In 2010 we celebrated Tricia’s birthday on the tiny island nation state of Niue, kindly hosted by the Niue yacht club with friends from a large group of boats that had met there having sailed across the Pacific. I wondered where we would be in 2011 and her birthday coincided with the first stopover for the Sail Indonesia fleet in Kupang on the island of Timor.

Activities ashore meant that it was unrealistic to try and get everyone together onshore so we settled for a smaller group afloat and our old friend Brian, skipper of MV Further kindly offered the use of his boat as the venue.

Unsure of just how many we could fit on board we limited numbers to just over thirty and apart from Brian, all were new friends made since the pre start gathering in Darwin. It is likely that we broke the record for the number of people crammed onto his top deck but at 16 definitely broke the record for the number of countries represented. As well as a smattering of Kiwis, Ozzies, Yanks and Canuks, we also had people from Russia, Peru, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Zambia and representing GB, English, Scottish and Welsh.

It was another memorable night and hopefully one that everyone enjoyed.

Trish received lots of birthday wishes from friends and family, many from friends who were with us in Niue last year.