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I'm really enjoying following this adventure. He's a man on a mission and quite inspiring.

Looks like he is in, some good seamanship there. Well done, I would say its been a very tough few days. Dont think queen charlotte sounds would ever get cold enough for true catabatic winds? Milford sounds maybe. Will certainly be gusty.

Jackson bay might be a good option right now?

I really wouldnt want to be where he is right now! I have been hammered pretty hard outside milford sound twice, the waves bounce off the cliffs and turn it into a real washing machine. You have the southern ocean swell and the wind waves on top of each other. Not a huge amount of anchoring options once hes in there either. I hope everything works out OK for him.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nzsailinggearbuysellswap/permalink/1496962040514923/?sale_post_id=1496962040514923

Great idea

Wow what an impressive blog. I just lost a few hours there. Some of my bucket list items right there.

La Di Da is at pine harbour and looks really nice these days. An immaculate boat that anyone would be proud to own.

Our insurance for the passage from France to NZ in a 9 year old 50 beneteau was only around 3.5k a year. Roughly 1% of the replacement cost of the boat.

I agree on the sea of Cortez. Spent a season cruising there. Cabo San Lucas and La Paz are really fun places.

The weiti river bar was fully closed out with surf yesterday afternoon. First time I have ever seen that.

My new boat draws 2.15m and I will be keeping it up the river just past the stillwater wharf. Pretty keen to hear more of your thoughts on the bar depth and the best way to go. I am delivering it down this weekend.

We never had to bribe anyone anywhere on our trip. Officials were friendly and helpful everywhere. Worst we had was in the canary islands where I made a mistake clearing out in Gibraltar and they got a bit upset with me. Oh and I had a falling out with the officials in Antigua when they tried to charge me $90 departure tax for each of my 3 boys as they were classed as passengers not crew. However the boat boys in the Caribbean can be a little pushy and half the time it seems like you are paying them to just leave you alone. They like to lead you into the bay and show you where to anchor,

My Gill pants did 3 or 4 hard years before leaking. They were pretty good. Having said that, I could not believe the difference to my new musto HPX pants. They were more flexible, lighter, and just felt much nicer against the skin. Never really had HPX gear before but was seriously impressed. As mentioned previously by a few people, if you are in the tropics then wet weather gear is hardly needed anyway! I didn't put on a long sleeved item of clothing, or even shoes on the whole cruise from France to NZ. As long as your bimini is good....

The Motorboat II has now been passed over to the new owners and I'm just busy trying to keep my flotilla of kids boats afloat. We had all 3 Optis, and one of the sunbursts out yesterday for some family racing out front of the house, starling still in the shed getting a rebuild and another racing sunburst sitting on the lawn ready for some attention. But I am very close to pushing the button on another keelboat racing project.....

Nothing happened to us on motorboat other than getting caught in some very light winds. Titanium who were just in front at colville managed to lay across the gulf in good breeze while we had only 5kts from right behind us. A 16nm lead turned into 4nm by the time the others brought the wind down to us. Serena is just much faster than us vmg running in light winds which is why they passed us quickly. Was a very frustrating day for us. Leg 3 and 4 ended the same with the boats behind bringing the breeze down to us while we could do nothing but wait.... That's sailing for ya.

I had a volvo dripless shaft seal fail on my 10 year old beneteau 50 just out of Gibraltar on the way to the canary islands. It failed pretty badly with a huge amount of water coming in. By the time we noticed it there was a lot of water in the boat and the limber holes in the structure and some rough conditions were not letting enough water get to the central mounted bilge pumps. We had to go into a small fishing port in Morocco to get some flat water and bail the boat out before heading back to Spain for an emergency out. The internal lipseals had just worn out completley. Fantastic thin

Left my dinghy in the water for one night after a late arrival to westhaven in the weekend and she shredded it...

Pretty sure Metro went back on Trade me after he repaired it and put it back in the water and found it leaked badly. His repair was really dodgy, with screws and bog holding it together and the screw holes leaked. He posted a video somewhere that I watched.

Motorboat is heading out tomorrow bound for the barrier and maybe Mercs. Back in on the 6th.

Motorboat is teaming up with hard labour! New team name the go hard boat.... See ya all out there.

Motorboat is out.

Motorboat II entered and paid.

Sorry don't have our entry in yet but motorboat will be there for sure.

Video of Motorboats blast up the coast. https://youtu.be/XOBngu7g-nI