Update | November 9, 2014

Written by Nāʻālehu Anthony.

Kia ora tatou,

We’ve been sailing off the coast of the tip of North Island all day and into the night.  We took a tow from Hikianalia for about 2 hours this evening to get around one of the points. We reset our sails and wind picked up a little around 11pm.  It looks like we are doing 2-3 kts down the coast to Karikari.  It’s 90 more miles to go, so this might take while.

ʻAwa was served tonight to give everyone a chance to reflect on the voyage. The words spoken were all very positive and pointed towards thanking the leadership style in Captain Bruce but to also mahalo the tremendous amount of effort that Kaʻiulani and Kaleo put forth to prepare for this successful endeavor.  Two-thirds of the way through the ceremony, as the skies cleared. a bright red moon slowly pierced the horizon and gave light across the sea.  The open canopy of points of light included Lehua Kona in the hook, both crosses, the beginning of the bailer starting to rise as well as Orion making an appearance just above the rising Moon.

More tomorrow when this keyboard warms up…