The passage to Niue was certainly not our favourite. Starting out we had light but reasonable winds of 12 to 15 knots but there was a large triple swell from different directions which tossed the boat about more than usual and made sleeping difficult.

By our second afternoon we were saying, “be careful what you wish for”, because we were hoping to see whales on this route which they too travel from June to October as part of their migration. However, on the second morning we had what we think was a false killer whale pursuing our towed generator; when it realised that the black prop wasn't edible it head butted our rudder knocking off the wheel lock we use when the wind vane steering is working and sending the wheel spinning. What a fright, we were afraid it would come back for another go but it didn't, thank goodness, and apart from some scrapes and gouges we think the rudder must be fine as the steering is still perfect.

Below is the wind generator prop, which we hauled out later, the teeth marks and gouges clearly visible with one blade seriously bent.. We think now that this creature injured its teeth and mouth and perhaps didn't head butt the rudder deliberately but crashed into it in distress. Although it gave us a very nasty shock we definitely hope that it is okay.