Tonga to NZ – Update 8 Homestretch

October 20 – Greetings again from the South Pacific!

There’s not much new to report today as we continue to close in on New Zealand. We’re enjoying sunny, blue skies today and slightly warmer temperatures than yesterday. A thin layer of sea salt covers everything on deck now. The crew and the boat are looking forward to a good wash down following our arrival. As of 4 pm local time on Saturday we have 210 nm remaining. Our winds have been dropping a bit and we had some strange, shifty conditions this morning just before sunrise. The barometer continues to rise as we approach the high pressure system sitting over the North Island. We’ll sail for as long as we can keep up our speed, but expect to start motoring sometime within the next 24 hours for the final push to Opua.

While cooking breakfast this morning we finished off one of our gas bottles and had to swap it out for the other one, but fortunately the sea state was calm enough to make it an easy task with a willing crew looking for something, anything to do. We also repaired what we think was a minor clog in the forward toilet which was causing the breaker to trip. Some hot water and manually assisting the pump seemed to clear up the problem (fingers crossed). Other than that we’re trying to finish up the perishable foods that would be taken away in New Zealand. Up tonight on the menu is beef & bean chili with cheddar cheese. Everyone is well fed, well rested, and doing fine!

Dave, Kevin, Nick, Mike & John

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