We knew our luck couldn't last. This morning we had plenty of rain as the wind shifted quite a long way aft. I ended up putting the main away and continuing under genoa alone. This gave us enough speed to keep up with our target of arriving on Sunday morning. We could go faster, but the swell forecast is rather putting me off that, though the weather does look to ease considerably at Whangarei by Friday evening. We should have light NW winds by that point.

The temperature has also noticeably dropped, and with a few days of cloud ahead, we took the opportunity to take the windscreen covers off. These are great at cutting down the sun getting into the cabin but do restrict the vision from inside quite a bit. With the covers off, its much easier to keep a night watch from inside, where its warmer. We duck out periodically for a check, but its easy to sit at the nav station and look out of the windows to see any lights.

Whilst I was on deck removing the covers, I discovered a tiny flying fish, and a squid. Quite used to see flying fish on the deck, but the squid must have been very unlucky indeed!

All good onboard, though I've just put the genoa away for a bit of motoring as the wind is direcly behind us at 8 knots which isn't enough. We want to keep to our schedule now - we're keen to arrive! Under 600nm to the corner into Whangarei harbour now. Not quite halfway, but we will pass that marker soon. Dreaming of our beer on arrival, and avacado (apparently)...