After I got back to Auckand I met up with a French Canadian family who I met hiking in the South Island. They are great sailors and circumnavigate the globe for 4 years. Their sailing boat, the `Nordic`, is about 14 m. long and its mast about 20 m. high. I don`t know much about sailing boats but I fell in love with the Nordic the minute I set my foot on deck. It is sooo nice inside! There is a comfortable dining / lounge / kitchen / navigation area in the center of the boat. In the bow (front) are "le bureau" or the head (in English: the toilet) and a V-shaped berth for sleeping. In the stern (back) is the engine room and a half cabine, another sleeping area with a shower. The latter is used as wardrobe. I got invited to stay over for a few nights to experience the life on baord a sailing yacht. After I got to know the family better (Martin, Dany, Catherine and Taiga, the dog) I knew I wanted to stay around for a little longer. The Nordic arrived in NZ last November, a popular stop for boaties during the hurricane season in the South Pacific and they will leave for Tahiti in May 2008. To keep it short: We all get along very well and I spent already four weeks on the boat sailing and doing maintenance work to get the boat ready for a passage to Tahiti. Yes: I am on board as well! A long time dream comes true. I am going to the South Pacific on a sailing boat. I don`t think my trip can get any better than this. We are due to leave tomorrow, May 5th 2008 and it will take us about three to four weeks to reach French Polynesia. We will stay in the area for quite some time and sail to some of the atolls in the Tuamotus and check out the Society Islands with Tahiti and Mo'orea. I scheduled a flight from the Cook Islands to the U.S. in late August. From there I will finally continue my trip over land toward another missing continent on this trip: South America.
Find our position in the South Pacific
You can track the Nordic with shiptrak.org. Just click on the link below and you will find our positions of the last 60 days.
Shiptrak: Click here to find Nordic's current position
Photos from New Zealand: Click here to check out my photos
Photos on Passage: Click here to check out my photos
Photos from the South Pacific: Click here to check out my photos
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