Clear skies and calm seas

0800 NZ time Wednesday - lat 31 deg 40' S, long 173 deg 14' E
We left the completely still waters of Whangarei as planned on Monday morning. We motored down the river in company with two other boats taking advantage of the same tide, and cleared out with customs along with "Rontu", our next door neighbor at Riverside. We were directed to come alongside a crane barge at the commercial pier. After negotiating the obstacle course on the deck of the barge we had to climb a ladder with a huge beam at the top that made an interesting overhang to negotiate to reach
the top handhold. We stepped across the 2 foot gap to the pier and decided if we made it back to the boat in one piece we had passed the fitness for sea physical test.
We were under way by 11:00AM with perfect wind and seas just aft of abeam. We chose our weather for leaving to make sure we had enough wind to get away before expected high pressure fills in and the wind dies. We didn't want to wallow just off the coast and use diesel fuel in the first few hundred miles. As expected the wind picked up and so did the steep confused seas. Walking around the cabin became dangerous with the unpredictable movements of the boat and there were really only two places
to be, either in the sea bunk or in the cockpit on watch. We were both a bit green around the gills and wishing we'd spent a night or two at anchor getting used to a little bit of movement. As Marcy forged on we took a couple of breaking waves over the deck which found their way through any and all little openings even though everything was closed and the hatch boards were in. As we've gotten some distance between us and NZ the weather has calmed and the seas are flattening. The sun is shining,
we're sailing with the full main again and the jib is winged out. The improvements we've made on the boat are serving us well and today is a beautiful day. Now it's time to go eat now some food - eating sounds for the first time since we left!