A downwind sail to landfall

South Sea Vagabond – Auckland to Port Villa 2017

I know it is already December and our ‘winter getaway’ journey to the tropics seems like a lifetime ago.  However, with the New Zealand wedding season knocking at my door, I am going to do one last ‘Dear Diary, this is how much I love sailing’ blog post for the fans.
AKA Josh Scarrow.

The last few days of this sail were nothing short of delightful.  Once the butter starts melting you know you’ve made it to the good life zone!  We ended up on a course through the eastern islands of New Caledonia where we first spotted land.  The wind moved behind us for dreamy two days under gennaker, which was only hauled in for evenings and the odd passing whale. That’s right. Whale. We were befriended by Bob, the boobie, who hitched a ride with us overnight into Port Villa. And of course we continued the sailing photography themes of craft beers on deck as the sunsets, lazy hammock reading sessions, never-ending horizions and the blue blue blue of that soul healing ocean.

Nothing really beats the feeling of coming into port as the day breaks.  I love photographing people at this moment in which the sweet euphoric combination of achievement, wonder, safety and the prospect of a nice long shower manifests on the face as a beautiful cheesy grin.  Also when your destination is a tropical pacific island you get to adventure around for next few days, everything feels easy breezy.

Until next time…