Location 35° 08S 176° 47E
Wednesday 12:00, 07.18.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 35° 08S, 176° 47E at noon on July 18th. We are headed directly (on the great circle rhumb line) towards Tahiti. We have come 146 NM in the last 22.5 hours and have 2082 to go to Tahiti. We are slipping along at 6.3 knots with the G2 gennaker up (AKA “The Bird”) in 9-10 knots of wind on our beam. It is a lovely day with just a few rain showers marching along in the Southerly, spreading more rainbows than rain. It is sunny enough for Ben to have already burnt his fair Albion skin.

We are now back shadowed by our “air cover” of Blue Water seabirds. The marvelous new addition is the black and white spotted Cape Petrel (Daption capense), also known as Pintado Petrel or Cape Pigeon. This Opua to Tahiti route has been sailed many times in the last 1000 years, and we feel the spirit of the big sailing wakas on the water. We are very glad to have our carving of Tawhirimatea on our boom end to accompany us. The weather looks very favorable for this next week (see Commander’s Forecast on the web site). We are positioned just right for the next low, expected Friday to bring a nice 25 knot NW’erly.

I am sad to report the death of Hannah’s grandfather, Robert Franklin Scarf, in Nova Scotia last week. Together with some friends from Russell, we went last Sunday to the little 170-year-old Anglican Church in the village, where the 25 member congregation supported her in her mourning, adding his and her name to the Prayers for the People, as well as praying for the safety of the Maggie B. It was very kind and comforting.

Ben is a little stunned by the level of cuisine on the Maggie B. On his last boat, they lived mostly on cheese sandwiches and cold corned beef. Hannah baked a chocolate cake for tea, gilding it with fresh cream and raspberry jam. Sigh.

All is well.