So, you may be aware that the plan was to sail from New Zealand to Australia via Vanuatu and New Caledonia, getting to Australia for Christmas at the latest.
James left for Vanuatu with a couple of crew but got into an unexpected storm with 50 knot winds and big seas. They sustained some sail and running rigging damage, nothing awful but they were only 120miles out from NZ so James made the hard decision to return. At least everyone was safe and lots was learned.
This is the first time to date that we’ve ever been caught out by the weather which, on balance, makes us realise how lucky we’ve been in the past.
Now we’re back on the dock in Opua, Bay of Islands, repairing the damage and trying to figure out our next move. We’re longing to be back in the tropics but it’s so late in the season that we’d have virtually no time in the islands before having to push through to Aus. If we stay in NZ then we can at least sail around all the islands here and get the kiddos up to speed with sailing.
But it all depends on whether our import permit can be extended so watch this space.