Hi guy's

Well you are probably getting a little anxious as to where we are and how we are going so here it all is !!.

 We arrived  at the Panama Canal yesterday after a fantastic passage with absolutely no problems and some good fishy stories (which you will read about in the log). I have cleared customs and am yet to clear immigration, I have been talking to a couple of people on boats who are also going in transit and it sounds like we could have up to a two week wait I am meeting with an agent tomorrow who will be able to give me a good idea and think I may have to spend a little more to speed up the process and keep on the move. 

 We went out to the local yacht club for a good feed and a few beers last night to wind down while we were there another 8 yes 8 kiwi boats come in all looking to do the same after the passage across the Caribbean next thing you know the beers were flowing and the stories of the passage were coming out and you might be a bit blown away when I tell ya that SKIPPY is here on another Oceanis 473 same boat with the blue topsides and doing the passage down to Tahiti you will also be interested to know that it was one of the contacts that you gave him,  there are also another couple of kiwi boats here that you know one called "Essence" and the other "Sojourner" I am yet to go and talk to them both but they came in not long after us so both saw the boat circled around the transom looking for you guys.

Whilst on passage I found for me to stay on top of things with all the services and the safe running of the ship this is consuming at least 8 hours a day ( think you can relate to this mike)and not much time left to do much else but eat have the daily clean up and stay on top of sleep hence only sending out minimal e mails, In saying this we have got our shifts down pat and changed a few things around to give ourselves a little more free time each. Also I find it hard to concentrate on anything else but the job at hand for the safe and unscathed return of your fine ship, the biggest issue we have had to deal with yet is finding the rubber rail around the transom surfing behind the boat nothing a tube or two of sikaflex cant fix !!!

The passage here was some of the best sailing and it feels good to be back in those trade wind breezes with both of us driving for at least an hour a day each to give the autopilot a little break also to enjoy the plain sailing, as we creep closer to the equator things are really heating up and the days are getting really hot and heavy now and both of us needing to stay on top of  our sleep so as not to get too lethargic as you know how much this heat takes  out of you.

The first half of the passage was sailed in 20 - 25kts E/SE and on the third night we had up to 35 kts for most of the night we both now know what Aurelia like's to make good miles without pushing the boat and gear we have also got into a nice routine of getting a bit more rag out during the day and each evening putting the first reef in and getting the boat comfortable and working to about a 7.5 - 8 kts average for the night when the breeze allows. The storm jib that Gavin made at one stage was up for two and a half days without collapsing once, As we passed around the top of Columbia and down to Cartagena the breeze slowly died out over the next couple of days and the last night was spent under motor and making water so we arrived with full tanks. Things on board are ship shape and when I went down to get some sleep before arriving Wade took it upon himself to get stuck in and scrub the boat so we could arrive with a clean ship and I tell ya there was a lot of scrubbing to get all those flying fish scales off the boat he said he was finding them buried even in the gooseneck it was amazing the amount of flying fish and I don't recall ever having this amount to deal with each morning this became a routine to spend half an hour picking the bloody things of the deck one morning I counted 47 of the little buggers messing up your boat.

We are about to get stuck into the job list as wade has to take the main off the boom to put on some spreader patches and I also want to take the boom off and have a good look at the gooseneck before the next leg I have some work inside to do to stay on top of things basically I run the services and the inside of the boat while wade takes care of her above decks with all deck gear rigging and sails and this works well I am also making a point that each evening  having a couple of drinks with cheese and crackers on the bow at sundown and reflecting on the day's run and any further jobs that we need to attend to also I will give the brief of what each nights programme is as to navigation and where we need to be in twelve hours.

Well I hope that this puts your mind at ease and I will be checking emails each day now we are on anchor again also I will have more time on the next leg to get more emails out as we are both well into a good system of watches now this took a few days and was always going to with there just the two of us