Life at home from early December to late March was a lovely respite from the work that is necessary to keep our boat safe and our mission on schedule. Seeing wives, family and friends was wonderful and once again, they will be terribly missed as we make our way from New Zealand to South Africa.

The mission is to make it to South Africa by late August. Although that was the plan anyway, George and I are doubly dedicated to making that plan our reality as George’s daughter, Joan, and my daughter Daphne are expecting a child in early September. Joan will be having her second child and George’s fifth grandchild. Daphne will be having here first, making me a grandfather for the first time.

The other yachties here in Whangarei are aghast when they ask and we tell them what our plans are. It is very unusual for sailors (cruisers) to set such an ambitious schedule. Our sailing to anchoring ratio (numbers of days sailing to number of days on anchor) will be about 1 to 1. Our ratio on the first leg was closer to 2 to 1. Most cruisers will not settle for less than 4 to 1 and many spend months in each port as they make their way. And most are not actually circumnavigating, but rather sailing around the pacific, making up their minds where to go next as the mood hits them.

Upon my return to Whangarei, I was delighted to find Cosmos exactly as we left her. Not a single knot has been retied, all the tarps were tied exactly as we left them, and most important, no water has made its way inside of the boat. Lockers that would never stay dry through one rain stayed dry for three months because of new seals George installed before we left. The bilge’s (we have two on a catamaran) were completely dry for the first time in years because of some other modifications we made before leaving, and thankfully, the faulty window installation did not leak because we successfully taped all around them, and the tape held.

Three of the crewmembers are living aboard now, here in Whangarei: me, George Hotz, and one new crewman -- Steve Hall. We are enjoying each others’ company as we work through the jobs that must/should be completed before we push off. The yellow post-it notes are once again beginning to cover the wall as we think of things that need to be done faster than we are able to complete them.

So far the weather has cooperated -- little rain and a lot of sunshine. Little rain is very good, because I am having a local contractor replace seven very large windows on the boat. Three of them leaked most of the way from Florida to New Zealand, and four others are so marked up and sun damaged (they are made of acrylic) that they are becoming hard to see through. Such work is less expensive in New Zealand and skilled workmen are easier to find than back in the states.

George and I will miss Don Kilpatrick who was such a great crewman from Panama to New Zealand. None of the hard core recruiting tactics tried by George and I seemed to have any affect. We wanted to send out the press gangs to bring Don to the boat, but he was a little too far from our harbor.

Right now we are still hoping to leave Whangarei on Tuesday, April 9, stop overnight at Poor Knights Island (reported to be the best diving spot in New Zealand) and make the Bay of Islands on the morning of the third day. That would mean that Anders Toren and Tom Murphy would join us in the Bay of Islands before we head off to cross the Tasman Sea, bound for the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

Best regards,