Author: Matt Fletcher

Klaus with Lapita Tikopia pulled high up the beach The Finish Line We made it. 4000 odd miles and we finally made it. In the end, with the winds against us we ran out of time and the boats split up. Lapita Anuta should be on Anuta by now and we arrived on Tikopia yesterday…

Position: S 11 09.031 E165 47.812 (On Lapita Tikopia) Out on the open ocean once again. Anuta and Tikopia lie tantalizingly close, some 200 nautical miles away, and it’s good to be on the move. This is the downhill run. It’s been one hell of a trip, but a long one and I’m looking forward…

Position: 09° 23′ S, 160° 08′ E Tikopia/Anuta party at Point Cruz Yacht Club Downhill Run to Tikopia and Anuta The German TV crew have packed their cameras, we threw a party in the Point Cruz Yacht Club with expat Tikopian and Anutan communities, ate well in a fine restaurant one last time and today…

Position: S09 02.058 E159 04.827 (aboard Lapita Tikopia) A Slightly Perilous Situation As the wind picked up again I figured that actually yes, we could lose the boat. And if it happened it would be wet, dangerous and embarrassing. We’d been blown off course by a sudden squall whilst crossing West Bay on Pavuvu Island.…

Anchored off the beach in Mono island We sail now in Solomon’ waters, which feels good. The weather maybe grey and cool, but the Solomon’s give me a good warm feeling inside. Klaus’s 15-year-old cruising guide said that Mono Island in the Treasury Group was one of the most hospitable places in the country. That’s…

Heading To The Solomons PNG is now behind us. The neat, coral lined gardens of Karkar Island, the amazing collapsed volcano crater that’s Garove Island and lagoon at Keravang I’ll not forget in a hurry. Now we are sailing painfully slowly into the Solomon Islands. As I type we are bobbing around on a very…

Papua New Guinea Christmas and New Year came and went with a little fanfare. On Christmas Eve we went out for chicken and beer in Jayapura, and left the stinking, rubbish strewn port on Christmas Day and headed to Papua New Guinea. On New Year’s Eve we were at sea, but the seas were so…

Easy Sailing The trip from Korido to Kota Biak was a bit of a beauty. The winds were fair, the sun not too hot and the rain, when it came, light and refreshing not torrential, blustery and depressing. The coastline was dramatic, all white limestone cliffs and tropical forest stuck to steep hill sides. The…

We left the little safe haven of Korido this morning riding our first, long overdue, northwest monsoon winds. Our arrival in the tiny port a couple of days ago, after 5 long days and nights bobbing around in the Pacific swell caused quite a stir. The local police and three guys from the tourist office…

Last night, after a long day of little progress the wind showed brief promise, and then died. Again. I sat alone on deck as we started to drift back towards the Philippines, spinning gently through 360 degrees in the full moonlight. It was the last straw for my tired soul and I lost the plot.…