15:49:09S 148.06:05W 25 June 2010

The Adventures of Sunboy the Sailboat
Al Sparkes and Deb Swain
Sun 27 Jun 2010 23:49
We are on our way to Papeete in Tahiti. We left Rangoroa this morning about 10.00am in company with Fancy Free and Meander. We had five brilliant days there and really enjoyed every moment of it. The kids especially had a ball using the kneeboard and after a couple of hard tries, Layni got going so incredibly well that we now can call her a kneeboarder. Lukey who has had a lot of experience on them really showed his stuff with lots of jumps and three sixty's to excite the watchting croud. Nikki is also really starting to get the hang of it and was carving up big time and there is no doubt will continue to get better and better.

I think the highlight for us was one afternoon that Debs and I were sitting down watching the incoming swell meet the outgoing tide at one of the passes. All of a sudden a dolphin lept about 3 metres out of the water on the back of one of the incoming swells and crashed down into the water behind. As the crowd around us soon increased we realised this must be a regular occurrence when the conditions are suitable and we stayed there for about 3/4 of an hour watching mother nature put on an incredible show for us. Time after time, either the same dolphin or a couple of them had a ball leaping and crashing in the pressure waves that were being created.

We also loved out fresh baguettes that we took the dinghy ashore for early each morning for our daily supply of breakfast lunch and dinner bread, an absolute treat for everyone. So we are now on passage and motor sailing south to try and make sure we can get a better angle to sail with tomorrow as the forecast is for south east winds and not much wind strength either. All are well on board, doing the usual watches and hand steering which by now we are getting quite used to. Will send our positions once we get there, hopefully by some time tomorrow evening.