Hi David
Lovely to hear of your exploits, which make ours sound so pedestrian! After a 2000 mile bash from Sint Maarten, we spent three months in the Azores and have now moved on to Graciosa in the Islas Canarias. Plans are flexible, but the tropics beckon.
Love
Linda and Andy XXX :)

I 've been at Ben Gartside Marine Engineers in Sidney BC for five days, whilst the Beta diesel was taken out for a very much needed overhaul and refit, after 13 years, 80,000 miles, 3700 engine hours.
My part in the exercise was limited to supplying the unskilled labour (eg, cleaning 13 years worth of carbon, grime and sludge out of the engine bay, after the engine had been lifted - what fun!); I 've no knowledge of the kind of mechanic-ry that 's needed to:
Get a totally corroded exhaust elbow off the manifold and replace it - the old one crumbled in my hands as I took the hose off! A disaster waiting to happen.
Fit a new 2.6:1 gearbox that will be a better match to my Kiwiprop. (having taken off the bellhousing, the drive plate splines were found to be very worn, so that was another disaster waiting to happen).
Fit a 70A alternator with a poly-V drive belt, which will last a lot longer than the plain V-belt I 've had up to now.
Fit a new salt-water pump.
Find corrosion in the sump pan and heat exchanger, and repair or replace.
And so on, and so on. The dollars are flowing like water, but with it all done, the engine should see me out. Or at least, last the rest of my cruising days.

The work took longer than estimated, as the engine jobs expanded and multiplied, but now the little crittur is in much better condition. New flexible mounts, exhaust elbow, gearbox, air filter and much else. They didn 't have the bigger alternator I wanted, so that will have to wait. Then I went onto the sandy beach at Sidney Spit to increase the pitch on the Kiwi prop to match the change in gear ratio from 2:1 to 2:6:1. The tides are awkward at this time of year, so I had to do it in the dark.

Yesterday I sailed and motored (there was a strong wind warning on the wx radio, so of course the wind was light and fitful, but still, a warmish day) down to Victoria, and now I 'm moored right outside the Empress Hotel. I intend to stay for two or three weeks, as my US cruising permit expires on the 21st, and I 'll need to leave a decent interval before going over to Friday Harbor and asking for a new one. I have Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island in mind as the place to stop until the end of March at least. I 've met several cruisers who have given it a good report - a small town, a reasonably priced marina, and some trails to walk. I hope there will be somewhere where I can give my junk sail a 10,000 mile service, as well.

My Yellowbrick tracker is misbehaving again. It 's completely dead. If I can 't bring it back to life, I 'll give up on it; it causes me more grief than it 's worth. I can put no more positions on the map for the time being.

After a year around the Vancouver Island area, it 's time to head in a generally southwesterly direction again. Tystie is in Tofino, storing up ready to head out in a day or two. Looks like I 'll be treading a fine line between the tropical storms beginning to form in the Mexico area, to port, and the N Pacific High, to starboard. Keep an eye on http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Tystie and https://twitter.com/tystie to see how I get on.

All the best, David. We arrived in Flores yesterday after taking 22 days on passage from St Martin - no wind, then too much. Hey ho!
Linda and Andy, SV Coromandel

I got into Hilo yesterday afternoon, and anchored at 1540. Unfortunately, there is only one CBP officer on duty this summer (Officer Foss, a very jovial chap and a pleasure to do business with), and I had to wait until this morning for clearance. Had to shift anchorage to Reeds Bay as well, as I didn 't get away with anchoring off the black sand beach nearer town, where all the outrigger canoe clubs are.

The statistics: 2397 miles in 18.25 days, 130 miles a day on average. This must be one of the easier faster passages I 've made, but certainly not the fastest, in terms of big daily runs. I must be getting old, as I was holding the speed down to 6 knots instead of 6 1/2. I made one tack, after I 'd got an offing from Tofino, and then got a gradually freeing wind, from SW, through NW to NE, where I made one gybe, about halfway through. Apart from that, I had nothing to do but take a reef or two and shake them out, as the wind varied between 8 - 18 knots or so. Having PredictWind to help with GRIB files allowed me to skirt the Pacific High closer than I would have risked otherwise. The high aspect ratio junk rig was very easy to handle, but the passage wasn 't really much of a test of it, anything would have done.

So to pass the time, having not much else to do, I read War and Peace, and two other big novels.

Right now, I 'm tucking into a big burrito for my first lunch ashore, and a local IPA, "Big Swell" - recommended.

Sounds like a great passage.
Simon

I 'll be leaving Hilo tomorrow morning, bound for points south. A very good friend of mine will be sixty years young on August 5th, and so there 's a big "carrot" to draw me towards North Island, NZ by that date. The "stick" is that it 's really too hot for me here, with the sun right overhead at the solstice.

Keep watching http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Tystie

and https://twitter.com/tystie

to see whether I 'm going to make it in time, or whether I decide to stop somewhere nice, such as Suwarrow, on the way.

As the SE Trades are rather feeble right now,the smart move seems to be to head due S from Hawai 'i, passing close to Tabuaeran and Kiritimati, so that I should get the SE Trades on the beam after I 've passed through the ITCZ.

... so there I was, making good progress south, after a a slow and unpleasant passage through the ITCZ, when the wind came to the SE at up to 30 knots, and I was inside the washing machine, with confused big seas. I decided to break the passage at Apia. At least the rig is holding up to being shaken around a lot. The skipper, however, is in need of a rest.

A lot has changed since I was here in 2009. The marina has gone; I think it was carried away by the tsunami soon after I was here. The old and famous hotel, Aggie Grey 's, has gone, carried away by a cyclone and flood, and great big concrete monstrosity is being built in its place. The cops are wearing regular trousers and boots, not lava-lavas and flipflops. There seems to have been a big influx of money - the taxis and buses all seem quite new, and downtown Apia is looking quite prosperous. It seems I just missed the rugby World Cup or something, which is a shame.

Well done, David. Have a good rest before pushing on - whrer 's the next stop? Niuetoputapu? Neiafau? We 're in Velas in Sao Jorge, pushing on to Terceira tomorrow, we think.
Kind regards
Linda and Andy, SV Coromandel

[quote="linandy" post=2253]Well done, David. Have a good rest before pushing on - whrer 's the next stop? Niuetoputapu? Neiafau? We 're in Velas in Sao Jorge, pushing on to Terceira tomorrow, we think.
Kind regards
Linda and Andy, SV Coromandel
[/quote]Sounds like you 're heading for Europe, as I seem to remember that Terceira is the easternmost island. Bon voyage, if you are.

I 'm trying to make NZ as quickly as possible, so I 'll miss out Tonga this time. I 'd have stopped at Niuatoputapu instead of Apia, if the weather hadn 't turned against me, as all I really needed was a little fruit and veg. I 'm thinking of leaving on Wednesday, as the trades get to be a bit more easterly (but there are lies, there are damn lies, and then there are weather forecasts, so I 'll have to take my chances.
David.