Happy New Year! We hope double 07 is a good one for all of you.

It certainly started off well for us, we had a lovely Christmas in the Bay of Islands, only 4 of us, with Olivia and her boyfriend James. Roland put together a kitset (blue) kitchen at the Bay, and we got a bowthruster for Restless. Roland got an old Flying Dutchman (20 ft racing dinghy) for Christmas, so everyone had a ride on the trapeze. We had about 40 visitors over a month, some staying a weekend some a fortnight, and all beds were full most nights. The pohutakawa trees bloomed and most people swam most days. Lots of sails on (Thunderbird) Alibi, and the Flying Dutchman, picnics, fishing, diving for crayfish and scallops. In fact, a real kiwi summer. Sadly, Roland lost 2 aunts this summer, Auntie Toni and Auntie Pat. We have happy memories of times spent with both of them.

Gilbert enjoyed the Sydney-Hobart and had a quick 10 days with us in January, with lots of scuba diving, fishing, sailing and a magical surf with some dolphins. He is doing the Atlantic crossing with us in April/May/June, and has left his job in Sydney, to see what the future holds.

Olivia finished her final year at Auckland university, and handed in her dissertation on Maritime – Salvage law. Now she is a lawyer! In March she is moving to Beijing for 6 months to study Mandarin, and then to Hong Kong, where she will study to sit the Hong Kong Bar exam, and join the HK branch of a U.K. lawfirm, Lovells. As usual, lots of dramas, but the upshot is she will go alone to Beijing, enroll at the language school, find an apartment, organize student visas, but first she has to have an English exam, an extensive medical certificate, and some injections. Her friend Debi will join her; a blonde and a redhead, the 2 of them will stand out. Consie has been patching together a red and black Oriental quilt for Olivia to take to Beijing.

It is count-down to our return to Restless in the Chesapeake. The bach and garden are getting tidied up, boats are being squeezed back into the boatshed. 4 new sails have to be carried back to the States. Many jobs have to be finished off on Restless. Menus and shopping lists for the passages are prepared, the first leaving from Norfolk, Virginia to Bermuda at Easter for 4-5 days with Roland, Consie, Gilbert, Peter, Jack and Keir, and the next in early May: Roland, Gilbert, Pat, Oliver and James for 20-25 days and 3,000 miles from Bermuda to Cork, Ireland.

Consie will not be doing the Atlantic crossing, she will fly to Beijing to spend a month with Olivia; and twinsister Feyona and her daughter Anna will also come to Beijing for a fortnight.

This year we plan to cruise Restless south to Cowes for the Etchell World Championships, 20 - 30 June and then we will be sailing up to Ireland and on to Scotland, where Scottish friend Keir has entered us in the Classic Malts Cruise, end-July, which should be fun although neither of us are whiskey drinkers!  We plan to leave Restless in Scotland for the northern winter, and return to New Zealand for Christmas and summer, but we will update this well before then.