been many moons since I made a log entry. The last time I wrote here we were approaching Australia across the Coral Sea from New Caledonia, and Barack Obama was about to inaugurated as president of the United States in January 2009. Well, we arrived in Brisbane, Australia in time to watch the proceedings live! Our dear friends, Dave and Anna Fourie were living in Brisbane at the time, and they were house sitting in a big Queenslander house, complete with swimming pool and cable television. Our good mate, Keith Bushnell, had made the trek all the way from Kangaroo Island to welcome us when we stepped off our boat. We spent a week with them, parked our boat at Dockside Marina, then hired a car to drive down to Sydney, taking a week and making many interesting stops along the way. After a week or so in Sydney, I flew back to California and Commodore flew back to Brisbane. While I was away, Commodore sailed the boat to Sydney with our pal Lizzi Rountree, and when I returned some months later, the boat was in Pittwater, a lovely cruising ground just north of Sydney. Pittwater is surrounded by national parks and one can stay in the more inhabited areas or sail into some very remote areas that are just a few hours away. We enjoyed the ability to do both, as we did quite a bit of socializing in Pittwater. Whilst there, we got involved with the Wednesday night Woody Point Yacht Club racing scene which was heaps of fun. Then on Christmas morning, we sailed down to Sydney, which took about four hours. A Southerly buster was predicted, and we just made it into Sydney Harbour as the winds quickly increased from about ten to thirty knots! I was baking a carrot cake, as we were meeting up with Nick and Jan from YAWARRA for Christmas dinner....anchored right in front of the Sydney Opera House! I got the cream cheese frosting on just as we arrived to their boat. We met YAWARRA in Fiji back in 2007, and it was great to see them again. The day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day in the southern hemisphere. It is the day that you "box up" all your left overs from Christmas. It is also the start of the Sydney to Hobart Race, and quite a spectacle to see. Commodore has raced six times to Hobart, over the years, finishing first once. We watched the start of this iconic race during my first trip to the southern hemisphere in 2006 with Commodore's old sailing mate, Mike Delaney. He still lives in Sydney, and once again invited us to watch the start from the bridge deck of a large triple decker catamaran. Mike had been asked to do the announcing for the several hundred spectators. It was a very flash catered event, and we were part of the VIP entourage. As there are many boats watching the start of this race, it was great to be high enough to see over all the smaller boats. It was a great spectacle, as the 2009 start was downwind, so all the boats left Sydney harbor with their spinnakers up...quite an unusual event. After the start, lunch was served, and we enjoyed a tour around the harbor while we ate. The following day we flew to Tasmania to watch the first boats finish at Hobart, and to spend a few weeks exploring this southern most part of Australia. We hired a car and circumnavigated Tassie in a counter clockwise direction, starting with Hobart and Port Arthur. We drove up the east coast to a small town called Bicheno, where we spent New Years. Bicheno is famous for it's little blue penguin colony, and we spent the better part of New Year's Eve watching them walking up the beach to their nests ashore. We spotted several dozen, then went back to our shore side room to watch the Sydney fireworks on the tele. We continued our journey to hike the iconic Wine Glass Bay, and then drove around to Stanley, in the NW corner of the island. This wind swept outpost still has a frontier feel to it, and it is the location where the telegraph lines connected Tasmania to the rest of the world back in the day. Leaving Stanley, we drove down the barren and desolate west coast to Strahan, which was an interesting settlement which was heavily populated during the days of lumbering the Huon Pine. This area also had a prison on Sarah Island, which we visited. Our final stop was in the national forest in the SW corner of the island. We did some hiking and drove out and stood on the very impressive Gordon River Dam. This dam had been heavily protested by environmentalists, but the dam was eventually built. There remains a strong eco group in this part of Tassie doing their best to halt the ongoing lumbering business. We returned to Sydney, and were happy to get aboard our boat. She was waiting patiently for us on a mooring at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, just across the bridge from Sydney, and sporting a great view. We slept on board and experienced the most wonderful summer weather, something that almost never happens in San Francisco! Once the ferry service stopped around midnight, the water became still as a mill pond, and I found myself sleeping outside in the cockpit. Wonderful stuff!!

Fri, Jan 16, 2009:	16 Jan 07 22:30 GMT G'day! We are still in that big fat high pressure system, and have been motoring for most of the past twenty-four hours. We did however, enjoy a lovely spinnaker run in the moonlight last night in 6-10 knots of wind until the wind dropped below five knots. This morning, our activity was to see if we could find a shoal area of ten meters out here. We had a lot of fun navigating and Commodore took a look out at the second spreader. We were looking for Capel Bank, located at 25* 11 South and 159* 44 East, according to the Hydrographic Office of the Royal New Zealand Navy and one Commander I.S. Monro RNZN Hydrograpger. Too bad that we did not find it. It would have been interesting to see the marine life at ten meters in the midst of the deep deep blue, and we had planned on a swim and snorkel! We think we have one more day of light airs...right now it is 1.2 knots!! The good news is that we are now just 350 miles out from Brisbane, and we have enough diesel. We are looking forward to seeing our friends and watching Obama's inauguration on the 20th. It is a huge historic event, and hope you are able to watch it live as we hope to.... Life is great!! :) xo Tropical Nancy Yacht FLASHGIRL 25* 11.8 South 159* 41.2 East

Thu, Jan 15, 2009:	G'day Yesterday was simply magnificent. We sailed with full main and double head sails under blue skies, in blue seas all day long. Beautiful indeed! When the day ended, we were treated with continued good sailing in the silvery light of the moon. It was a very bright night, with continued clear skies. The seas had been getting smoother and smoother through the day and night, and then, around 0300 hours early this morning, we ran out of wind. So we have been motoring ever since. Today is another beautifully clear day. The sky is blue, as is the silky smooth sea. We are inside a big high pressure system, for sure! Our weather 'grib' information indicate that we may have a few days of light airs before the wind returns. We currently have about 5-8 knots of wind, abaft the port beam, coming from the east. We have made good about 280 miles and are now about 500 miles off the Australian coast. New Caledonia is a world away. We are having a wonderful time, and send you sparkling seas and smiling thoughts. Gotta send this off, so we can set the spinnaker! :) xox Nancy Yacht FLASHGIRL 23* 55.9 South 161* 50.9 East

Thu, Jan 15, 2009:	Hi there Yesterday we finally got Commodore's visa to Australia. Evidently they are still letting ancient mariners into their country, although they gave us rather a hard time. We motored out of Port Moselle shortly before sunset to the wonderful music emanating from our marina neighbors, AMAZON. We already are missing them, as they were our constant companions during our two-week stay in Noumea. We had the #3 on deck and decided to wait to make sail until we were outside the reef. Midway out to the reef, the wind increased to 22-25 knots, so Commodore went forward and made up the staysail stay, and we hoisted the stay sail. I must say that the navigational lights are all in excellent working order in New Caledonia, which is in sharp contrast to most South Pacific countries we have visited. Once we motor sailed past the reef markers, we hoisted the main sail and were off! Noumea vanished rapidly over our stern as the almost full moon provided a bright back light, replacing the lights of Noumea. Once we were clear of the island, the winds dropped to 17-20 knots and remained so through the night. Our sail plan of staysail and two reefs was just right. The seas were rather large and we romped through the night. Now, it is almost noon, and we have sailed almost one hundred miles. We just added our high clewed red sail, which is made of 2.2 ounce nylon and a joy to use. We have picked up about one knot of boat speed with the double head sail arrangement.....just in...we have shook out both reefs and now have full main and two head sails. :)"Kit Styket" We are keen to arrive in time to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama and have friends eager to greet us in Australia. We are on our way! Cheers, Nancy & Commodore Yacht FLASHGIRL 22* 57.5 South 164* 24.9 East

Mon, Dec 29, 2008:	Hi there After resting most of the day yesterday in Port Resolution, we motored away around 1600 hours into a grey day with mild conditions. We motored around the south end of Tanna, and eventually took down the awning and put up the mainsail, which turned out to not be very productive: we motored almost all night. However, we did manage to turn off the engine and enjoy another candle light dinner on deck under sail at 1.5 knots in 4 knots of breeze, mainsail only. At grey dawn, still very smooth, we made sail: mainsail and half ounce kite, in a mostly true north breeze of about 7 knots, which yielded about 5 knots of boat speed. Remember, our boat was designed for peak performance in less than ten knots of wind! We are wicked fast in light airs. As the morning wore on the wind increased slowly, swinging forward and is presently blowing 8-12 knots from 250 degrees true. As the wind swung forward we changed from our half ounce symmetrical spinnaker to the 3/4 ounch aso which we only carried for a short while as the wind continued to swing forward. We are close hauled again, with our #1 Black Beauty jib and our wonderful new mainsail from Willis. Boat speed 6.3 knots. We are rocking! The wind is slowly building, we have full starboard ballast and have had a little rain. Apparent wind angle is about 50 degrees. It was very warm this morning, so we took our shower wand on deck and enjoyed a al fresco shower. Breakfast, fresh pineapple and bread was enjoyed on the foredeck in the shade of the half ounce. Pole to starboard, a foot and a half off the head stay, whilst Nikki did the steering. Gee, life is tough, here in the tropics!! xox Nancy & Commodore Yacht FLASHGIRL 21* 00 South 168* 35 East

Sun, Dec 28, 2008:	Hi there Well, we successfully completed our first passage under our repaired autopilot from Port Vila to Port Resolution on Tanna, a distance of about 120 miles. We finally left Port Vila around 10:30AM on Saturday and arrived to a steaming Mt. Yasur on Tanna about 8:00AM the following morning. We had a lovely overnight sail, and the night conditions were so mild that we were able to enjoy a candle-light dinner in the cockpit while sailing 4-5 knots in 6-8 knots of breeze....divine! Yesterday morning we arrived rather tired, as we are both just recovering from the flu, so we slept in the morning, then made arrangements ashore in the afternoon to go and see Mt. Yasur. We left Port Resolution around 5:00PM and parked the pick-up truck a very short walk to the crater's rim around 5:45PM. There were maybe half a dozen other pick-ups parked on the packed black cinder sand area. The drive was pretty interesting, as what they call "roads" is a loosely defined term. As walked up to the rim, we heard the volcano breathing, making rhythmic hissing sounds and then we gazed down into the crater....wow! There were two main vents, with lava bubbling away, and steam vents steaming away. Every few minutes there would be enough of a build up to send the lava in a burst up in the air. It was difficult to predict when the next burst would occur. These bursts had a sonic shock wave that shook us and would cause all on the rim to take a step or two away from crater. As the lava flew through the air the bits looked so serene, floating through space. As the pieces landed, they would roll back downhill towards the center of the crater and glow. After a while, there were lots of these glowing bits, like the coals of a campfire, except on a much larger scale. As the day turned to night, the glow became more vivid and the action a bit more lively. Around 7:00PM, it was announced, following a rather large burst, that it was time for everyone to leave. It was only at this moment, that I realized there are people there that monitor the activity and also our safety. I learned from the Ni-Van (local) that there are several stations that monitor the volcano's activity. Today it was relatively low, rated at level two. In July, it was at level five, and at that time it was not possible to stand on the rim, but only to watch from a distance beyond our parking area! All in all it was a most exciting event!!

Tue, Nov 11, 2008:	Hi Paul & Mira Had a lovely sail from Lamen Bay to Awai yesterday. We shared the anchorage with BARBARA ANN, some Yanks that we met in Lamen Bay. We spent the evening on their boat, after sundowners, I played with Maxsea and Commodore got to play chess with each of their teenage sons. They left early this morning from Ambrym. They are on a fast track; plan to be in Luganville this weekend (in four days) and clear out the following Monday for Bundaburg, as their boat insurance insists they are in Australia by the first of December. These guys have heard of IRONBARK....you are famous or infamous!! Re: Maxsea....I sort of have it working....went to data input/output settings and assigned COM 7 for NMEA and also as master. I now have a GPS position and a little red boat that tracks. Problem is that the GPS position is never spot on, sometime freezes and other times is waaay off target! Methinks perhaps we have a loose connection to the GPS. That is my diagnosis for today. It would explain why I see spikes...our track makes wild leaps east to west or north to south...and then resumes our course. I saved the track and will show it to you. I am waiting until we get together to get to the bottom of all this bruhaha. We have been enjoying the solitude of Awai. We've been visited by a few outrigger canoes this morning. A fellow named, Kaiser came alongside this morning and took me to the beach in his outrigger to gather some coconuts. I took some pictures of him and printed them on plain paper as a thank you for the coconuts. He was extremely pleased. He is from Avokh, and we may row over there later today or in the morning to see his village. Tomorrow we'll check out Port Sandwich and either stay a bit up the coast, or sail over to Ambrym. I want to visit the carvers in Ranon and/or Ranvetlam. This cruising stuff is great! xox Nancy & Commodore

Mon, Nov 10, 2008:	Hope this finds you and the family well and happy. The 04 November activities certainly call for celebration/congratulations. Locals in Port Vila, the capital of this group of Islands, were out driving around in trucks on the night, waving US flags and cheering! Quite a statement. Today we exited a place called Lamen Bay on the northeast of an island called Epi in a country called Vanuatu. (Formerly New Hebrides, look it up in your atlas!) Our destination was a nearby island and anchorage in an island group called "The Maskelines". The anchorage, between two smallish islands and behind a reef which blocks the seaway but not the breeze from the south or southeast, is absolutely without motion, a very rare phenomenon! Tonight there is about a seventy percent moon, and correspondingly, few stars, but the night is sooo soft and wonderful, it is simply dreamy! FLASHGIRL floats on a mirrored surface, completely still, there are no insects, and at 2100, Nancy is rustling up a vegetable dinner after having enjoyed "Sundowners" and chess on one of the few yachts in the area. It is presently hurricane season here, so most folks have departed...we only got here two weeks ago, being desperate for some tropical time after a year at 35 degrees south, Opua, NZ, where it is about the same as Sausalito regarding temperatures, but with heaps more rain! Vanuatu has been rewarding already, we expect to spend a further two or three weeks here, then on to New Caledonia, and thence to Australia. We subscribe to Commander's weather service, who for a very small cost agree to inform us via SailMail about weather systems that may threaten. We hope that no alarming systems materialise, which might easily be the case. One doesn't want to have "survived a hurricane" on one's CV! Today's sail was about twenty miles, in 12 to 16 knots of wind over the port beam. We carried mainsail only with TAXI DANCER occupying the foredeck. FLASHGIRL sails pretty well thus, not as fast as possible, but we had plenty of time and preferred to be lazy today. It was hot, and we rigged our cockpit awning, which sets from a slot in the aft edge of the dodger, and is tied to the windward runner and the leeward pulpit...it shades most of the cockpit. Nancy was steering, the breeze was about fifteen knots, and the weather side of this little awning catches the breeze and accelerates it of to leeward. We discovered this today when I emerged from the hatch and moved off to leeward in the cockpit. Bingo! Hat over the side! Brilliant sunshine, moderate sea, thousands of feet of deep blue water under us, we were about in the middle of the passage between islands and doing about six knots. Nancy goes: "Oh Commodore, what are we going to do?" Commodore goes: "We are going to go back and get it! Strike the awning, cast off the runner!" So we jibe, and Nancy says: " I see it!" I asked her to keep an eye on it. Her vision is far superior to mine these days! We had a little port-side water ballast in, so starboard tack was a little awkward, but we sailed slowly upwind toward the slowly sinking hat. Nancy says: "How are we going to pick it up?" I suggested the boathook, which she readied. However, Nancy was unsure of hooking it, and fearful of sinking it instead, a very real possibility! She asked if she should swim for it...I said sure, if she wanted to, and suggested she doff her clothing, which she did. At about the time she was in the buff, I told her she should lie down on the starboard side and reach as far as possible, she should be able to pick it up. In the event, it was about half a foot beyond her reach! She reported this, and I said: "Just fall overboard, I'll pick you up!" Which is just what happened. My image of Nancy, hat in hand, afloat in the gorgeous blue water will be an enduring one! I made FLASHGIRL lay almost dead in the water, and Nancy swam to the stern, deployed our swimming ladder and climbed onto the sugar-scoop. She trailed her feet in the water for a while as we squared away for this anchorage, then lay below for a well deserved warm shower. That's all for tonight, it is 'way past my bedtime! Nancy will send this via SailMail. When answering, if you do, please do not attach my copy as part of your message. The SailMail process is limited in it's capacity. Cheers, NEVER WEAKEN! wmt/FLASHGIRL

Thu, Nov 6, 2008:	NZ BOAT WORK RECAP & LIFE IN VANUATU: FLASHGIRL is at last back in one piece, and we are able to sail. It has been a long haul, this spell in NZ (from Nov.07 though Oct.08). Boat maintenance/repair and the various medical issues with me conspired to consume vast stretches of time, energy and funds! Presently all the various parts seem to be functioning properly. It is great to be out of Opua, as attractive a place as the Bay of Islands is, we had been there a very long time! (On one occasion, seeking a leather working shop, I stopped along the road at a sign advertising such things. The shop was closed, but sounds emanated from behind it, so I strolled out back, and was greeted by name by one of two chaps who were constructing a shed! I did not recognise the fellow, poor as I am with names and faces, but evidently it was a shop fellow I had met somewhere, moonlighting as a carpenter!) And I had thought of myself as a part-time visitor in a foreign land! Our farewells at our favorite coffee shop in Kerikeri were drawn-out and oddly emotional... The FLASHGIRL repairs were: Bore and sleeve engine, (after a mere 1200 hours), new rocker arm, new damper plate, main bearings, new pistons and rings, new oil pan, new transmission, and new propeller. We replaced the compressors in our refrigeration system, and replaced the hot water tank associated with the engine. The ballast water pump- motors were both out and overhauled. We replaced the mainsail with one from Willis Sails in Kerikeri. We fixed the keel in the down position, to eliminate movement and noise in that system. Laurie Davidson has drawn us a new smaller, thinner lighter keel which will deliver equal stability, when we get around to installing it, which is dependent on funds. We are finding our expenditures far beyond what we prepared for, year in and year out. The engine, we have been told, required repairs for two reasons: It was used more than fifty percent of the time for generating at low RPM and load, which is said to allow "glazing" of the cylinder walls. The other reason for our engine trouble was that the propeller/engine equation was never properly solved, and was operating in an "over- propped" condition. I fault my Sausalito advisor for this, but that is small consolation. I find these two explanations to be somewhat contradictory, and confusing, and await further edification! The transmission is now 2:8 x 1 rather than 1:8 x 1, giving a slower rotating propeller. Accordingly, the propeller, at slower revolutions, was too small, giving inadequate speed. We replaced the previous Martec with a Martec two inches greater in diameter with 12 inch pitch, and fitted with the "Non-slip-tip". We seem now to get speed through the water, but at high RPMs and accompanying noise below. It is too soon to know definitively about fuel consumption with this set-up, but it appears to be greater than before. The obvious improvement is that the engine no longer belched blue smoke when loaded! At the moment, all systems are working, except for the autopilot. The refrigeration seems to run far more than necessary, and determining precisely why is difficult. We have resorted to manually switching it on every few hours. The mainsail has a shape to die for, far superior to the previous North Sails one. The Willis sail is another laminate, this time Dacron as opposed to Spectra. On the suggestion of Joe Cooper, I requested the next weight up for the head, clew and leach. The resulting sail is board-stiff, which makes it difficult to stow and reef. It is also about fifteen percent heavier than the Spectra sail, weighing about ninety pounds! Three reefs, again, and five rather than four battens. Handwork not quite to the North Sails standard, but the price was less than half that of North in NZ. As for the WMT body, that seems to be OK. The energy level is down, hard to say if this is due to the onslaught of age or the medical procedures. I suspect the former. The angiogram process is pretty slick, you are in and out very quickly, and recovery, as far as I can tell, is complete and equally quick. Still consuming lots of pills, which are meant to alter the blood so that the stents do not foul. (I envision these little 316 stainless devices accumulating growth rather like a pile floating in saltwater, but the medicos tell me it isn't like that at all. That's is a good thing, I think!) Otherwise, it is a question of staying out of direct sunlight and avoiding as much as possible indirect rays as well. I dislike slathering myself with sunburn lotions, finding them sticky. Mercifully, the shower on board works well along with the watermaker, so the occasional cooling shower refreshes, and we have rigged various awnings which can be in place even while underway. Yesterday was hot and airless, we transited from Havannah Harbor on the north side of Efate to Epi island, a distance of fifty miles, mostly under power, sadly. We did have a lovely sail with our "Black Beauty" #1 headsail in 4-8 knots of wind for the first few hours. FLASHGIRL will not sail in less than two knots indicated! I ran an experiment: If I remained completely out of the sun's direct rays, what result of a day on deck on the epidermis from refracted sunlight? At day's end, I was thoroughly pink and burnt. Good lesson! Our plan, at the moment is to remain here in Vanuatu for three or four more weeks, tempting the cyclones and keeping a sharp eye on the synoptic charts and conditions westward from us. I have no desire to weather a hurricane, but am aware of a few sheltering places in this group, if necessary, and am not too proud to turn tail if required. One normally (!) goes north or south at this season to avoid hard weather. Our inclination, as much because of friends on the ground as anything else, is to head for Australia via New Caledonia which is quite nearby. We are waiting for a part from France for the NKE autopilot, which failed us yet again on the recent passage. This means we revisit Port Vila in about two weeks to pick up and fit the new rudder sensor, a device about which I now know far more than I did at the outset! The original unit failed, probably very long ago, and may well have been the source of much of our difficulty with the NKE. The rudder sensor is the only original piece of the collection originally purchased from EUROTRADERS, AKA Siebe Noordzy. We bit the bullet in NZ; hired a fine technician to have a look at our installation. He was very sharp indeed, locating a couple of faults previously undetected, each likely major in their impact on the entire system. The rudder angle sensor is merely a potentiometer, very like the units used to tune radio sets, but with finer components internally. You will appreciate that the sensor records millions and millions of movements over time, and that it's readout is critical to the pilot. Being mechanical-electrical, it is prone to wear and failure. Despite the rigors of hand steering on much of the passage up from NZ, I am excited that perhaps we are on the cusp of having the wonderful autopilot we had hoped for originally! With two on board it is quite tiring, even dangerous, to voyage without the autopilot, even in fine weather. The immediate future is slow cruising in Vanuatu, which is an attractive group of islands, high on many favorite places lists. Civilisation as we know it is thin on the ground around here! No electricity or roads on most of the land. About two-hundred thousand people inhabiting eighty-three islands, twenty-five percent of the people reside in Port Vila, the capital and only real city in the group. The place is reminiscent of Tonga, but less pigs and more apparent contentment among the people. Less evidence of the evil Missionaries as well. Not surprisingly, the people seem rather happier! On this island, we read, the coastal villages are "christian", but inland on the neighboring island of Malakula, the Big Namba and Small Namba prevail. These groups take their names from the size of their penis-sheaths, which along with bows and arrows are about all they wear outside of tattoos and paint! They retain the ancient traditions and religion, which, while probably no more reasonable than christianity, at least is indigenous and home grown. Following Vanuatu, to which we are likely to return, will be either New Caledonia then Australia, or, closer, north into Micronesia, which also comes highly recommended. We need to be out of the cyclone area by mid-December. The long term plan is to carry on with FLASHGIRL as long as it seems pleasant and my body permits. Nancy seems content on board, which is a blessing indeed. At this very moment we are at anchor in what is called REIVOLIEU Bay, a black sand beach and shelf behind a small reef which dries at low water. We have the awning set, and are about to build TAXI DANCER, altho that will likely await the afternoon. It is 89 degrees F, so kicking back, reading under Casper for example seems attractive. The stern hatch is open, and our computer fans are doing great works below. There is an eight knot offshore breeze, and almost no motion, the weather having been settled for three full days, and this being on the west, or lee side of Epi Island. I have vestigial recollections of Port Vila figuring in my father's stories from this part of the world, circa 1923-4. I am certain that Somerset Maugham wrote about these parts, and the use of Pigeon English, which we encountered in written form at a Port Vila Museum, and were able to decipher to a large extent. Redolent with history! This morning we are informed that Obama won in something approaching a landslide, which is good news indeed. Now to see how effective he can be in implementing change in our very sick society. I fear that the powers that be, if he can be truly effective in limiting or reducing the power of lobbyists. for example, will not permit him to survive. The history of assassination and violence in the United States would suggest that he will be at very high risk! I do not worry here about the lunatic fringe, but the entrenched wealthy and powerful, who will not go quietly into the night if their ox is gored!Try rereading Howard Zinn. The power and influence of what can only be called the ruling class, beggars my imagination at least, and I am certain that if a little assassination is deemed worthwhile it will not be long in coming. History suggests that protecting oneself from assassination is not really possible, given determination on the part of the assailant and his employers. Perhaps this is a good moment for Obama and those concerned that he survive, to consult with the Italians, who, I have read, deal more or less regularly with issues of this sort. We have read, in the NZ press, of the scandalous acceptance of criminal suggestions from the audience by Palin particularly. I once read that McCain disassociated himself from such cries from the rednecks, but only once. I fear that the USA has become hardened to notions of solution by assassination, the general acceptance of such vicious outcries surely suggests acquiescence, or at least a lack of outrage or criticism. We found the NZ Herald in its World section to be rather superior to the SF Chronicle. Otherwise pretty provincial. You might be interested to hear the latest reads by WMT: BLACKWATER, a study of a private military arm of the US Government. THE GOD DELUSION by Dawkins, which is a pretty thoro presentation and worth reading. THE EYE OF SATAN, a story about some folks who picked up hull #2 of the Petersen 44 line and were lost at sea aboard a raft for thirteen days. It turns out that I know one of the survivors! Some liberties with fact in this one, but a good read nonetheless. Presently struggling to finish a novel about the old west by Wallace Stegner, reputed by two different women to be the "best book I ever read". Title of Mr.Stegner's opus is ANGLE OF REPOSE. Can't say I recommend it. DIESEL ENGINES by Nigel Calder, of course! A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE was fun. Miscelleneous John D. Macdonald books, and a couple of books from the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome, which while meant for kids, are quite delightful. Hope this finds you in good health, happy, and looking forward to the days ahead, WMT/FLASHGIRL

Mon, Oct 27, 2008:	Hi there Just a quick note to let y'all know that we have arrived safely in Port Vila on the island of Efate, which is the capital of Vanuatu, around 10AM this morning, local time. We had an interesting week's sail from New Zealand with a wide variety of conditions. All in all, a good time was had by all. Yesterday we had planned to clear in at the island Tanna which is about 120 miles SE of Efate. Tanna is famous for it's active volcano, however, the wind was NE to Easterly, which was unfavorable for the anchorage on Tanna, and there were low rain clouds, obscuring the volcano, so we decided to keep going to Port Vila. We had a lovely sail in the lee of Tanna and had a good look at the island. Unfortunately, the clouds never lifted, so we never saw the volcano, even from a distance. Yesterday afternoon we had low murky clouds, which turned to rain and lightening by evening...seeming very much like the SPCZ. Winds were 15- 22 or so and it was extremely wet on deck when I relieved Commodore at 8:00PM. (remember, we had no autopilot so had to do all the steering ourselves). We had begun the day with full main and our red reaching sail. The wind had gone forward, so we changed straight away to the stay sail, as we were anticipating higher wind velocities. I was rather dreading being out in the rain, lightening, thunder and sailing rather deep down wind. This was not your normal type of rain, but rather the eerie and erratic rain and lightening conditions found in the ITCZ and the SPCZ. Once I got on deck, it was not nearly as bad as I had imagined from the sounds heard while below deck. Commodore threw in a single reef for me, as he had seen wind from 14 to 22 knots, and thought it would make more comfortable sailing for me, and also enabling him to get some much needed rest. Well, as soon as I took control of the helm, the wind moved forward to a broad reach. This was a good sign, as I really enjoy this point of sail. (don't we all??) The rain would come and go, and the wind direction oscillated along with the rain. Every once in a while, there would be a blinding flash of lightening, which allowed me to see the horizon and know there were no other boats within sight. After a few hours, it seemed that we came out the other side of the murkiness, and as it lifted, the wind shifted forward another forty degrees! Big change! This was the beginning of my wild toad ride. The boat turned into a flying machine, and we roared through the night, leaving a foaming wake and trail of glittering phosphorescence. There was no more rain, but I noticed dark squally looking clouds here and there, and they usually carried a pretty good punch. The top wind I saw was 27 knots and the least, during the lulls around 14 knots. I was very excited and stimulated by the variety of the weather and the sensation of flying through the night. I found myself laughing out loud to the night, and when the occasional wave broke over my head, it made me laugh even more. Sometime in the middle of my watch, while surfing down a wave, the tiller extension popped off the tiller. Yikes! This made steering the boat a bit of a challenge. I rapped on the cockpit to awaken Commodore, who responded quickly, to my request for assistance. He came to the companionway, took the tiller extension and saw that the screws had backed out and had the piece back in place in about ten minutes. I was happily back in action, and Commodore went back to sleep for another hour or two. Normally while on watch at night I get quite sleepy after a few hours. Tonight was different. The hours flew by, and when Commodore came on deck to relieve me, six hours had passed! This is the first time I have been at the helm for such a long duration as well as in such exciting conditions. When I went below deck and took a nice hot shower to wash off all the salt, I felt the fatigue from my activities. I am glad that our autopilot failed during our passage from New Zealand to Vanuatu, because it forced me to improve myself. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to fix the pilot, but for me, I have grown more capable and more confident in my abilities. Whereas I may have felt twenty knots to be challenging, last night it was effortless, and 27 knots was exciting! I found myself in a groove, quite relaxed, with one arm draped over the life line, slouching in my seat, hitting top speeds and loving life. :)

Tue, Dec 26, 2006:	Dear Graham: **ZEPHUROS UPDATE** The wind is howling, rain blowing down in sheets, and breaking seas are rolling by, as the visibility diminishes. It feels like gathering dusk, rather than ten minutes before noon. Our current position is: 3250.2 North and 13420.2 East Time: noon local time We are slowing being dragged NE in the Kuroshio current; we have made 10.5 NM to weather (upstream) in the past 6.5 hours. If the wind clocks to SE, we will make a dash for shelter. Absent the sea anchor, we would be forced to run under bare poles. Without a drogue, this would be between five and ten knots of boat speed, in what ever direction we headed. Commodore says, "I have elected to lay here because in these conditions I feel the boat and her people would be at hazard in proximity to the land." It is now 15:30 local time the barometer has fallen from 1011 to 1002 in the past nine hours Our current position is: 3250.8 North and 13426.9 East The conditions have deteriorated since our noon time report. The seas are now much larger, breaking, and there is white plume blowing off the waves. In fact, the sea is covered with lattice white, like a blizzard of snow blowing across the sea. Commodore thinks it is blowing 50 knots. We have some concern as we lay on the sea anchor, with a half mile visibility. We are in the shipping lanes and the visibility is very poor. We have the VHF on channel 16 and radar reflector in place. Conversation with passing ships has indicated that ZEPHUROS generates an echo at seven miles, even without the radar reflector. Nevertheless, we are concerned about traffic in these waters because the visibility is so poor, and on the sea anchor, we have zero mobility. We would like you to report our position and condition to the Japanese Coast Guard or relevant Japanese authorities. Is there a SSB frequency that we should monitor? Perhaps you could inquire with the local marine folk, and explain our situation. Please let us know if they have any useful information. I want you to know that sail mail transmission is often fussy. I cannot get a signal out during most daylight hours, and have a little better success at night. It is my sheer determination that usually gets through! We hope these conditions do not endure too long, but we cannot proceed until things moderate. According to the nogaps and grib files, conditions are supposed to get worse before they get better. So far the boat is dry and warm and behaving well as we ride to the sea anchor. Thankfully we are not on a lee shore! Regards, Nancy & Commodore

Mon, Dec 25, 2006:	HAPPY SOLSTICE & MERRY CHRISTMAS!!********** Season's Greetings!!********** It seems we will be celebrating the holidays at sea this year.**** The solstice is an interesting thing. We have now had two winter solstices this year, being in the northern hemisphere now and the southern hemisphere in June. Last year was the opposite; we had two summer solstices...June in California and December in New Zealand. The funny thing about this winter solstice is that the days will continue to get shorter for us, since we are still traveling north! We were at 23 degrees north on the solstice, and our destination in Shikoku, Japan is 34 degrees north.* We had originally thought to be done with this delivery around the middle of December. We have experienced an unusual amount of light airs for a variety of reasons, and had to stop in Kosrae for eight days to make repairs. We got in and out of Saipan in 72 hours, but just spent 40 hours on a sea anchor when we were greeted by brisk northerlies.* It is Christmas day and we are now making tracks at 12-15 knots towards Naruto Kaikyo, the narrow entrance into the Seto Inland sea. We will have some wicked currents through the narrows, that is, after we get across the Kuroshio current. Our crew made a cute Christmas tree out of plastic water bottles, aluminum foil for the wreath, and octopus fish lures for ornaments! It also has a very nice star on top! I think they have been working on it for the past two days. It was really nice to come on watch to find a tree and some holiday sweet raisin bread to eat!* It is now a race to Japan, about 270 miles distant. We must cross the Kuroshio current and clear in before the offices close on December 28th, when all go on holiday until January 4th. I do think we will make it. We are ready for this delivery to be done!! Our involvement with ZEPHUROS began in June, so this project has spanned half of 2006. We will have sailed this big yellow catamaran about five thousand miles from New Zealand to Japan. We also managed to find some time this year for FLASHGIRL, sailing her about two thousand miles. After completing the first leg of the ZEPHUROS delivery from New Zealand to Fiji, we flew back to NZ, picked up our 'Girl, and sailed north to the Vava'u Group in the Kingdom of Tonga. We enjoyed a fabulous six weeks in the Vava'u Group, then sailed about three days west to Fiji, where we left FLASHGIRL at the Vuda Point Marina in Fiji and picked up ZEPHUROS for the delivery from Fiji to Takamatsu, Japan. We hope to spend more time aboard our own boat next year.*** Wishing you a very merry holiday and Happy New Year!! xoxoxoxoxo Nancy & Commodore Yacht ZEPHUROS 3009n/13508E

Sat, Dec 23, 2006:	ZEPHUROS, a few words about life on our temporary home in the Pacific.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is a sparkling beautiful day here in the mid Pacific. We have caught no fish, nor seen much marine life. There have been three birds that have landed on various parts of the boat to rest for a few hours, but that is about it!! I saw a few dolphins outlined in the phospherescence glow the other night up at the bow, but they did not stick around. Our crew replacement has been a great success. We now truly have a good hand, and a very nice guy too! ~~~~~ The four of us aboard ZEPHUROS are all getting along quite well. It is a very roomy yacht as you can imagine. It is 46 feet long and 24 feet wide!! There is a head in each bow, followed by a queen bed open room and then the companionway to the main cabin. If you go into the stern, the stbd hull has another queen bed and the port hull has a shallow Japanese style bath tub. The bath room is really our storage room with dinghy, spare cordage, ditch bag, etc, etc. The shower head will reach through a window into the cockpit, but we have all been using the shower head found on the steps aft of the port rudder post. Ah, the tropics! ~~~~~ This trip has had more than it's fair share of light airs and glassy calms, so it has been a very slow trip. We left Fiji on 17 November, and initially thought we would be finished in Japan by 15 December. We won't even be in Saipan on the 15th!! As of today we are now more than halfway from Kosrae to Saipan, with about 580 miles to go. We will be in Saipan for a few days, then weather permitting, head off for Shikoku. It is all very pleasant, but are wondering when we will ever finish this job and get back to Mill Valley. We plan to be around for January and February. There will be a 75th birthday celebration for Commodore at the SFYC in Belvedere on Saturday, 24 February. Hope you can make it! ~~~~~ xoxox Nancy & crew Yacht Zephuros 1140 North & 15453 East

Sat, Dec 23, 2006:	SAIPAN in the COMMONWEALTH of the NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS~~~~~~~~~~ December 15-18, 2006~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We arrived in Saipan Friday, following a rather relaxing sail from Kosrae, which is five degrees north in the Federated States on Micronesia. Kosrae was a lovely and lush little sleepy island, which is in sharp contrast to Saipan. We hope to return to Kosrae in FLASHGIRL, and visited some of the others islands in FSM. Three days in Saipan, on the other hand, is more than enough. Saipan is a name we all know from our school's study of WWII. It is interesting to see this place for historic reasons, and very sad to be reminded of all the horrors that happened here and in nearby Tinian. To the extent that Kosrae has a soul and a slow pace of life, Saipan lacks in the opposite extreme. Even though both of these islands were occupied by the Japanese, Kosrae has maintained it's culture, whereas Saipan has been completely gutted. We have visited the Bonzai Cliffs and the Suicide Cliffs, where entire families leapt to their death when the American forces moved in. Actually it is worse then leaping. Families lined up, youngest child first, and the next older sibling pushed the younger one over the cliff. The mother pushed the eldest child, and the husband pushed the wife, then he ran backwards over the cliff to his death. So sad and tragic. We saw the Tanapag beach, where 5000 US men died in a desperate battle. No telling how many Japanese died. We scrambled up the rocks into a well concealed outpost carved into the mountainside. There are a number of relics from WWII that have been left in various parks as reminders of the battles that happened here. Commodore and I drove a loop around the island today, and found that the whole place has the feel of a run down barrio. The main town is a seedy strip with duty free shopping, laundry mats, and sex shops. This has been a stop over for military men for hundreds of years, and it shows. It is really sad as I think of what the early natives might have had for a life, and how far removed it is from any life now. Many Pacific islands have been strategic chess pieces for the political forces of the world for a very long time. It is lovely to think of islands and tribal communities awaiting our discovery, but the reality is that sometimes, as in Saipan, we will find an island that has lost it's spirit.~~~~ Much of Saipan feels a bit like the USA. This place utilizes the US Postal Service, and it is easy to think we're back in Sausalito while waiting at the will call window in hopes of spare parts sent. There is also a Costco, where we got some of our provisioning items. Alongside the same parking lot as Costco, we noticed a movie theater, so swung by to see what was playing. To our delight, we noticed the new James Bond movie, Casino Royal was playing, so we were off to the movies!! General admission was $7.00US and senior only $3.75!~~~~ Tomorrow we sail for Japan. The breeze has been fresh, and so this last leg of our journey from New Zealand will probably be the most boisterous!~~~~ We'll be in touch. Meanwhile, wishing you all a very happy holiday. xoxoxo Nancy & Commodore Yacht Zephuros Saipan, CNMI

Thu, Dec 21, 2006:	EQUATORIAL ZONE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ December 11, 2006~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are finally out of the slow, oh so slow equatorial zone. This is the area from ten degrees south, across the equator and extending to ten degrees north. We have been having a very slow trip due to light airs...as in no wind...lots of motoring, even before this zone. We finally are getting some wind and it is great to be sailing through the night, with the spinnaker up, big ocean below and an ocean of stars above. This has been a very pleasant trip so far. I hope we make it all the way to Japan without any nasty weather. We have paid a weather routing service to keep us away from hard weather and big storms. We still have about 700 miles to Saipan. If we keep up this pace we will be there in 4-5 days, which would be December 16th or so. We will be there probably 2-3 days if everything goes smoothly, and then the passage to Japan, which is more than twelve hundred miles.

Thu, Dec 21, 2006:	KOSRAE in the FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA~~~~~~~~~November 29- December 8, 2006~~~~~~~~~~~Greetings from five degrees in the North Pacific! Following a very slow passage from Fiji and across the equator, we finally arrived in Kosrae. It took us thirteen days from start to finish. Fiji is about 17 degrees south of the equator, and Kosrae is five degrees north. It took us one week to arrive in Kosrae after our equatorial crossing on the morning of November 22nd. King Neptune visited the yacht and proclaimed Anouk Van Donzel a shell back. I was excited as this was my first crossing from south to north. After the King left, we took a skinny dipping swim in the lovely sapphire crystal clear waters. We edned up spending eight days in Kosrae. Following is my log written our last day in port: We are still in Kosrae, in the Federated States of Micronesia, but are planning to leave tomorrow for Saipan. This has been a very interesting place, and quite different from Polynesian islands. We have been waiting for a weather window these past two days, so had time to do some sight seeing. We took a hike yesterday up to a 1700 foot peak with a fantastic view of the harbors and this yellow catamaran. The hills are full of WWII remnants of the Japanese occupation. We saw old bunkers and tunnels during our hike. Today we went with a local guide in a motorized dug out canoe outrigger to explore the mangroves around the island. It was a lovely day! Besides the interesting foliage, we saw some of the native fruit bats and ended the day with a beautiful swim and a snorkel. The people here are gentle and generous. The language sounds Asian, or more likely, Micronesian. Life happens at a very slow pace. There are several villages scattered around, about 7000 people and very few cars. There is no public transit, so we usually hitch a ride to get around, or hire a taxi for one dollar per person. The island itself is lush volcanic formation with mangroves woven all around most of the island. There are many jagged peaks overgrown with thick tropical foliage and many flowers. This is the rainy season. About half the time it has been rainy. No squalls, no wind, just warm, steady rain falling in vertical sheets...quite heavy at times. It is quite a sensation, and has kept our water tanks nice and full. We hope to have steady Easterly winds up to Saipan. If we have 15-20 knots, the next leg of this journey should take us 5-6 days. We hope this finds you well. Nancy & Commodore Yacht Zephuros Lele Harbor, Kosrae

Mon, Sep 18, 2006:	HEMISPHERE CROSSING 28 18.698 S 180. E-W 17Sep06 15:29UTC It is always an exciting moment to straddle the two hemispheres and cross from one to the other. It is sunrise now, and a most dramatic one too! The crimson carpet of cloud above is perfectly reflected in the absolute glassy calm of the sea. At this point we have been motor sailing, sailing, and motor sailing some more for about three days. As our intention has always been to be primarily a sailboat, and as we can sail in anything above five to six knots, we do not carry much diesel. We carry thirty-six gallons of diesel when topped off. At this point, we could use another top up! We reckon we have until local noontime today to motor. After that, we will revert to being a 'real' sailboat again, and wait for the wind. This will leave us enough reserve for five hours motoring through reefs and inland waters to Tonga, as well as charging our batteries, if needed. The weather is getting warmer, and hopefully we'll see some western hemisphere dolphins today! you can watch our progress (or lack thereof) at: www.skipr.net, yacht: Flashgirl our website: www.sailingmuse.com Cheers! Nancy & Commodore PS. Less than an hour after writing my missive, the wind filled in! We turned off the 'iron horse', and have been sailing ever since. The wind has been blowing 5-10 knots from the NE. Our sail plan is full main and black beauty, our 150% carbon fiber jib. Starboard water ballast tank is full. This is dream boat sailing!

Sat, Sep 16, 2006:	UNDERWAY AGAIN! We finally did it! We are away from New Zealand We are at: 31 15 South and 177 25 East Time: 03:44UTC 16Sep06 It has been light and lovely. Yesterday, in the glassy calm, we were greeted by a pod of dolphins! It was so very clear...probably could see thirty feet down. It was a lovely sunset sail out of the Bay of Islands on Thursday evening, followed by thirty hours of motoring. Got enough wind last night to set sail with full main and #3. We were doing 7+ knots in 8 knots of wind. This boat is wicked in light airs! This morning we threw up the kite for a while, then switched to the high roller. I say "we", but actually I was sleeping all morning while Commodore played with sail changes by himself. I think this is when he is happiest....fooling around with boats. Now it has become overcast and light and variable. We think that soon we'll catch the trade winds. Current wind velocity is 3-8 knots, blowing from 260 degrees magnetic. We are heading towards Tonga, which has four island groups. We are thinking about skipping over the southern Tongatapu group (unless we need more diesel)and starting with the Ha'apai group, then working north through Vava'u and the Niuas. We will probably spend about one month in Tonga, as we need to be back in Fiji the first week of November to continue our delivery of Zephuros to Japan. I love this life!!!! We were reading the December 2005 issue of Latitude 38, where they interviewed the 2005 Puddle Jumpers. It was shocking to me to read that probably 90% found the passage boring! Maybe they have sticky boats. Flashgirl is light on her feet, like a good dancer. She is responsive, which makes voyaging fun. It is such a joy to relax, as we glide along this South Pacific high. We have been watching the changing sky, taking in the vastness of the ocean and greeting the various birds that swoop our way. I feel so lucky to be here! Just before leaving the civilized world of New Zealand, I booked our tickets from Osaka to San Francisco. Assuming we will finish the delivery of Zephuros to Japan, we think our arrival will be around the middle of December. So, I have booked a flight to SFO on December 26th. Oh yes. Commodore will be 75 on February 26th. I will be planning a party around that time, and we will leave for Fiji soon after. Details to follow as soon as I know what they are. Hey, don't forget to watch our progress on the web. Go to: www.skipr.net Type in yacht: Flashgirl Cheers, Nancy

Fri, Aug 11, 2006:	CATAMARAN ZEPHUROS You may know that we have agreed to deliver a John Hughes 46 foot catamaran from New Zealand to Japan. The delivery will take place in two stages. The first leg is New Zealand to Fiji, where the boat will wait in a berth for three months until the seasons become more agreeable in the approaches to Japan. Once we get the boat situated in Fiji we will fly back to NZ to get FLASHGIRL. We will have a few months to cruise Tonga and Fiji. Early November we will prepare ZEPHUROS for the second leg to Japan, and leave around the 15th of November. The owner may join the boat from Kosrae to Chuuk, which would make for a nice layover in the Caroline Islands. At this writing our ETA to Japan is 10-15 of December. It should be an interesting trip. This is our second night at sea. Commodore and I are on the midnight to 0400 watch. It is nice to be on watch together. The other couple, Dave & Anna Fourie are absolutely charming! We met them last year while cruising in Tahiti & Moorea. They sailed a S&S Hughes 38, and currently are living aboard her and working in Brisbane. We departed NZ in the evening of Wednesday on an overcast and quiet night. Initially motoring with two engines. They are clever installations of 20hp 4 stroke outboards, which lower when you release a short halliard. They slide nicely on a couple of harken tracks, and into the water diagonally. Attached to the cars is cordage which pulls the hatches closed when they are lifted, resulting in a smooth hull. Lifting and lowering is a thirty second deal! The breeze came on about midnight of our first evening and we knocked out nearly 200 miles in the first twenty-four hours. It went light about noon, and the angles were such that we could carry what they call a gennaker. This is an assymetrical spinnaker setting off a housing bowsprit. In about twenty knots of wind we were looking at speeds of 12-14 knots. Catamaran motion is, as you would expect, quick. After a life time of learning to accommodate monohull motion, I have some difficulty, and do not enjoy this motion. It is strange to merely place things on the counter, a la Siegel, and have them stay! When the speed gets over ten knots, things tend to slide: Nancy made dinner earlier and mentioned that our non-gimballing stove had pots sliding around on it's top! This boat is completely carbon and vacuumed bagged, the hull and super structure are 30mm. Wave action under the bridge frequently sounds and feels like a collision with a floating object. Striking the hull with one's knuckles or a winch handle makes it ring like a bell. Presently the autopilot is steering and we are close reaching at eight knots, the wind is swinging ahead and the sea is moderating. We have wonderful new weather information off the internet, which I think you would find very interesting. You might check out: www.metvuw.com, and something called Buoy Weather. Additionally, NOAA generates something called 'grib files', which are like very detailed pilot charts. These latter seem pretty accurate. With Nancy's computer skills we have lots of weather! In this particular boat, simplicity to the point of zen like barrenness is the motif. There are no hooks for jackets, there are no strong points on the deck, there are no places below to hang hammocks or anything for that matter. The two queen size berths have no hand holds for getting in or out, it is a four and one half foot ascent aided with two steps. So far, no one has fallen. We very much enjoy the roominess but when Nancy and I returned to FLASHGIRL shortly before leaving, it felt like home, and very good! Despite the great speed here, and it is great, I think there is little chance I will become a multi-hull devotee. You can watch our progress at: www.skpr.net Type in yacht: Zephuros Enjoy! Commodore & Nancy End of Original Message

Wed, Jun 21, 2006:	WINTER SOLSTICE IN JUNE!! We have now been in New Zealand for six months...half of one year with all the seasons seeming backwards to me. Summer in December was exciting. We had arrived here after about four months in the tropics. You may know that the days are always pretty short in the equatorial zone. In fact, days and nights remain fairly equal in duration throughout the year. Therefore, it was sweet to arrive in kiwi land here at approximately thirty-five degrees south. The days seemed to languish on forever! So now we are experiencing the opposite: winter in what rightfully feels like should be summer. Winter in June! Shocking! We are currently at the Dove's Bay Marina in Kerikeri at the Kerikeri Cruising Club. This area in pristine and beautiful as only the Bay of Islands can be. We have enjoyed periods of sparkling sun, and it is warm during those moments. However, in New Zealand, the weather changes quickly and usually clouds over during the course of the day, sometimes moving into showers. The weather is different from the northern hemisphere winter, as the storms seem to move through in multiples. We often will have two or three low pressure systems coming at any given time. Since we had Flashgirl hauled for four months, plus the past month for reassembly, we have not done much exploring of the New Zealand coastline. Summer is a much better time for cruising here, so we will miss out....it is just too darn cold to have fun cruising around these waters in winter!! During our stay here we have enjoyed getting to explore some of the interior. We have just returned from a week visiting the Tongariro Volcano World Heritage National Park. We stayed in the Grand Chateau that was built in 1929, and it was grand! Each morning we awoke to a blizzard! By midday the clouds had cleared to show us the breath taking volcanic peaks covered with snow. By early afternoon I was off tramping while Commodore enjoyed his book seated in one of the oversize couches nearest the blazing fire in the enormous fireplace. I knew if I could park him by a nice toasty fire that I would be able to hike to my heart's content. We slowly worked our way north, stopping at Lake Taupo and Lake Rotorua, checking out the caldera lakes, steam vents, craters, geysers and catching up with a friend we met in Aitutaki last November. We dropped off the volcanic plateau into the Bay of Plenty for a night, and I awoke early and spent an hour or so walking along Waipi Beach. It was sparkling clear and no wind. There were a variety of small rocky islands etched across the morning sky. We finally completed our circle back to Flashgirl. It is good to be back aboard our floating home, even though we have a heater and dehumidifier running all night. Our visa expire in ten days at the end of June. I am more than ready to head north to Tonga and the tropics!

Wed, Jun 21, 2006:	WINTER SOLSTICE IN JUNE!! We have now been in New Zealand for six months...half of one year with all the seasons seeming backwards to me. Summer in December was exciting. We had arrived here after about four months in the tropics. You may know that the days are always pretty short in the equatorial zone. In fact, days and nights remain fairly equal in duration throughout the year. Therefore, it was sweet to arrive in kiwi land here at approximately thirty-five degrees south. The days seemed to languish on forever! So now we are experiencing the opposite: winter in what rightfully feels like should be summer. Winter in June! Shocking! We are currently at the Dove's Bay Marina in Kerikeri at the Kerikeri Cruising Club. This area in pristine and beautiful as only the Bay of Islands can be. We have enjoyed periods of sparkling sun, and it is warm during those moments. However, in New Zealand, the weather changes quickly and usually clouds over during the course of the day, sometimes moving into showers. The weather is different from the northern hemisphere winter, as the storms seem to move through in multiples. We often will have two or three low pressure systems coming at any given time. Since we had Flashgirl hauled for four months, plus the past month for reassembly, we have not done much exploring of the New Zealand coastline. Summer is a much better time for cruising here, so we will miss out....it is just too darn cold to have fun cruising around these waters in winter!! During our stay here we have enjoyed getting to explore some of the interior. We have just returned from a week visiting the Tongariro Volcano World Heritage National Park. We stayed in the Grand Chateau that was built in 1929, and it was grand! Each morning we awoke to a blizzard! By midday the clouds had cleared to show us the breath taking volcanic peaks covered with snow. By early afternoon I was off tramping while Commodore enjoyed his book seated in one of the oversize couches nearest the blazing fire in the enormous fireplace. I knew if I could park him by a nice toasty fire that I would be able to hike to my heart's content. We slowly worked our way north, stopping at Lake Taupo and Lake Rotorua, checking out the caldera lakes, steam vents, craters, geysers and catching up with a friend we met in Aitutaki last November. We dropped off the volcanic plateau into the Bay of Plenty for a night, and I awoke early and spent an hour or so walking along Waipi Beach. It was sparkling clear and no wind. There were a variety of small rocky islands etched across the morning sky. We finally completed our circle back to Flashgirl. It is good to be back aboard our floating home, even though we have a heater and dehumidifier running all night. Our visa expire in ten days at the end of June. I am more than ready to head north to Tonga and the tropics!

Sun, May 21, 2006:	AFLOAT!!! Kiwi Greetings We are afloat again....YES!! After four months in the boat yard we are happily back in the water. We launched Wednesday morning, the 17th of May 2006. There were three large work items and many small items that were addressed while in the yard. I must say that Craig Partridge was a wonderful host, and made our time in his yard a pleasant experience. His crew were also very plesant and talented folks. Partridge Yachts is located inland at Waipapa near Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands. For boats with a draft up to six feet, there is a public boat ramp where yachts can be trucked 4-5 kilometers and backed down the ramp. We set our keel in the up position, which draws six feet (we are nine feet with the keel down) Since the Waipapa landing is really just a river that feeds into the Bay of Islands, the tide charts must be consulted before scheduling a launch. The tides are just barely high enough for us once or twice a month. We had hoped to launch on May 1st, but still had not fininshed painting the keel. So, we had to wait a fortnight for the next high enough tide. No worries though, we were plenty busy with various details during the "waiting time". I rode in the truck and it was very exciting to look out the back window and see our boat rolling down the road. Once we got to the landing, a crane met us, and we stepped the mast. The mast came together effortlessly, thanks to Commodore, then we had to wait another half hour for the tide to rise. There is a small park at the landing with lovely willow trees dangling over the little waterfalls at the river's mouth. This made for a dream like setting complete with pleasant waterfall sound effects. Finally, Murray & Peter of Bay Boat Haulers backed down the trailer, and Flashgirl floated off into the placid waters. The morning was clear and calm with the warm sun smiling upon us. It was the first sunny day in what seemed like weeks! A good omen to be sure!! To top it off, Craig Partridge kindly agreed to be our pilot for our one hour journey under motor power to the Dove's Bay Marina. Since Craig grew up here and has sailed/raced most of his life, it was great to have his local knowledge aboard. The tide was running out quickly as we wound our way around the river bends and out into the bay. The scenery was breathtaking, and we were able to enjoy it, knowing that we would not go aground. Now our task is to clean out all the dirt and dust of the past four months, then put the boat back together. We hope to be sailing in the next few weeks. Our first trip will be a sail south to Auckland and the Great Barrier Island. We will then return north to Opua and make our final preparations for sailing north to Tonga. Hurray & Hallelujah! Check your Email accounts at MyEmail.com Login from home, work, school. Anywhere!

Mon, Apr 17, 2006:	--0-16523119-1145316076:50009 Content-Type: text/plain; charsetiso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit OZZIE GREETINGS G'day! We recently took a week off from boatyards in New Zealand and flew across the Tasmen Sea to Australia. We went to visit our friend, Keith Bushnell, who has a magnificent property on Kangaroo Island, located south of Adelaide. Each year, he organizes a little party to celebrate Matthew Flinders birthday. Flinders is the one who voyaged and did much early charting of South Australia. It seems that Captain Flinders first set foot on Kangaroo Island on Keith's property, so we all took a walk over to the cairn to remember and honor him. I am sending you a pic of us with Keith, along another showing a few new friends. We are well, and I shall send more details soon! Cheers, Nancy Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min. --0-16523119-1145316076:50009 Content-Type: text/html; charsetiso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit OZZIE GREETINGS G'day! We recently took a week off from boatyards in New Zealand and flew across the Tasmen Sea to Australia. We went to visit our friend, Keith Bushnell, who has a magnificent property on Kangaroo Island, located south of Adelaide. Each year, he organizes a little party to celebrate Matthew Flinders birthday. Flinders is the one who voyaged and did much early charting of South Australia. It seems that Captain Flinders first set foot on Kangaroo Island on Keith's property, so we all took a walk over to the cairn to remember and honor him. I am sending you a pic of us with Keith, along another showing a few new friends. We are well, and I shall send more details soon! Cheers, Nancy Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1¢/min. --0-16523119-1145316076:50009--

Fri, Dec 16, 2005:	BAY OF ISLANDS G'Day! We are just this moment motoring into the Bay of Island, New Zealand. This is island #18 since leaving San Francisco and the first one without palm trees! We are excited to be arriving, although it is grey drizzly and cold...a bit like home. Flashgirl....................................out!!

Mon, Dec 12, 2005:	SOUTH BOUND FREIGHT TRAIN We are heading south and fast! Like a south bound freight train Weather conditions are superb We are having a blast! This is what sailing is all about. :) Presently at 2142 hours UTC Lat 27:15S Lon 177:25W The chill of cooler latitudes is in the air! We are broad reaching with double reefed main, and our red reaching sail Breeze is 18-22knots over the port quarter, 70 degrees true We are about 650 miles to Opua, Bay of Islands, and closing in fast! Skies are clear, high cirrus and a rising barometer, currently at 1010 Weather predictions indicate we should have good weather all the way in to port. This is the first time we have ever used a weather router, and for this cyclone season, we are glad to have one! Should make landfall in about four days. We are all smiles here. Flashgirl....................................................Out!

Sun, Dec 11, 2005:	DATE LINE CROSSING We crossed the international date line today at noon time. Suddenly, we are one day older. Today is a glorious day, so lucky are we to be at sea. The sunrise was serenely sweet, and the whole day has been gentle and lovely. We are surrounded by sparking blue skies and sapphire blue seas. The breeze is 12-15 knots now, and the swell just a gentle roll. The moon is waxing and has arisen overhead, and all is well!! We are at latitude 23 degrees south and our longitude is 173 west. The tropics are defined as the area between 20 degrees north and 20 degrees south. Our days are still warm and pareos still rule. However, the evenings require a sweater. Last night was the first time I wore a sweater since leaving California in June! You might not find the weather coolish, but we have become quite acclimated to the tropics. Anyway, we expect to make landfall in New Zealand in about one week. We will celebrate the summer solstice here on December 21st. This will be my first southern hemisphere solstice! ~Nancy

Sun, Dec 11, 2005:	AITUTAKI, Cook Islands Visited November 3-28, 2005 There is a Victorian-age poem that speaks of a songbird in summer, trying to recapture "that first careless rapture" of it's Spring song. Folk wisdom suggests that it is questionable to return to an earlier, much thought about and loved locale in later life, lest the early recollections, and the pleasures there from, be damaged and largely lost. I was told once of a man who returned to his home town after many years. He decided to visit the home of his college sweetheart; he greeted the woman who responded to his knock on the door as if she were the mother of his long-ago love, only to discover, to their mutual embarrassment, that the now older woman was in fact the earlier love interest! Such thoughts passed through my mind as we approached Aitutaki, a jewel-like island in the Southern Cook Islands. My first visit to the island was twenty-five years earlier, on board a fifty-five foot Farr design, a sloop named ZAMAZAAN. We were two couples on board ZAMAZAAN, (named after a once famous race horse), and our approach to Aitutaki was the stuff of myth and legend. We had departed New Zealand about ten days previously, spent two days hove-to in hard weather near the Kermadec Islands, and generally been close- hauled all the way, about eighteen hundred miles. Memory fails to provide my reasoning in seeking this island, the conventional system to reach Tahiti from New Zealand being to sail eastward at about the (cold!) fortieth parallel until approximately due south of one's destination, then turn northward, abandoning the westerlies that blow in the south, and enjoying starboard tack in the easterlies for a close reach into the Societies. I suspect that my enthusiasm for the adage that cruising is best done between the twentieth parallels may have had something to do with our being at Aitutaki, about twenty south latitude and one hundred sixty west longitude. In ZAMAZAAN, we first saw the island shortly after noon. The easterly trades were fresh, and visibility was hampered by the low level salty haze one frequently sees in such a breeze. We were carrying a double reefed mainsail and number three headsail, and sailing comfortably as we worked to windward, finally reaching the smooth lee of the island about four in the afternoon. The transition from the deep-sea motion to the smooth water was in itself magical, but was augmented by the fragrance of the reef and the land, and my watchmate, Lil, who took in the scene while standing to windward of my steering station and hanging onto the running backstay. She was clad in a pareu, I recall, which snapped and flapped about my bare shoulders. We made anchorage on the small sand and coral shelf north west of the island, close to the only pass to the inside lagoon. Arutunga Pass carries just six feet at high water, according to all the literature, insufficient for ZAMAZAAN. Since the anchorage is, first, narrow in poor holding ground, second, the bottom slopes steeply into the deep, third, the area is open to refracting swells from both north and south of the island, fourth, the area is swept by the full force of the prevailing wind, and finally, the anchorage is a one-and-a-half mile row up wind and against the constantly ebbing current from the landing, the sailing directions and cruising guides advising that the anchorage is "tenuous", "insecure", "must be vacated in the event of a wind shift", all seem daunting, and accurate! History indicates that Bligh anchored BOUNTY here for several days, only a week or two before the famous mutiny. It must have been an uneasy anchorage then as now, and one presumes he enjoyed settled weather! We enjoyed a reasonably quiet night in this spot, and the next morning, I sent the other two ashore, to explore and see the sights, while Lil and I looked after ZAMAZAAN. In the event, the shore party remained ashore for two days and nights, while in ZAMAZAAN, we got the anchor and jilled about, awaiting their return, the weather having deteriorated. Ultimately we were re-united, and it was Lil's and my turn ashore. We accomplished the long row with only mild effort, approached an inviting beach slightly north of the commercial wharf, and were met at the surfline by an island couple. They grabbed onto the inflatable, and while the four of us carried it to a nearby tree, they glanced at the sky to the south-east, predicted rain, and invited us into their dwelling to wait it out. After this auspicious beginning, things only got better! Our volunteer hosts plied us with cafe au lait, bread, butter and jam as only friendly Kiwis can, and answered a legion of questions about the island. They had been correct about the weather, but it cleared after a couple of hours, and with their direction, Lil and I set off to obtain fresh fruit and bread for our slog up to French Polynesia. Our friends from the morning coffee session had given us the name of the foreman at the warehouse where he and his crew were presently loading a barge with island produce. It seems we had arrived at banana harvesting time. The foreman, whose name is lost in the fog of memory, when we asked to buy fruit, responded that we could not do so. This he quickly followed with a great big smile, and said: "We can give it to you, though! What kinds of fruit do you want?" He then assembled two young men with burlap bags and long slender sticks, piled us all into a jeep, and commenced a tour of the island's fruit growing areas! Papayas, mangos, pineapples, bananas, of course, and pamplemousse fell to the two youngsters, who seemed to enjoy being out of the tedium of the warehouse. We returned to our inflatable with heaps of fruit, but more importantly, with an enduring impression of the bounty and spirit of these islanders. Lil and I stayed ashore only the short hours of that day, after which we returned to ZAMAZAAN, and made sail for Tahiti. Our brief visit taught us, other than that the natives were friendly, that the roads were good, insects not especially numerous, there were no dogs at all, the island was awash in fruit, and that we wanted to come back! Clearly, the anchorage and pass situation present a problem to any yacht drawing more than six feet. This includes most good ocean going sailing vessels, of course, size being almost directionally proportional to comfort, and draft directly proportional to both windward ability and sail-carrying power. A modern catamaran would be an exception to all this, of course, but a large catamaran might find it pretty tight in Aitutaki's pass, which is about forty feet wide. After Aitutaki, we sailed ZAMAZAAN up to Tahiti and then happily home to San Francisco, where she has had a great career, and is still going strong. Lil married and is retired from the sea. I framed and sent her the portion of the chart upon which I had plotted our approach to Aitutaki. She seems to recall the place and time as fondly as I. For me the recollection of that first visit is as vivid as if it had occurred last week, altho a lot of time has passed! Some years following the Aitutaki adventure, I experienced a heart attack. A heart attack can be a great wake-up call! During my recuperation, I concluded that I should change my life a bit. I had no intention of giving up voyaging under sail in yachts, of course, but concluded that I must get serious about doing it in my own vessel, thereby avoiding schedules superimposed from without. This, as anyone who seriously examines the prospect knows, is a daunting prospect! For the most part, those who grow to be able to afford the equipment have neglected obtaining sufficient skills in handling boats and the sea to be comfortable thereon. In my case, I felt pretty comfortable on boats at sea, even pretty small ones, but had little finance. Time to call in favors earned from a lifetime in the sailing industry! My ultimate selection was of a Wylie design, at the time about five years old. A mold existed, and still does, for this hull. About fifteen hulls, every one somewhat different have been lifted out of this mold. My boat was no exception to the contrary-from-ordinary pattern of this small fleet! My first requirement of the very patient and willing designer, was that I must have a lifting keel, with a maximum draft of five and one-half feet. Because the boat was to cross oceans and sail well, she would also have a deep-draft configuration, in the end, of nine feet. The shoal draft dimension was expressly aimed at Aitutaki's Arutunga Pass. Construction of the hull and most of the deck took place in a proper boat-builder's facility: Westerly Yachts, under the care of Lin Bowser. The shell, bulkheads with partial deck attached, and engine mounted were then finished by me personally, with some help from friends, most especially, the designer! Tom Wylie proved resourceful, a great listener, extremely patient, enormously helpful and understanding. The resulting yacht, christened FLASHGIRL, after twelve years of approximately half time work, has exceeded expectations. Having acquired a wife who helped finish FLASHGIRL, and finally deciding the project was finished enough to actually use for her intended purpose, altho we had been sailing her for four years around San Francisco and the California coast, we put to sea in May of 2005, headed south and west, first stop Tahiti, a mere three thousand seven hundred miles away. After Tahiti, a cruise through French Polynesia ensued, touching bits of the Societies, Tuamotus, and Marquesas. We departed these islands from Bora Bora, arguably one of the most spectacular islands around, bound for Aitutaki. The distance from Bora, as the people there call it, to Aitutaki is four hundred-eighty miles, and the heading is slightly south of true west. We were confronted with very light winds directly over the stern for the first two days, during which time we carried a masthead half ounce symmetrical spinnaker. These were hot days and moonless nights, we were grateful that our auto-pilot could handle twelve knots and the spinnaker! Twelve knots was the hardest it blew, mostly it was around seven knots, and we tacked downwind! After a period of calm, during which we actually motored for a few hours, the wind came in light and from dead ahead! We enjoyed a day of sailing close-hauled under one-hundred-fifty per cent genoa in ideal smooth seas and temperature. On our final night at sea, we experienced a frontal passage, with attendant reefing and tacking, not to mention heavy rain. In the morning we found ourselves in unsettled conditions, which soon changed to a fresh southerly, giving us a spirited close reach on port tack. (Did someone say something about the south-east tradewinds frequenting this area?) In mid-morning we made landfall on Aitutaki, and were sailing in the well-remembered lee by two in the afternoon. It was a fitting conclusion to a superb sail! In the intervening years I had often wondered whether the sailing diections regarding Arutunga Pass were accurate. The charts I was able to obtain stated they were drawn from a Briish survey carried out in eighteen ninety-two. They showed a least depth in the pass of three-quarters of a fathom, or four and half feet. We were successful in downloading from the internet, while in Papeete, tides for the months we thought we might be at Aitutaki. These documents indicated a tidal rise of six-tenths of a meter, which is twenty-three and one half inches. The sum, providing things were still as they had been would be about six feet, five inches. The antiquity of the chart datum, the various cautions of all the sailing directions I could find, including ones about the narrowness of the channel and the force of the current, all suggested that we should do our own survey. The anchorage being what it was, and the next high water being in the dead of night, we were delighted to find a large, industrial strength mooring buoy placed in ninety feet of water. Based on the size of this equipment, we felt confident about laying on it for the night. Reeving a line through the huge rusty shackle posed a bit of a problem, in that there was a choppy sea over a rather heavy swell and a very fresh wind off the land. Our solution was to reeve a line through the bow hawsepipe, along with a short, independent messenger. The heavy mooring line was rigged so that its lower end was about one foot above water level. The outboard end of the messenger was about the same level. This being the tropics, the temperature of the water was bound to be delightful; after several assurances that nothing would consume all or part of her, Nancy jumped overboard off the bow, grabbed the end of the mooring pendant and quickly passed it through the shackle. The big difficulty lay in rendering the cordage 'round the rusty shackle to gain sufficient length to join it to the messenger dangling from the hawse! Meanwhile, back at the helm, I was employed in: a) not hitting the very solid ball, b) keeping the boat head to wind and close to the ball, and c) not running over my wife! With surprising ease we were moored, and had recovered Nancy via the stern swimming ladder. We rendered about seventy feet of cordage, to get lots of separation and shock absorption from the ball, and after rigging gilguys at the mast and rolling preventers on the mainboom, passed a reasonably restful night. High tide for the following morning was at ten-thirty six. We wakened at six, to assemble and launch the dinghy, to prepare for our little survey party, and to deal with the officials on shore. This was a new country for us, after French Polynesia, replete with customs, quarantine and immigration officials. We noted that no-one had responded to our "Q" flag the previous evening, not even via VHF! Just before leaving FLASHGIRL, we tried again on VHF, and established contact with the health officer, whom we agreed to meet on shore. We had some three-quarter inch diameter glass tubing on board, and joined two lengths to produce an eight foot long sounding staff. We calibrated this in one foot increments, duly labeled and highlit with black tape, from five feet to eight feet. After all, if only two hours before high water we found less than five feet depths, Arutunga Pass would be a no-go for us. In the best maritime tradition, we rowed slowly into the pass. Nancy occupied the stern sheets, sounding staff in her right hand, with water-proof pen and a rough sketch- chart, (taped to a breadboard), on which to note her findings close at hand. It was very exciting entering the pass between the breakers in such a small boat! The current was strong enough that we were pleased to be using such an easily rowed boat. Adverse wind and current caused our progress to be slow over the bottom, about three knots through the water. Nancy learned to stab the staff forward and alongside the dinghy in order to get her dimensions vertical. The narrowness of the channel was quickly confirmed, but promised to present no problems for FLASHGIRL. The channel was regularly marked on the north side only, by a variety of iron re-bar and pipe driven into coral which was clearly visible about one or two feet under water. These markers were regularly spaced, but not all the same distance from the edge of the coral, which we noted on our sketch-chart. We decided that in future it would be preferable to do this work with three people, in that the oarsman was fully occupied, and the person sounding constantly had wet hands...the third as recorder would have been great! We had timed our row in from the mooring. It had taken us almost three-quarters of an hour, and we had missed our appointment with the official. The harbormaster assured us that that transgression would not be a problem, and we returned poste-haste to FLASHGIRL. We departed the shore at ten sharp, much heartened after finding a least depth of five and three-quarters feet, and feeling confident that with raised keel, we could enter safely. The return to the boat consumed but fifteen minutes, downwind and current and no pauses for sounding, altho we noted the channel colors as we exited. Aboard FLASHGIRL, we hoisted the dinghy alongside, raised the keel, (one hundred seventy-eight turns!), sytarted the engine, slipped the mooring, and motored toward the pass. The wind was still fresh, and the current continued to flow seaward, despite the fact that the tide was still slightly on the rise. Arutunga Pass is the sole exit from a lagoon some twelve miles long and seven miles wide. The sea constantly breaks on the surrounding reef, supplying fresh seawater to the lagoon, and the only way out for this water is through the "deep" channel of Arutunga. A similar phenomenon occurs in all the islands with few or small passes. The thrill of entering the pass in our dinghy was as nothing compared to steering FLASHGIRL over the same route! We noticed immediately that the depths shown on the chart were confirmed by our fathometer: the entrance was indeed three fathoms deep! With Nancy on the bow indicating small changes of course, we proceeded, without incident of any sort,over the route we had earlier sounded, into the inner basin. The inner basin, a man-made rectangle dug out of the fore-shore and intended for local fishermen and commercial use, is about eight feet deep at high water. It is about two hundred meters by one hundred meters, with side-ties possible along the north shore, and two launching ramps for trailer boats, used by the local fishermen. The bottom of this pond is mud and sand over coral, not great holding, but hey, in eight feet of water, one can deploy ten-to-one scope and depend mostly on the chain! We anchored bow and stern, with lots of scope in each direction, and heaved a satisfied sigh of relief! FLASHGIRL had satisfied yet another design parameter, and we were in a serene and pleasant anchorage, secure, and perhaps a two minute row from shore! We have spent three days here so far, and anticipate at least one week total time in Aitutaki. We are informed that there are seventeen hundred people on the island, a slight decrease in numbers over recent years. People have been emigrating to New Zealand and Australia since the agriculture that used to be the mainstay of the place has ceased to be. Various tariffs and the hard facts of economics killed the banana trade, and the principal activity here now is in tourism. Aitutaki is a similar island to Bora Bora, in that it has a high, volcanic core surrounded by reef and lagoon. Bora Bora is much larger, with a deep, clear entrance and lagoon, and the aspect of Bora Bora, approaching or departing, is classic "Enchanted Island" straight out of South Pacific! Aitutaki is not nearly so dramatic, on the other hand, the natives are as friendly on this visit as they were long ago, they still speak English, albeit rather a New Zealand flavored English, and there are still no dogs allowed on the island. It seems that the no- dogs edict is intended as a noise and annoyance abatement measure, which I, for one, applaud. One can still obtain fruit in plentiful supply, and the insects, we find are largely under control. It is truly startling how pleasant it is to be among these people. Nancy walks down the street and is asked to stop and talk a while, completely at random. We have an electrical/mechanical problem, and the harbormaster takes me to several mechanics on the back of his motorbike, and agrees to be communication central for me and the mechanic, since we have no telephone. The health officer, stood-up earlier in the day, hailed me from the shore after we anchored inside. He carried out his duties in the most relaxed and pleasant manner imaginable, while seated on his scooter beneath a shade tree, among some large lava boulders on the spit which forms the north shore of the basin. We asked directions of a woman outside the local market, and after receiving them, commenced walking. Minutes later, she pulled up alongside commenting that as it was a long walk, she had asked her friend to give us a ride. Absolutely everyone waves at us as they pass, in cars, on scooters, bicycles or walking. The children in arms, very young, smile and render the thumbs-up sign when you wave at them! When Nancy downloaded the tidal information concerning Aitutaki, she also brought back several pages of information regarding the island's regulations concerning preserving their environment. Someone here has discovered the meaning and signifigance of the word: "SUSTAINABILTY", they have enacted many laws to achieve this on the island. We are told that the laws, when followed, are supremely effective, and the various fish populations were returning and beginning to flourish again. Sadly, we are also told there is insufficient policing of these statutes. Even sadder that policing is necessary to achieve so noble a goal in so beautiful a place. Nevertheless, it is encouraging that so remote a place is so forward-thinking concerning their environment. Aitutaki seems today, different than before, but just as beguiling. A superb island to visit and explore. Our early hopes and expectations have not been shattered, much of that "first careless rapture" is recoverable here today.

Sat, Dec 10, 2005:	LEAVING THE TROPICS The tropics are defined as the area between the twentieth parallels. We are now on our way to New Zealand and at latitude 21 south. We have left the tropics after five and a half months soaking up the warmth and all the lovely islands we have found along the way. I have been to 17 islands on this trip, and New Zealand will make it 18 for 2005. This is and has been a great adventure!! ~ Nancy

Sat, Dec 10, 2005:	MECHANICAL DIFFICULTIES Seasons Greetings! Our apologies for not writing for so long. We have been encountering mechanical difficulties and conserving power. Our alternator, which charges the batteries has not been in good working order, and has set our cruising schedule back a month or more! We are now on our way to New Zealand. I will catch up and write to the ship's log about Bora Bora, Aitutaki and Niue before the end of this month. We are well, and hope you all are too. ~ Nancy

Thu, Oct 27, 2005:	THE COOL WAY TO PICK UP A MOORING, OR WHO NEEDS BOAT HOOKS?? Forgot to tell you how we picked up the mooring here at Hurepiti Bay in Tahaa... Commodore makes everything seem so easy and effortless...... We first took a tour of the bay to check out depths and the availability of moorings, about which we had been told. As we went by the moorings, I asked Commodore what he saw, and he said, "I see a big old mooring line with an eye in the end, and the fathometer ready 85 feet." Without any noticeable forethought or planning, Commodore asked me to take a piece of bullshit rope and dangle it through the hawse pipe, with one end made fast to the staysail tack fitting, which is immediately aft of the hawse pipe on deck. Then I came aft and took the tiller, slowly backing up to the mooring ball. When we reached the ball, moving astern very slowly, Commodore stepped down onto the swim step, and put a relatively short piece of 3/8 inch double braided cordage through the big loop in the mooring line. Then he walked forward to the bow on the port side, having instructed me to back the stern slowly to starboard. This kept the mooring gear clear of the rudder, propeller and keel. As soon as the mooring was at the bow, he simply tied the bullshit messenger cordage that was in the hawse pipe to the 3/8 inch cordage and pulled it through the hawse pipe. He then tied one end of the 3/8 inch cordage to the staysail tack fitting, and the other end went around the anchor windlass, and voila! We were moored in a flash! All this took a lot less time than it did to write to you. PS. The 3/8 inch cordage is adequate because there is no sea. Commodore thinks this is a no brainer, but I was pretty impressed!

Thu, Oct 27, 2005:	RAIATEA & TAHAA We are anchored in Hurepiti Bay, on the west coast of Tahaa. This is one of the nicest places we have been yet! Peaceful, quiet and beautiful.....and on a mooring in 85 feet of water. :) Arrived in Raiatea yesterday morning, and tied at the end of one of the fingers in the public marina in downtown Uturoa. The plan was to make a quick phone call to see if I could find my friend Mirella from eight years ago when we were here with Spellbound. She answered the phone, and so spent the day with her. It was fun to catch up. Dinner ran late, and we slept in the marina, leaving around 0900 this morning for Tahaa. Plan A was to swing by Tahaa enroute to Bora Bora, but on our way across the channel, switched to Plan B: Hey, let's sail around Tahaa, leaving the island to port! And so we did! It has been as nice as the nicest day of sailing in my life.....really, really lovely. I hopped off Flashgirl at the Hibiscus Restaurant/Hotel/Sea Turtle Rescue Foundation in Haamene Bay...yes! They have saved over 1,000 endangered sea turtles. I visited this place eight years ago while bicycling around the island, and it was fun to return. This time there were only three turtles, but I got to feed them and hold them.....very exciting! We sailed under full main and no jibe...much better for sight seeing, and we had plenty of power. It was very windy yesterday afternoon and all morning...gusting to 23-24 knots. However it moderated in the afternoon to perfect Flashgirl weather...10-15 knots.....The wind wound around the island, and we ghosted along at the very end while viewing Bora Bora, and got to watch the sun set right over our stern, while sitting on the Potter platform in bean bags. A perfect day to be sure!

Mon, Oct 24, 2005:	ILES SOUS LE VENT~~ We began our journey four months ago, leaving San Diego, and sailing to Tahiti in 22 days. It was a great sail. We spent close to one month in Tahiti and Moorea, the Iles Du Vent. After touring the Tuamotus and Marqueses we returned to the Iles Du Vent (Windward Islands), and have only just now reached the Iles Sous Le Vent (The Islands under the Wind/Leeward Islands). We sailed from Tahiti to Huahine three days ago, leaving around midnight, and arriving in Huahine fourteen hours later. We had a great sail and made very good time, covering about 120 miles. Arrived to a drum welcoming circle...or so I thought...... However, when it continued on and on, Commodore dropped me off the bow onto a big flat rock, and I wandered off to find the source of this fantastic rhythm. It was pretty easy to follow the sounds and soon I was under a large roof over a school basketball/volleyball court. There were about a dozen guys beating out the rhythms while about fifty dancers practiced their routine...what a treat! I sat in the shade, soaking up the scene....what a perfect welcome. It turns out they are practicing for a competition of all the Huahine villages in December. The winner goes to Heiva in Papeete next July. The ages of the dancers ranged from about 15 to 30 years. The following day we took a half day 4x4 tour in the afternoon around Haunine Nui and Huahine Iti. I really enjoy seeing the interior and getting an overview by land as well as by sea. We saw a vanilla plantation, the agricultural interior, blue-eyed eels, ancient fish traps and some very interesting maraes at the Maeva archeological site. The stone formations were different from maraes we had previously seen. Evidently, at one time there was a entire hillside of maraes believed to be connected with the local royal famalies. The following morning, we decided to stay one more day to see if we could learn more about the archeological history of the maraes. There is an excellent historian on Huahine, but he was away in Tahiti. So, we rented a bicycle built for two, and took off for our own little adventure. There are not many cars on the island, so bike riding is a real joy. We ended up back at the marae, and had a picnic while viewing these stone ceremonial grounds in the soft afternoon sunlight. We returned the bike, and rowed back out to Flashgirl for an early evening. Sitting in the cockpit after dinner, we were quite surprised to see lightening over the island of Raiatea, about twenty miles away. We arose this morning at 0600 hours, and by 0630 hours were out of the pass at Huahine, headed for Raiatea, which we could easily see from our anchorage. It was a serenely beautiful morning, with sunny skies, scattered clouds and a building breeze. By 0900 hours we were entering through the south pass of Raiatea, called Passe Teavamoa, and a few minutes later, were sailing past the largest and most significant marae, the Marae Taputapuatea. In ancient times, Raiatea, then called Havai'i, was the cultural, religious and historic center of the Society Islands. People came by canoe from great distances to gather here for important ceremonies. To approach the marae by sea was very exciting, as it was easy to imagine what it might have been like hundreds of years ago. We continued our sail around Raiatea inside the coral reef, keeping a sharp eye out for coral heads. The day was a mixture of crystal clear pale blue water to darker blues, surf and motus. About two hours later, we arrived at the main town, Uturoa. I hopped off the boat at a small marina, and contacted my friend, Mirella, who I met while here eight years ago. As luck would have it, she was home, and we soon made plans to spend the rest of the day together. What fun! Tomorrow, we will continue on to Tahaa, which is enclosed along with Raiatea in the same fringing reef. So, now my island hopping will be an even dozen aboard Flashgirl! #01: Tahiti #02: Moorea #03: Fakarava #04: Toau #05: Raroia #06: Fatu Hiva #07: Tahuata #08: Nuku Hiva #09: Kauehi #10: Huahine #11: Raiatea #12: Tahaa ~~Nancy

Sat, Oct 22, 2005:	BACK IN TAHITI: Bonjour, we arrived back at the downtown quay in Papeete on October 1st. Kinda strange, as it was our original landing point almost three months ago. When we arrived on July 8th, there were about 50 boats tied up stern to the quay. This time it is rather eerie, as we are one of two boats here...... We spent three days in Toau at Matariva, the little cove on the outside of the atoll. A small front blew through and it was nice and snug! :) Saw 22-28 knots. Went out looking twice for mantas in the lagoon, and saw just one on the second day. It was a bit of a disappointment after seeing nearly a dozen the previous month. However, we followed him around and watched with wonder for a while. This time Valentine had harvested her pearls, so she laid them out on a towel and we ended up trading a bunch of various items....we were glad to get rid of the stuff, and the boat is probably 30-40 pounds lighter. Some of the items were: a pair of fins, two pair of old sunglasses, 4-5 t-shirts, an old face plate, some old lemons and tomatoes from the Marquesas, an old canvas carry bag, etc, etc.....it was fun! This was my first such experience, as we struck out finding local growers in Kauehi, Raroia, and Fakarava. We had a great sail from Toau to Tahiti...233 miles in 34 hours. We flew the 3/4 ounce kite twice, and took it down both times with approaching squalls, which turned out to not carry too much of a punch. We looked at our weather report and saw that the wind was supposed to shift from Northeast to North or even Northwest! At one point it was quite light, and we noticed some clouds, and jibed over to sail towards them, hoping for some wind. Well, I was on watch when we finally reached the clouds. It was most interesting as I could see the clouds moving at right angles to the boat. As soon as we were under the clouds, the wind shifted NINETY degrees! Wow! That is the biggest wind shift I have ever sailed into..it was fun! Found myself laughing out loud as the wind keep bending further and further around. Along with the new wind came about 15 knots of wind, which was much nicer than the 5-6 knots we had been sailing through. Never saw more than twenty knots, and probably around a 15 knot average except when it got real light during the last 30 or so miles approaching Tahiti. Carried the red sail most of the time. We had a lovely morning sail into the entrance, and laid at the dock by 0900 hours Saturday morning. The work list is about ten items long. The two big items are: 1) Re-weld our stainless steel water tank, as it has sprung a leak. 2) Fix the five battens in our awning which broke in a brief squall in Nuku Hiva. Commodore made it to Naughty Sport before it closed on Saturday, and picked up sand paper and 17 or 20 ounce DB, which he is taking apart for unidirectionals to repair the battens. He was lamenting about needing a work bench for all the sanding ahead, the voila! Found the perfect spot right outside our door first thing Sunday morning. We are tied up port side to the one float on the quay, and brested off with a bow anchor and brest line way up the quay. So, it is very convenient to going ashore. The hand rails to the gang plank turn out to be the perfect height for a work bench! So, as he sands away, talking to passers by, the battens are getting repaired. A complexity of this repair is that the battens cannot grow in size. So, WMT has to reduce the size enough to be able to make the repair. He has both handrails going with battens clamped to them...and wishes there were more handrails and shade!! There are five battens to repair! :( It is blistering hot here..... We plan to clear out soon, as our visa expires on October 8th....oh my! We would like to stop at Moorea, Huahine and Bora Bora on our way to Aitutaki. ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ the above missive was written on October 3rd....... ...and here is the continuation...... We actually cleared out on October 6th, and sailed to Moorea on the same day. Returned to our favorite spot in Opunohu Bay. Do not think it is possible to tire of that exotic place. After a few days, we made ready to go to Huahine, and our alternator quit on us! :( It was obvious to both of us that the logical thing to do was to return to Papeete AGAIN!! This would be our third time in the capitol city this season. We called ahead to make arrangements with a mechanic and to immigration to request an extension. We tied up at the downtown quay on October 11th, and the only good thing about our return was seeing the Australian yacht, Simple Pleasures. We have become quite friendly with them, having first met them in Fatu HIva. We spent 2-3 days with them in Fatu Hiva, and then another week in Nuku Hiva, followed by a few days in Kauehi. They heard us come in, and were also quite excited to see us again! We all moved around to Marina Taina after dropping off various boat parts downtown that were in need of repair. It seems in the tropics that it is futile to expect anyone to rush about anything, so we enjoyed swimming to each other's boats in the crystal clear waters, as well as some sort of errand each day. Finally we were ready to leave on October 18th, and departed around midnight, after taking in an excellent Polynesian dance performance at a nearby hotel. Now, we are off to our next destination!

Sun, Sep 25, 2005:	We have left the Marquesas, and had a nice three day's sail, reaching to Kauehi, in the Tuamotus. The people here are by far the most friendly of anywhere we have been. The village is well kept, clean, and well landscaped. The sand roads are raked every morning, along with most yards, and it is obvious there is pride in keeping their village in good order. Yesterday we were walking in the heat of the day, and realizing that I had left the water bottle on board Flashgirl, Commodore approached a man who had waved hello to us, asking if we might have a small drink of water. Well, nothing would do, but he eagerly and with great enthusiasm ushered us into the shade and cool of his breezy porch, then produced a large bottle of partially frozen water and a glass. Well, we sat down and drank the whole bottle, while conversing in our very marginal French. As the bottle neared empty, he sprang inside the house and produced another bottled of frozen water. Wow! This was the perfect solution to pause during the heat of the day. A little while later, he asked us if we liked fish, and we nodded sure, we like fish. Well, nothing would do, but he again sprang into his kitchen and returned with a rather large frozen fish and thumped it onto the table.....We were amused and amazed at his hospitality. I might also add that it made a delicious dinner last night, but was so large that we took it over to our Australian friend's boat of six people, and there was plenty for all. :)

Thu, Sep 8, 2005:	We arrived at Fatu Hiva the southern and most remote of the Marquesan islands after a three day sail from Raroia in the Tuamotus. Raroia's claim to fame is that Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki landed on this atoll, ending his voyage many years ago. It was startling for me to approach the Marquesas after the low lying atolls of the Tuamotus. Instead of straining to see the tree tops of an atoll at about eight miles, we were now viewing tall volcanic islands, visible at about forty miles. The morning was clear, and it was exciting to approach this majestic island, watching the details of the peaks and valleys grow clear with our approach. We anchored in Hanavave Bay, which is also called the Bay of Virgins. This bay is world reknown for it's lush beauty and dramatically jutting spires. We assembled Taxi Dancer and rowed ashore in the late afternoon, so the air was nice and cool. The small village begins at the water's edge and follows the river upstream. There are two roads running from the bay up the valley and one cross street, perhaps fifty homes. There are many fruit trees, lemon, orange, mango, pamplemousse, papaya, all laden with fruit. The pace is slow, and the people are friendly. I heard someone playing a ukulele, while walking down the street, and became quite excited, because I am trying to learn the instrument. We heard some singing emanating from the local church, and wandered closer to listen. When the congregation exited the church, the ukulele man appeared! I got up the courage to approach him to ask for a lesson. I explained that I had purchased a ukulele, and needed some help with the chords. My new friend, Metani, replied that it was simple, showed me a few chords, then handed me the uke to give it a go! I practiced a few chords, he wandered off, returning with a guitar, and accompanied me. We played a few songs together and he sang the melody. Wow! I was stoked! We arranged to meet the following morning for another lesson. The next morning, I rowed ashore with my uke, eager to learn more. Metani was nowhere to be found, so I sat on some stones along the waterfront. Pretty soon a woman came by, pointed to my uke, and I handed it to her. She smiled, and showed me a few chords, some new, and some familiar. It seems that the rhythm of the strumming is very important, and what makes the tune Marquesan. She invited me to her home, and I helped her carry the bread fruit she had collected. We got to her home, and she built a small fire outdoors, using coconut husks and a few bits of wood. The fire started easily, and she placed a few bread fruit in the fire. I was fascinated to observe the everyday activities of this village. Next thing I knew, Metani appeared and my next lesson began! My other interest for the day, was to hike to the 200 foot waterfall, about an hour's walk above the village. Since Commodore does not like to hike, I was planning to find directions, and go alone. So, I was delighted when Metani consented to my invitation to join me. We put the ukulele in my day pack, and started up the valley. We made several stops at various homes along the way, and he picked up a machete for our adventure. We decided to walk through the hillside to gather fruit along the way, and veered off the road. We quickly began our ascent, with Metani whacking the jungle's growth out of our way. The hillside was soaked with water run off, and soon I was up to my ankles in mud. I kicked off my shoes and carried them, in an attempt to keep up with George of the Jungle. He easily continued up the hill, waiting for me to awkwardly attempt to do what came so naturally to him. Metani was quite attentive and next thing I knew he was carrying my knapsack and my shoes. The scene was breath taking, as we rose through the coconut palms, higher and higher, viewing the jagged peaks of this primal island. We stopped to gather mangoes, and continued our ascent. At one point, I was quite breathless and over heated, thinking perhaps this hike was not such a good idea after all. Metani responded with encouragement, sat me down on a rock, found a coconut, used the machete to cut away the husk, and handed me the refreshing drink. I looked around and noticed some old rock formations from marae, the ancient ceremonial sites. I could hear the river, but we still had another good pull up to the cascade. Finally we made it and it was well worth the effort. We dove into the large pool, and the cool water rinsed away the mud and grime of our climb. We swam right up to the cascade, which had veils of water falling down a sheer black volcanic facade. The water was heated by the stone, and was quite warm when it reached the pool at the fall's bottom. There was a carved out pocket in the stone, where we sat and watched the water fall in front of us. After some time we swam ashore and ate the mangoes we had collected along the way. Then Metani played some songs on the ukulele......was this some dream fantasy?? Isn't this what every woman desires? I was in the company of a beautiful and gentle man, about thirty years old, whose whole purpose seemed to be to show me his primal world, mostly untouched by the modern world. His bare brown chest was adorned with the traditional Marquesan tatoos and his body was fit. I was enchanted. We sat for a few hours, took another swim, and eventually walked back to the village. On our way back, he stopped, and filled my knapsack with papayas, more mangoes and lemons. Paradise found!

Sat, Aug 27, 2005:	Commodore and I took a walk in the small village on this atoll this afternoon. There are perhaps about thirty modest homes along dirt and coral pathways. The complete walking tour was less than one hour. We observed probably a dozen men working on the little airport terminal building...it seemed like half the work force was here. The other twenty or so workers get picked up at dawn in a launch each morning, returning around two o'clock in the afternoon. We are guessing that they work at a pearl farm across the lagoon. We met a few children along the little roadways. As we are the only yacht anchored about sixty yards off the jetty, everyone knew who we were. This is not a tourist town. It had been squally and blustery all day, and as the wind increased, we both felt it was time to get back to the boat. Rowing the short distance in the chop took some effort, but we made it! We had been seeing 20-28 knots of wind in the squalls. It seemed like a good day to take it easy. After we had been back aboard Flashgirl for an hour or so, some of the children we had met walked to the end of the jetty and started waving at us. The next thing we knew, three boys were taking off their shirts, jumped off the pier and started swimming out to the boat! It was quite choppy and blowing more than 20 knots. These kids were obviously very comfortable in the water, and pretty good swimmers. It turns out these boys ages ranged from eight to eleven. We served them some almonds, apricots and hot chocolate! Pretty soon two more boys appeared on the pier, and our visitors encouraged them to swim out too. So, next thing we new, these other boys were taking off their shirts, and jumping into the water! Now we had five visitors. Unfortunately, our French is extremely limited, so making conversation was a bit challenging. However, a good time was had by all. After about an hour, our visitors all said au revoir and merci, then headed towards the swim step. We thought they'd be on their way, but instead the boys lingered on the swim step for about ten minutes, seeing who would be the first to take the plunge back towards shore. Eventually they all jumped in and made it safely back to the pier, put on their shirts, and walked home. It is now about 8:00PM, and the wind is still blowing. We saw a gust up to thirty knots of wind about a half hour ago, so we set a second anchor to assure a secure holding through the night. The activity of setting the second anchor was pretty exciting in the dark. The boat was pitching in the chop, and the wind was blowing twenty-five and gusting to thirty while we were on deck. We set the second anchor, and then evened up the tension between the two rodes. The little bruce has seventy feet of chain and sixty feet of cordage out in sand (we think), and the big bruce we know is set in coral and has seventy feet of chain and two feet of cordage! It is still blowing hard, and we feel much more secure. Tomorrow's work will be to retrieve the anchors and then head out towards the Marquesas. Bon Nuit!

Fri, Aug 26, 2005:	Bonjour! We took a little under two full days getting up to Raroia from the south pass at Fakarava. Of course, it was a dead muzzler until the end of the first day's sailing, hard on the wind, bumping and crashing along with reefs and the staysail for part of it! Then the wind headed us, which should have been nifty, except it backed right around so that instead of laying our destination, we were dead upwind of it. So we broad reached along in light, balmy air until about 0100, at which time the breeze had increased enough so that the NKE autopilot could handle the boat at AWA 130 and give us 6.5 knots of comfortable boat speed with just the main. So, comes the dawn, NLPT rouses me, we are sailing on port tack at 090 degrees, our destination lies about 18 miles distant at 160 degrees. Needless to say, a jibe is in the works! Jibe completed, in a brilliant sunny morning with gorgeous puffy clouds along the whole horizon northwards, but, oops, the southern half of our little chunk of the ocean is decked in grey lowering clouds with visible rain. It was the passage of a rather distinct front, and the wind went from NW to SW in about twenty minutes. Peak winds were about 25 knots, with hard rain, which we loved, as the boat was covered in salt from the preceding bashing. Next, of course, was landfall, followed by the "Where the hell is that pass?" activity. NLPT had several times thanked Bird for giving us the charts we were using for this entry, something taken from early French surveys, and labeled "Rairoa", which included details of two (2) entrances, and a bunch of details for Tikehau as well. Both NLPT and I had studied this chart, and independently, and to our respective selves, wondered why an island as far east as Raroia would be sharing a chart for an western island like Tikehau. So NLPT says, from below, while I am sailing along with a couple of reefs down and the #3 looking for a hole, "Charlie's charts seem inconsistent, I don't know what to make of this!" So the old man goes down to the charts, and determines that our treasured chart from Bird is marked up with an altogether wrong longitude and latitude. Recollections of the fact that the French count longitude from Paris instead of Greenwich flood my feeble brain. Then, finally, having the actual island in front of me, I notice that the land mass on the chart in the area of the pass (es), lies WNW -ESE, while the land we are coasting along is more like NNE-SSW! All the while there are passing wind and rain squalls, quite obliterating sun and visibility. We find a place on our visible land mass that is in the right lat-lon for Charlies's entry, and in the last minutes of sun it appears like a pass, except there are foaming whitecaps and tumbling three foot seas all the way across. Also some crappy aluminum outboard with no-one in it anchored more or less in the middle. We saw as well several of the navigation pylons we recognise from our earlier experience as channel markers. These latter were too distant to determine whether they mark an entry or an interior channel, such as the one mentioned in good old Charlie's text. The long and the short of it is that the current was ebbing about six knots against a fresh breeze, and we jilled about until the sun shone and motored cautiously in against the ebb. Charlie, of course, says it is preferable to enter on a flood, which if one keeps steerageway, means SOG will be at least 7 or 8 knots; rather a lot, don't you think, to go looking for coral heads in a questionable pass? Both NLPT and I were moved to reminisce about how the old-timers must have felt in dealing with these situations. For sure, Captain Aubrey would have sent off his first officer to sound the channel! The explanation for all this is simply that the chart labeled "Rairoa" and including Tikehau, bears an obsolescent spelling of "Rangiroa". Rangiroa is adjacent to Tikehau, of course, and had either of us studied the lat-lon stuff earlier, we could have worked it out. It made for an interesting morning! We are presently at anchor off the little wharf in the only village in Raroia. NLPT went visiting this PM while I slept. There is no wind now after an afternoon of fresh southerly breeze. She reports everyone very friendly ashore, but, sadly, they are finishing an airport hard by the outskirts of town. The tarmac is already down and local kids are speeding back and forth on it: no speed bumps! If you were looking for a remote island, I would say that this place will soon no longer be a candidate. The lagoon is pretty large, and the village anchorage offers no shelter from hard winds out of NE thru SE. The usual coral-and-sand bottom, but with rather more sandy patches than we have seen earlier, and slightly better water clarity. About our anchors & chain: I am of the opinion that the Spade is too fragile to risk in coral heads. I am using two Bruce anchors, which are 10 and 20KG respectively. My chain is in four (4) shots: two bags of forty feet 5/16", and two bags of thirty feet 3/8". All chain shots have custom SS links to accommodate appropriate shackles and rodes. All shackles and rodes are sewn when these systems are in use. So far we have been able to recover our gear on every occasion, but not without some travail. The Spade anchor is wonderfully designed and very light and easy to handle. I would be comfortable with it is sand or mud, or weed, but not in rock or coral. It was the Spade with which I hooked the hurricane chain in Papeete, and I was able to lift the heavy chain more than two meters off the bottom. The anchor had no problem with this. FLASHGIRL was, at the time, down by the bow about six (6) inches, and I reckon the load at the hawse must have been more than 2,000#. The Spade has too malleable a shank, I think, being merely a piece of aluminum flat stock. Probably the most important thing I have learned on this caper so far is that I should be carrying four (4) anchors, six (6) bags of chain as above, and the rodes to suit. When it blew hard in Fakarava, I deployed two Bruce anchors, and felt really vulnerable with only the Spade in reserve. How does one manage a light-displacement vessel and still practice respectable seamanship? TAXI DANCER has done all I wanted of her, except to transport five adults. I rowed her three quaters of a mile to windward in 25 knots at Marina Taina one day. She assembles and comes apart in about twenty minutes, and while obviously far less stable than an inflatable, she carries people and cargo satisfactorily. The fender issue needs attention. Her paint job has suffered a little, but she still looks great. Beaching her stern first allows the teak skeg to take the majority of the heat, and we simply lift and carry her to dry land and tie her up. So far no-one threatens to steal or buy her! It is a bit of a pain to have to remove the boat to exercise the keel lifter, but hey, that's life! We exited the south pass with keel up, then jilled about while I lowered the keel and stowed everything for sea. We sailed out of that pass on a course which took us close to the south side of Faaite, tacked and sailed on starboard close to leeward of Katiu on our way here. After this it off for Fatu Hiva and a swing through a few other Marquesas, then back to Tahiti and on out west. Boat is super, and very pleasant to live aboard. NLPT is learning and seriously stoked about what we are doing. Still fantasize about the AHAVA hull with this interior concept, but must await winning the lottery! Let us know what you are up to. We do miss our friends. NLPT and WMT

Thu, Aug 11, 2005:	E aha te hura? (How are you?) Hope you are enjoying the summer, while we suffer it out in the Polynesian winter down here. :) We are having a fantastic time, and enjoying each day as it passes.... We checked in on July 8th, so the days are ticking away...a month already! Spent the first week at the downtown quay in Pape'ete, enjoying the people watching and close proximity to everything. Got tired of the noise, and moved around to Marina Taina for the second week. (about 5 miles away from downtown) Had our bedroom front row view of Mo'orea....quite nice! Never got tired of looking at the ever changing scenery. Third week ventured over to Mo'orea to get up close and personal with the exotic bays, and jagged peaks. Then back to Marina Taina to stock up for the Tuamotus. We left two days ago, had a lovely sail towards Mo'orea, then tacked and cleared Tahiti around sunset, while the Venus beacon winked at us. Winds got very light and the night turned still, so we motored through most of the night. Got a nice NNE breeze just before dawn and had a nice sail, until the wind died around 1400 hours. Turned the engine on at 1450 hours. For about four hours or so, we have had the island of Meetia in clear view, about 30 miles to the south of us. Gee, did not expect to see a volcanic island jutting out of the sea! This little volcanic island is about five miles wide. As the days are very short here, it was dark by 1830 hours....by the time 2000 hours rolled around, I had convinced WMT that we should turn off the engine, pull down the sails, and enjoy the night. Besides, we did not bring a lot of extra diesel for motoring through calms. Yes, we were truly becalmed! I think it must be rather unusual for the sea to be so glassy calm, with the stars and milky way sparking above in the sky, and also reflected in the sea....and oh, the sounds of silence. It was so peaceful and simply extraordinary. The following morning, shortly after sunrise at 0630, I noticed some clouds to the south of us, and thought perhaps they would bring us some wind, and they did! The entire day brought is pleasant breezes. :) We started with the #1 Black Beauty, then changed to the half ounce spinnaker for about four hours, then the red sail for a while, and finally to the number three. The wind velocity was mostly 6-10 knots, with some lesser and greater for period of time. Pretty darn perfect! I bought a Tahitian ukulele back in Pape'ete, and brought it on deck and played for a while this afternoon. Now we're getting into the spirit of things! We arrived at Fakarava yesterday, after 2-3 days sailing from Tahiti. We are now in the Tuamotu Archipelago. It is also known as the dangerous archipelago, as these atolls are very low lying and difficult to see until you are almost upon them. This is not a place to wander at night, or without a good chart and careful navigation. The atolls are only about ten feet high, and vary in size and shape. Yesterday, as we approached, I was able to first see the tops of palm trees about 8 miles away. Fakarava is the second largest atoll, being 30 miles long and 10 miles wide. It is like a big circle, the land is very narrow, and the center is a huge lagoon. The western part of the circle is submerged, so the only usable land here is the eastern side. We will row ashore this afternoon, as midday is very hot in the sun! As I write, Commodore is flaked out across the aft end of the master berth, the stern hatch is open, the caspers (wind scoops) are contributing to the nice breeze throughout the cabin. We have not had a need to use fans much, even though it is hot in the tropics. Our boat is so well set up that we have plenty of ventilation. We finally made it ashore, and had a walk through the main village on this atoll. We walked across the flat and narrow strip of land to the open ocean side, and walked to the edge of the coral reef. The water is quite shallow up to the edge, and then plummets deep down into the ocean. For this reason, there are no rolling waves as most of us imagine the seaside; just one wave, then the deep blue sea. The roads are few, and made of broken down white coral. The homes are modest, and copra is the main business here besides, fishing and black pearl farms. There are 5-6 small pensions or guest houses, but I do not consider this place to be the least bit touristy. We made some new friends and find this place to be like a large family. There are a few cars and pick up trucks, but mostly bicycles or scooters. We may rent bicycles tomorrow to continue to explore this remote and inviting place. It is evening now, and I must finish this soon so I can send while the propagation is good.

Fri, Jul 29, 2005:	Hi there....or Ia ora na, nana in Tahititan..... Yes, Flashgirl arrived in Papeete on July 8th, and now it is July 28th! We've not managed to get out one word to any of you who are living vicariously through our adventures. I cannot really say where the past twenty days have gone, and why we have been too busy to write. Well, gee, the days just seem to drift by, full of swims, walks to the market, rowing, meeting other cruisers, taking that all important midday nap, and looking after boat maintenance. We arrived in Tahiti the evening of July 7th in lots of breeze, after a fantastic twenty-two day sail from San Diego. Really! The time seemed to be about one week. When it became apparent that we would be arriving in a day or so, I got a little panicky; I did not want this extraordinary experience to end. I was in a different kind of rhythm with the sun, sea and stars, and found this all quite agreeable. So, after pulling down the mainsail in 26 knots of wind and big, rolling waves, we managed to find the entrance into the pass, even though the airport lights make it all a bit confusing. Commodore was quite keen to anchor is the harbor, just as Wander Bird had done so many years ago. After getting our anchor caught on the hurricane chain that runs through the harbor, we found a spot along the downtown quay and remained there for our first week. The first activity was to hook up the hose and relish in the abundance of fresh water. After a long passage, there are salt crystals caked all over the boat, and it takes a bit of encouragement to get all surfaces fresh again. I enjoyed the downtown location, except for the noise! The main drag runs right along the waterfront, and it is busy except for the wee hours of night. Papeete is a bustling city, and the center of French Polynesia. The people watching along with the convenience made up for it's shortcomings. The big produce market is just a few blocks away, as is immigration and the harbor master. We were also able to walk to the Heiva (Polynesian Dance Festival), as well as simply wandering the streets. At night, just a few minute's walk were the roulettes. These are food vans assembled in an outdoor park, and quite a nice evening scene. It was easy to eat out for about one-third the cost of any restaurant, and the people watching was good. There were about forty boats along the quay of varying nationalities. It was fun to walk along and notice the flags on the stern to see the yacht's origin, and to share stories with our neighbors. After clearing customs, we changed our flag from the Stars and Stripes to a flag of the United Nations. We rather like the concept, and found that most passing comments were ones of approval. After one week, we had had enough of city living, and moved to Marina Taina, about five miles away around the island to the west, in the town of Puunavia. We anchored out about half a mile from shore, and put together Taxi Dancer for the first time. We are pretty much the only hand powered dinghy around, as most people use a motor driven rubber dinghy. Between the marina and anchorage area, there are probably 150-200 yachts. There is a fabulous super store, like Costco, just a short walk away. You can push the shopping carts back to the marina and load up the dinghy. The water is clear blue and just right for swimming or snorkeling. All manner of colored tropical fish await your viewing. However, the best part of this anchorage is the front row view of Mo'orea. The ever changing seascape, along with the sun setting behind Mo'orea provided unending viewing pleasure. So, it was with great difficulty that we pulled anchor and sailed for Mo'orea a few days ago. However, once I arrived it was fantastic! It was like a zoom in view of what we had been watching from Tahiti. The island of Mo'orea looks to me like someone's fantasy dream. It is hard to believe that the jutting and jagged ridges along with the rich tropical vegetation are real. The shapes are uncanny! We find the most beautiful and surreal place on this island to be Opunohu Bay. A few images and thought from Commodore: "As I sit here on Flashgirl, I look around in mild amazement that I managed to do so much. Memories of the activity associated with various constructions dwell just below my consciousness and are easily recalled. The ballast system and TAXI DANCER are but two such items. Nancy spent the dawn hours today rowing in Papetoai Bay (aka Opunohu Bay) and watching the light and shadow effects of the mountains and their clouds. It is an ethereal experience, and needs to be done solo. In my opinion, this place is magical and easily the most beautiful bay I have seen. It is very easy to be indolent! So far, very few insects. The sad part of Papetoai, is that during my knowledge of the place, dating back to 1960 or so, it has visibly deteriorated: new, ramshackle and some opulent and garish, few tasteful(like Omer Dar's) dwellings have sprung up all 'round the bay along the roadway. At night, the stars are challenged by the various lights of these dwellings, the dark land is no longer present and slumbering, but obviously inhabited. This makes it harder to conjure up visions of Cook, Bouganville or Wallis anchored here, and mounting guard with some old muskets against the predatory thievery so common. (I am aware of the cultural difference where property is involved, and of some of the horrific results of early conflict over these issues.) It is well to remember that as with the American Indian and Hawaiians, the Polynesians are a conquered and occupied nation, induced to incorporate the mores and fashions of their conquerors. The islands, the weather and water are simply wonderful still, and a privilege to experience. I had hoped that coming in our own vessel would alter the flavor in a positive way, and have not been disappointed!" Now another day has come and gone. Today was a little different. This morning we rowed out together into Opunohu Bay to watch the sunrise. We beached Taxi Dancer at the head of the bay, and walked for 30-40 minutes into the valley. It was a beautiful, and a thankfully overcast morning, which is perfect hiking weather. Upon our return, we visited with a Swedish boat that was anchored in the bay, then rowed to a little store. At that point, Commodore suggested that I walk into Papatoai, while he rowed over. As I began walking I decided to take a photo (who me, a shutter bug??) So, I put down my pack to grab the camera, then aimed at Taxi Dancer...and whoosh! A small, green car drove by and snatched my knapsack!! Well, I ran down the road pretty fast, but not fast enough to get my bag. The car behind him went in pursuit, and the next car stopped and picked me up. Well, they were all on their cell phones, calling the gendarmes...... Commodore had been chatting with a lady on a boat near the little store, and he rowed her ashore, because she spoke Tahitian, and she also made a call to the police. By the time I arrived in Papatoai, a jeep driven by a policeman picked me up and took me to the Gendarmerie in Pao Pao. This is where I spent the rest of the day, from noon time until around 1900 hours. Evidently, the car had been stolen, and was on a rampage. The owner of the car was also at the station, a young French lady who lives in Mo'orea. There was a watch at the ferry station to not allow any green cars aboard. We learned a little while later, that the car had been abandoned and recovered in an industrial yard near the ferry station. My knapsack was in the car, but my wallet had been stripped bare....no passport, credit cards, cash, etc...... I was asked to wait, as the word had gotten out quite quickly around the island. Now that the car had been recovered, I had little hope of getting my missing items returned. However, an hour or so later, we received word that they had apprehended the two guys as the ferry arrived in Papeete! Wow! So, now I was asked to wait, as the fellows were being brought back to Mo'orea for questioning, and to see if they had my missing items. Well, the hours slowly passed, and then the two thugs were brought hand-cuffed into the station. You are probably wondering...how the hell did they find them in a ferry full of people?? Well, when the dumped the car, a worker in the yard noticed the guys leaving the car and had a description to report: one of the guys was wearing a blue "Bob" hat (Bob Marley)...y'know, he had long hair stuffed into a cap. He was dumb enough to keep his hat on, and I guess was the only guy wearing a blue Bob hat on the ferry, so it was pretty easy to find them. Next thing I knew, the sweet young gendarme in the cute blue hot pants presented me with everything that had been stolen except some local currency that was in my wallet. Amazing!! These guys really did a great job napping the thieves and returning my stuff. The thieves had stuffed all my goods into my camera bag, and finding my cable to download photos from camera to computer was one of the sweetest moments. Yes! Goodness prevails! So, to celebrate triumph in an otherwise difficult day in paradise, we decided to go out for dinner. We went to a place in Cook's Bay right on the water that has it's own collection of manta rays! It was feeding time, so some of us bolder types took turns going down the steps to the water's edge, and feeding them! Oh yeah! We got to pet them and feed them some ahi.....quite a thrill. While I was busy all afternoon at the Gendarmerie Polynesia, Commodore moved Flashgirl around from Opunohu Bay to Cook's Bay to be nearby, and then anchored her right off the restaurant, and rowed our skiff right up to the restaurant. So now he is fast asleep while I finish this message to you. So, today's lesson is this: leave your wallet and all important papers stashed on your boat. Keep valuables to a minimum while walking ashore. Theft happens everywhere, even in paradise. Do not be paranoid, just careful! Outside the lagoon, the winds are very light, so we are thinking of heading up to the Tuamotus soon, before the Easterlies kick in!! Much Love, Nancy, Commodore & Flashgirl

Sun, Jul 10, 2005:	It seems that this laptop and journal have been left unattended for a very long time, even though it has only been two days. It was two evenings ago with a spirited sail, averaging 9+ knots boat speed we arrived off the passe d'Papeete. We were flying down the track, in 20-25 knots of true wind in the night, watching the Tahitian lights getting larger with our approach. `We pulled out the charts of the Papeete harbor, to find the pass, and to look for the identifying lights once we passed Point Venus's bright beacon. We took down the mainsail in 26 knots of true wind, and surfed down the large swells, and broad reached into the entrance of Papeete Harbor. Tompkins Tours was confounded by heavy rains and maramu conditions, and therefore, we did not have the promised landfall...not to mention that it was also night, and therefore difficult to see the emerald green shores and rising peaks! We tied up, Tahitian style, which is stern to the wall, and a bow anchor set in front of the boat. There were around 50 other yachts, of varying size and style tied up along the quay. We hoisted the French courtesy flag, along with the "Q!" flag, which designates us as quarantined, awaiting to clear customs. The following morning, I took the ship's papers to the immigration office. In order to clear customs in French Polynesia, it is required to have a plane ticket out, or to post a bond. We had no ticket, so I was instructed to go to the bank across the street to obtain a bond. It turns out that the fee for a bond is $1100USD EACH, plus a commission fee to the bank. Well, the fee varies dramatically, depending on the bank. I finally found the bank with the cheapest fee, and they were unable to process my credit card, stating that their machine did not read my card. I was sent to the American Express agency to present my card, get a cash advance (which also has a fee), and then return to the bank to buy the bond. Well, this was my first day in "paradise", and I did not consider this much fun. I continued to the AmX agency, which also doubled as a travel agency. There was only one person authorized to do the AmX business, and he was with a customer. Well, I waited, and waited, for about an hour, and then the agent left the office for lunch!! :( Not fun! I noticed one of the travel agents spoke English, and asked her if she would sell me the least expensive plane ticket out of French Polynesia, and she sold us two tickets to the Cook Islands for $800USD. This seemed way better than spending $2200 + commissions for the bond. There is a fee to cancel the unused ticket, but at least I did not have to go back to the bank, and then in a few months, go through the same process to cash out the bond. We are still at the quay, and we have finally gotten some much needed sleep. It is a bit noisy along the downtown waterfront, but it is also quite pleasant to watch the people go by. The boat community is very friendly, and we feel quite at home. The Heiva (Polynesian celebration)is in full swing. The outrigger canoes are stacked on the beach just south of us, and set off races each morning. There is an open air theater, which hosts the traditional dances competitions. We are leaving as soon as I send this to watch the show this evening. It runs from 7:30-10:00PM. The walk is about 10-15 minutes from the boat, and the air is soft and warm! All is well with us!

Fri, Jul 8, 2005:	Point Venus is winking at us just about 8 miles away. This is the bright beacon that is guiding us to Tahiti. Soon we will be looking for the pass, to get through the coral reefs, then ashore. We can see the low lying island lights, until they get lost in the clouds. It is blowing a steady 23 knots and we are rocketing towards Tahiti at 9-10 knots of boat speed. Where did the past three weeks go? I am not ready for civilization!

Fri, Jul 8, 2005:	Here we are less than thirty miles form Tahiti!! The trip suddenly seems oh so short, and I do not want for it to be over. We have had a wonderful, and trouble free trip. Somewhere prior to crossing the equator, Nikki, our autopilot stopped working. Our technical support team has been very responsive, but we were unable to get her going again. We will receive a replacement autopilot when we arrive in Papeete. Once I recovered from the disappointment of gear failure, I rather relished the thought of actually doing all our own steering by hand, just like in the old days. Somehow, the trip became more real for me, more authentic. I have immensely enjoyed the hand that was dealt to us, and I am now a much more experienced, and improved helms person. Since we we on deck much of the time, the remainder of the time was spent making water, basic boat maintenance, sleeping, and preparing very basic meals. There was no time to get too creative in the galley, but we ate very well. I would like to thank those who sent us on our way, with fresh fruit, or veggies from their yards: Thank you Rosemary & Peter Robinson for sending us off with those lovely Meyer lemons that we picked together in front of your home in San Francisco's Ashbury Heights. We sailed from San Francisco on one of those pristine clear days, and arrived in Santa Cruz harbor late in the night. The following morning, we were greeted by a group of friends, for our second bon voyage party. This is fun! Skip Allen appeared with a bag of lemons from his yard. I guess he knew that lemons are a favorite of ours. After breakfast, Skip joined us to sail across the Monterey Bay, with his friend Sherri. We also had a few other friends on board: Susan Davies and Sally Tuttle. Gee, what is with the letter "S"?? Skip, Sherri, Susie & Sally. There was much laughter, and a good time was had by all. All too soon we were in Monterey and saying our fond farewells. We walked ashore in Monterey, had a soup and salad, then returned to the boat. We headed out late in the afternoon. It was Saturday night, and we heard that a big rainstorm was due in the Monterey Bay. We passed a peaceful night. I came on deck for my watch at night, and as the morning light came up, I looked over my shoulder to the North, and saw a black mass of boiling clouds. It seemed to have arms that were reaching out, trying to pull us into it's darkness. I told Flashgirl to sail as fast as she could to get away from the tendrils, that we grasping towards us. We managed to pull away, and as the sun rose, it was warm and fair. Soon we were barefoot and in short sleeve shirts, and so it was for the remainder of the trip to Marina del Rey. We later learned that there was a very intense storm the covered San Francisco to Monterey with rain, hail and even a few storm funnels! We had a delightful sail down into Southern California, and found a slip to keep our boat at the Marina Bay Club, in Marina del Rey, with much thanks to the help of Charles Ray. We would also like to thank Charles for running us around town, showing us his art studio, and letting us pick zucchini and rosemary in his yard. As it turned out, we spent about two or three weeks in SoCal! We had friends and family to see, and we decided that this too, is part of the journey. We are blessed to have so many friends. Thank you Anne-Christine for your open heart and for our special time together. We asked Cecile Generaux Schwedes to come for a sail to test our high roller, and she brought us some oranges from her yard. Much appreciated! We ended up spending the whole day sailing and continued our visit into the evening. It was yet another day that I did not want to end. Thank you Fred Huffman and Chaska Potter for loaning us your wheels, so that we could be mobile while in the So Cal area. This is by far, the most time I had ever spent in the So Cal area. We were lucky that Chaska was home from her five month tour on the road with her band, Raining Jane. Thank you Chaska for being you, and all your help with whatever we needed. Thanks for the enormous bag of Myers lemon that your picked in your yard the morning of our departure, and the hangers that we use every day to dry our freshly rinsed clothes....and of course, thanks for the Raining Jane CDs! (www.rainingjane.com) Thank you one & all ! ~~ Nance ~~

Thu, Jul 7, 2005:	5 July 2005 Lat 12 04.7S Lon 144 39.6W 1915 UTC #5 Good Morning! Last night was almost as tranquil as the night before had been boisterous. NLPT was steering about 0130, rapped on the deck to awaken me, followed soon after with "get up here, I'm not sure I can handle this!" Always good to get one's attention. Arrived on deck to find the Ms. doing steady tens and elevens w/single reef and redsail. Bird, if you ever cruise again, you have to have something like this redsail. We carry it about 65-70%of the time. Anyway Nancy's wild ride netted her a wave assisted 13 knots, which tied my steady thirteen seen under the Squall Lord's frowning eye when I was caught w/ way too much sail, as in; 'THIS ONE DOESN'T LOOK TOO THREATENING! Your boat must be plain faster than Flashgirl, we never surfed at more than 15. I assume this is because of extra frontal area in our deeper keel/bulb configuration. I guarantee I will never carry as much sail willingly as in that squall. One of those times when you are grateful for the replaced backstay whips, the carefully inspected rig, etc. Regarding the compass lighting: At the moment, everything is working as it has since installation. My point is`: there simply has to be a better way! Hal Maccormack swung this compass, and he is or should be on top of the subject. I presume that someone has made a lighting system which: 1) evenly lights the card, 2)is impervious to seawater ingress, 3) does not protrude greatly from the dome, 4) consumes next to no current, 5) is amenable to rheostat installation, or comes so supplied, 6) is red. With the advent of LED and fibre-optics, either such a fitting exists or it is timely that it be developed. After all, here we have a thousand dollar compass with a ten dollar lighting system which fails readily and when inoperative, renders the whole thing useless for exactly 50% of the time! What is wrong with this picture? I think a request of Hal Maccormack needs to come from a respected source, (that would be you), or he'll shrug it off. Our system, I think, was supplied by Hal. It is one of those fragile plastic pieces, attached with one #2 machine screw to a small brass angle sited immediately fwd of the lubber line. There are two small metal clips inside the plastic, meant to carry, one each of those tiny red bulbs. I have new ones in place, which sort of blinked and looked away when the Squall Lord was aboard, but which worked as usual last night. I also have spares for the ones presently in use. (Is the Pope a Catholic?) Another decent run today. We'll transit the Tuamotus, probably day after tomorrow, still uncertain just where we are going through; the wind refuses to go south at all. Should be in Papeete in three more days. Send us your old friend's number and specifics about the Marina you favor. NLPT wants to make a reservation! We are both ready to sit under the awning, this is a long sail without NIKKI. Rest of boat working well. By the way, our present electrical program is to expose the solar array good, I think for 35/40 amps, and run the engine for a little over one hour while we make water. The loads: B&G, GPS, refrigeration, and a small amount of house lighting, plus compass, windex and tricolor, and this laptop. It seems to me to be about 125 Amphrs. WMT Out! G'Day: By the way, Ms. is meant to be be, as in the little Miss. I actually steered for an hour and a half in 20-25 knots, maintaining good control at all times. Yes, I was very focused, and was having a blast!! I have never done this before, and well, after succeeding in 32 knots with the squall lords, this seemed like a piece of cake. :) Oh yes, there seems to be another squall lord emissary heading this way right now........ When I called WMT on deck, my arms were getting a little rubbery, and wasn't sure how much more exceleration would be forthcoming. We tucked in a second reef, as we were getting steady 22-24 knots, and I went off watch. Hey, on another note, our good friend Keith Bushnell, from Kangaroo Island, just so happens to be stopping over in Tahiti on July 16th. Is that crazy or ....what are the odds of this overlap?? He is traveling in a small private plane with his zany friend Peter Moore. Peter sold some property in Australia, and in order to write off the gains, he bought a plane!! He will be using this plane to make a documentary about the early Australian aviators, stopping over at a variety of exotic places, one of which is Tahiti. Down there, the government lets you take a 100% write off, RIGHT! 100% write off for documentary film making......So the boys will be off on a make-it-up- as-you-go film. No doubt, we will somehow figure into it. We are so excited to know we'll be seeing Keith in few days, as is he! The beginning edge of this squall is beginning to obscure the sky, and it seems to go all the way across the horizon. Gotta go reef! xoxoxo Nancy

Sun, Jul 3, 2005:	We just had the most beautiful sunrise yet, amid towering clouds. There were dolphins swimming by in perfect crescents, to herald the new dawn. Then to top if off, a brief squall followed by a double rainbow. It made an arc across the morning sky, and we sailed through the gate... ..and no, it was not the Marin headlands... It seemed to say: Welcome to French Polynesia! Latitude 7 00.2 South Longitude 141 13.3 West 1816 UTC We are skirting the Marqueses, and heading straight for Papeete, Tahiti We estimate that we'll arrive in Papeete in about five days. This will give us one week to wash all the salt off, pick up spare parts ..and get ready for Bastille Day, which is July 14th Flashgirl...........................................................Out!

Fri, Jul 1, 2005:	30 June 2005 0230 UTC Latitude 0 43.3 South!! Longitude 135 09.5W Last night we were both quite tired, having to steer watch and watch, ever since Nikki, our autopilot crashed. These modern conveniences are great, so long as they work. It is not much different than computers at home. We have several computers on board. They are: 1. my laptop that is typing this journal. It is used for email, and for gathering weather data that is transmitted through the single side band radio. 2. GPS ~ global positioning system, which tracks our location, speed, course and a variety of other features. 3. Brooks & Gatehouse sailing instruments. These tell us wind velocity, winds direction, boat speed, and it is able to calculate the apparent wind angles. It has other features such as depth, trip log, timer, etc... 4. various hand held devices to capture our position and calculate great circle distances 5. NKE gyro autopilot, which we affectionately call Nikki. She can steer by compass mode, apparent wind or true wind. We are able to adjust the gain on various controls to match the conditions. All these devices are quite complex, but relatively easy to use. However, this is a far cry of the voyaging of days gone by. What would those old voyagers say if they could see us today?? Well, at the moment, Nikki is the only computer that has malfunctioned, and we are having difficulty getting her re booted. We have been in email contact with NKE, and hopefully Nikki will again be standing watch....soon!! So back to last night....the sky was overcast, the winds light and variable, and here we were, about twenty miles north of the equator. I was a bit bummed, as I wanted to do the crossing in daylight. After all, this is a rite of passage for all voyagers. Seeing that we were both bleary eyed, we decided to pull down the sails and go to sleep! This was a new one for me. Here we were floating along, and we just tucked in the sails for the night, and then each other. WoW! It was the best rest we have had in days. Seven hours later, we awoke, and observed that we had drifted five miles to the northwest. The breeze was now back up to around 11 knots, so we pulled up the sails and I took a turn at the helm. After a bit of time had passed, I was surprised to see King Neptune's messenger approaching me from the foredeck. He was waving his trident, and wearing a cape and crown. He announced that King Neptune, his lord and master had sent him to deliver a parchment to me, which welcomed me to the southern half of his realm. Duly I have been officially recognized as a shellback, on the last day of June 2005. Well, I was both surprised and delighted by this impromptu visit. And I think you would all be in stitches if you had seen Commodore's portrayal. He had managed to make a crown from an old chart and some foil, was wearing our Hood sails bag for a cape, and had made the trident from battens to our #3 sail, along with the long scrub brush stick. Of course the trident had the fanciest tassles and turban knot that one will ever see. So, this is how our first day in the southern hemisphere began. We have had mixtures of sunshine, and rain squalls, right now it is raining....this is our first day of rain in our trip. So, we left San Diego on June 15th, and here it is the end of the month. It took us exactly half of one month to get from California to the Equator! I have just used the last of our apples, to make an apple crisp, and the cabin is full of it's fragrance. We continue to have a wonderful time on our voyage. That's all for now! ~~ Nancy

Thu, Jun 30, 2005:	Last night winds got very light & flukey. We were both quite tired, so we just pulled down the sails and went to sleep! It is now seven hours later, and we've been corresponding with NKE, in the hopes of getting Nikki back in the program. No such luck so far. Current conditions are squally, drizzly, rainy, completely overcast & grey. Winds from the North at 12-15 knots Commodore's just now pulling up the jib.... We drifted 5-6 miles NW during our rest. Our current position is: Lat 0 04.4N Lon 134 27.7W 1740 UTC Flashgirl............................................Out! End of Original Message

Wed, Jun 29, 2005:	Subject: Re: how deep is the ocean We are just one degree north of the equator! It's pretty amazing. We went through the ITCZ ~ inter tropical convergence zone from 7-9 degrees north. This is the zone where the various global currents intermingle, and some have a hard time with no wind...just slapping around. We were never becalmed, but things were beautifully smooth and serene. The boat slowed down to about 1 knot, and I took a swim off the stern! It is rather intimidating to put one's small self into such a vast space. The color of the water is a sapphire blue, which I think is just the sun's rays refracting through endless and colorless space. The temperature of both sea & air is about 80 degrees. Our autopilot went out, so we have to take turns hand steering all the time. The up side is the actual experience of driving this magic carpet...it's an endless e-ticket ride...been goin' on now for a couple of weeks...we actually left San Diego late on June 15th....down side is I'm dozey, sleepy, and no time for reading or much of anything else....See, I can type pretty good in my sleep! To stay awake last night, I just started singing songs in no particular order, and made up revisions as I went along. We had a bit of excitement 4-5 days ago, when I noticed a developing storm on the weather fax, heading in our direction. Yikes! We dove south, and the storm...Hurricane Beatriz moved north and west......so we dodged a bullet! Actually it was never closer than about 800 miles, but seeing it on the weather chart did get the adrenaline going! There has been a second hurricane blowing through too. We left California not a moment too soon. So, all is well...we've got our sun hats and protective clothing on when on deck, and not much clothing attire below deck...just keep those fans blowing!! xoxoxoxoxo End of Original Message

Tue, Jun 28, 2005:	Greetings from 4 degrees north, 129 west! Flashgirl has performed beautifully so far. I find myself wondering if we are simply lucky, or is there really something to all this intense preparation after all? The sound system has been a delight, predictably more for the Missus, of course, but even for me, the sounds are very good! The water ballast means that we rarely are on our ear. Today we spent seven hours averaging 8.5, heeled about ten degrees, AWA 65 degrees! We were carrying full main and Joe Cooper's Redsail, in about 18 knots TW. Yesterday, working south through the ITCZ, we had breezes down around 2 and 3 kts, and the carbon 150% jib was giving us speeds very close to TW, while the clouds and sky were fabulous. The winds were light enough for Nancy to take a swim, and languish in the clear sapphire waters. Nancy and I watched the stars come out, while NKE ghosted along at about five kts. At 2230, we got the SE trades, which are helping us along today. The brothers Casper are performing to spec, and the boat, at speed in brilliant hot sun and 82F weather is full of air, dry and sweet, no salt anywhere. Those little suction cup fans sold at West Marine keep us cool in the master berth. To my surprise, we have used the aft berth this entire voyage. On the close reach, port tack, the leeward Casper works in the air accelerating to leeward of the mast and mainsail, directing the air downward. Below, a bean-bag wedged up against the starboard ballast housing is a wonderful reading place. Please overlook my euphoria! This has been a long time coming. ~WMT

Tue, June 21, 2005	~~~~ Happy Summer Solstice! ~~~~ LAT 21 31.4N LON 124 58.8W 0140 Hours 10 knots TW Moon shining brightly Hi there: Yesterday was a banner day, I we had a fantastic sail, starting with very light airs, and moving up through the spectrum up to about 16+ knots. We both had long, lovely spinnaker runs, and I saw my first green flash at sunset. In fact, I actually got Commodore to sit down and write a few words, Enjoy! xox Nance What fantastic sailing we are enjoying! Of course that's only true if you enjoy smooth water and 8-12 knots of true wind with a half ounce spinnaker. Had about ten hours of that yesterday, then after we shifted to the redsail for the night, it went really light, and at 0100 we set the high roller! HR replaced with big white half ounce shortly after daybreak, and we carried that all day. Nearly full moon, no clouds, about 14 knots TW, the poled out redsail gives 7.3 to 7.8, while NKE does the steering. AW angle about 130 TW direction just about 012 T. Should jibe tomorrow, we think, looking to reach 5N and 130W on the other jibe. Ever the optimist! All systems working nicely. Locktite seems to be holding the goosenecks together. Alan really ought not assemble these things with tefgel! Generating about two hours daily. Watermaker and reefer both consume more than advertised. NKE is still a work in progress...I like to think it will live up to its reputation if only I can unravel the instruction booklet. The authors appear to have spent all their time doing something else than learning to speak or write in the only language I know. Average speed through noon today, with some very light airs, is 6.01 Knots. No ramps or easterly shift to speak of yet. With that average this is a 24 day passage, but we expect better things ahead! Cheers, do not on any account, weaken! Sayonara for now, WMT

Sat, June 18, 2005	G'Day! Here we are: 25 44.7N 120 06.0W 12 knots True Wind from the North Partly cloudy. Bar 27.5, down from 29.0 yesterday We are sailing around 8 knots under the 3/4 ounce kite. The red sail served us well for about 48 hours. Thanks Cooper! It is a terrific sail. It is warm, and I'm making tofu scramble, with rosemary potatoes. There have been a few rain squalls blowing through, but winds remain light 12-15 knots. We are trying to go as deep as possible for the aso spin, and our course is averaging 215M. We are generating twice a day, probably for an hour and a half. Boat has been sailing nice and flat, and we're sleeping in our queen size bed. :) This going downhill stuff is fun!! Gotta go make the stir fry! We're having a blast! xoxoxoxox N&C

Sat, June 18, 2005	Hi there: Just a quick note to let you know that all is well! I just came off my watch, and had a blast steering the boat, surfing some waves in the beautiful moonlit night. The water is sparkly and shiny bright white moonlight. It is about 2:00AM, and the night is quite mild. We are sailing almost due south, so we are dropping in latitude pretty quickly. Each day is a little bit warmer. We sailed along Guadalupe Island about 14 hours ago. We figure there are about 3,000 miles to go to the next island, Tahiti! xoxoxoxoxo Nancy & Commodore

Fri, June 17, 2005	Subject: the first day or two 17 June 2005 0800 Hours PDT Lat 29 12.7N Lon 118 11.0W Wind Dir 300M 10-15 Knots, with gusts to 20 Knots Guadalupe Island abeam! Course 180M Boat Speed: 7-8.5 Knots Good Morning! I awoke a few hours ago, with a morning surprise....Guadalupe Island! Our departure from San Diego involved more easting than anticipated. I had not expected to see another island for about three weeks. The island has poked a hole in the clouds, so we are enjoying some most welcome sunshine, the first we've seen since leaving Marina del Rey. (San Diego was gloomy the entire three days) We sailed away from the dock at the San Diego Yacht Club at 1600 hours on 15 June 05, under full main and #3 jib. At nightfall, within sight of Tijuana and the Coronados, all went glassy calm, and we motored for about ten hours, to get offshore, and look for wind. The first night was quite peaceful, except for the engine running. We had roast chicken and corn on the cob for dinner. Shortly after midnight, when Commodore went off watch, the large alternator belt broke, throwing shreds in all directions. The second belt looked like it too, was about to go. So, Commodore's watch was extended another couple of hours to replace the two belts. While we were drifting in the calm of the night, a city of lights, in the form of a cruise ship appeared to be motoring towards us. We tried without success to hail them, so we took out our bright beam and threw some beams towards the bridge deck. We noticed the ship alter course, and subsequently, he used his big spotlight beam to keep an eye on us. The ship was standing offshore until day break. We finally got the engine going, and motored past her giant stern. The huge chimney stack had a pair of antler like horns, and she appeared as a Lucas like giant antelope, with smoke idly drifting in wisps up towards the sky. The only sound that bugged me was/is a humming sound inside the keel case. It sounds like perhaps some seaweed is draped around the leading edge of the keel, which produces a buzzing/humming sound. This may have happened when we got mightily engulfed in the kelp beds off of Point Loma, approaching San Diego. Evidently, the kelp cutting company, has shut down it's business, and moved to Ireland, where labor and insurance costs are quite a bit less. Evidently, Ireland has plenty of kelp too! I came off watch around 0600 hours on 16 June 05. We motored another hour, then as the wind began to show some signs of life, Commodore got the high roller (Code Zero) going, and decided to give the auto pilot a break, as this is fun sailing! This guy is happy as a clam! The wind was blowing 4 knots and we carried the sail to about 8 knots. During his morning activity, Commodore took three buckets of fresh, hot water, and scrubbed the cockpit, housetop, deck, etc.. and of course chamoised the whole thing! I must admit that it is very nice to be rid of salty residue. As the wind built, we changed up to our #1 "Black Beauty" jib, and carried it for a good while. As we were approaching 15 knots, we changed one more time to the red reacher/jib top. This is a great all purpose sail, that can be carried up to 35 knots of breeze. During the night we wung her out on the 18 foot spinnaker pole, and she's still at it, doing a great job! It took us about four hours to traverse the east side of Guadalupe this morning, which is quite arid, and contains numerous cinder cones, along with other signs of previous volcanic activity. The only life we saw were some seals near the southern end, along with a couple of pangas of fishermen. There is a small settlement of fish shacks at the tip of the island. One of the guys on the panga told us they have been on the island for ten months! It is now 1220 hours, Lat 28 43.7N, Lon 118 17.4W, NW breeze at around 15 knots. Apparent wind 104 degrees, the poled out red sail, half a tank of starboard ballast, course 190M and we're romping along at 8 knots. Life is good! Nancy & Commodore