Our last web diary was sent after we put Restless on the hard for the northern winter and we returned to New Zealand for one of the best summers for many years. We had visits from Gilbert, Olivia and James, as well as many other friends, and we all sailed and fished together. This year we had many visits from dolphins, most years we see them in our bay only a couple of times.

In March Roland went to the Etchell World Championships in Melbourne with skipper Bill, and Consie went to Sydney to enjoy time with family. We went to Hong Kong in mid-March to get ready for Olivia and James’ wedding on 2 April. 85 of the 100 guests came from overseas, and most of them came a few days early to do some sightseeing or to go to the Rugby 7s. This meant that the wedding party lasted a full week, with Junk trips, a BBQ at Middle Island, Chinese dinner parties and a High Tea at the Peninsula for the girls.

Olivia and James’ wedding was at St Anne’s church in Stanley, followed by a reception at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, with the 8pm Harbour Lightshow, and dancing till dawn. The happy couple left for their honeymoon in Thailand, and the guests, many of whom had come from overseas, returned home after a magical time in Hong Kong.

We return to Restless in Copenhagen on 5 May and our plan is to sail north to Gothenburg and cross the Gota canal to Stockholm. Then we plan to sail to Helsinki and depending on red tape, train or sail to St Petersburg, before continuing round the Baltic to Gotland and the eastern coast of Sweden to Kiel. Then we plan to go through Germany by the Kiel canal and to Holland, where we have many relatives to catch up with. We will update our web diary once we are back on Restless.