Half a circumnavigation

Tatt av vinden
Bjørn Larsen
Sat 27 Oct 2018 02:39
New Zealand is about as far from our homewaters as possible, that is if you do not go into space. From New Zealand we shall ship Tatt av vinden to Southampton in England. So in spring on the northern hemisphare we shall sail from there up to Oslo, going slowly.

We feel happy with our decision to stop here in this year. There is a time for everything, and we started this journey in 2013. We did not at the time plan to go across the Pacific. Just that two years later we found ourselves in a corner in the Caribbean sea called Panama. It is a corner, because of the prevailing winds. Going east from Panama is possibel, but never comfortable. The logical solution for us was to keep the boat in Panama until Eva could retire, and then transit the canal to the Pacific. And we have never regreted that decision. The Pacific is different from the Atlantic and the Caribbean sea, it was a whole new experience to us.
All the island groups have their own caracteristics: Islas Perlas, Galapagos, Marquesas, Touamotus, Society islands, Niue (the seule rock in the sea), Vavau (Tonga), Tongatapu (Tonga) and now New Zealand.
This journey has cost us in terms of money, but it has made us richer in a different and more valuable way. The people here in the Pacific have met us in a friendly way. We have felt welcome everywhere. And the sailer community is more real here than in other seas we have sailed.
We shall not stop sailing all together. But when we are back in Norway we shall keep to coastal sailing. Maybe we shall sail what an English yachting magazin called Scotland on steroids - the Norwegian west coast.
And we do not close down the blog yet. Stay tuned.