Wild Honey ,the 430e that Ian Griffiths took delivery of in Griefswald exactly two years ago,is on her way home. Ian has enjoyed many miles of crusing on the other side of the world ,indeed he estimates about a total of 20,000 by the time he gets home to Brisbane.
Below is an extract from a recent email as he arrives in French Polynesia


> After 15 days of moderate weather and a bit over 2 days of windy,
> unpleasant
> conditions across 3055 miles of the Pacific from San Cristobel in the
> Galapagos group, we were rewarded with the magnificent sight of the Island
> of Ua Pou (pronounced Wapoo) emerging out of the mist ahead of us at dawn.
> The Island of Ua Pou is one of the less visited of the group but we were
> attracted by the fact that the main settlement lies in a reasonably
> protected bay for anchoring purposes and it was reputed to be the
> prettiest
> of the islands.
>
> We were not disappointed. The volcanic spires spouting out of the
> landscape
> disappeared into the clouds and were seen only occasionally in their full
> glory. The view from the boat up into the valley above the bay to the
> volcanic landscape is truly spectacular.
>
> Once in the anchorage, we found a spot where we could anchor and take
> lines
> ashore to the inside of the sea wall, med style so we were snug and
> protected from the continuing bad weather outside.
>
> Once moored, we were immediately approached by the occupants of the only
> other boat in the bay, Jim and Kym who brought us fresh bananas and huge
> sweet grapefruit which we proceeded to devour with relish, it being the
> first fresh fruit we had eaten in some time. Notwithstanding that none of
> the three of us had any more than an hour or two of sleep in the past
> twenty four, it being too rough even to sleep, we asked them to join us
> for
> "sundowners" thinking that we would have a couple of quiet drinks and flop
> into bed for a peaceful night. That was not to be. Jim, a retired dentist
> from San Francisco, brought along his own bottle of Tequila and announced
> that he could drink any Aussie under the table. Well, to cut an long story
> short, he made a bit of a mess of the three of us as we foolishly took up
> the challenge and we awoke the next morning, not remembering when we
> actually went to bed, with monumental hangovers. Our excuse was lack of
> sleep and we reckon he was either shorting himself on his Tequilas while
> the
> three of us consumed rum with a vengeance or he had watered down his
> Tequila
> before the event with the sole purpose of destroying us.
>
> Jim, on the other hand, arrived over at our boat early the next morning
> with
> fresh bread from the bakery, as bright as a button and asked us over for
> pancakes for breakfast.
>
> We were also told about Xavier, a retired French schoolteacher who had
> shown
> Jim and Kym some wonderful hospitality. Sure enough, as we walked into the
> village in the morning, we were approached by a fairly exotic looking
> Frenchman with perfect English who turned out to be Xavier and from that
> moment on, he took us under his wing and has shown us around, taken us on
> a
> bar-b-que picnic to a beach on the wild windy but spectacular windward
> side
> of the island, helped get our diesel drums refilled, hosted us to lunch
> at
> his house overlooking the bay and generally been a magnificent host.
>
> Despite the less than perfect conditions which we experienced on the way
> across from the Galapagos Islands, the only damage we did to the boat was
> to
> rip off a couple of sail track slides on the mainsail when we put our
> final
> reef in the main in the middle of the night, blowing dogs off chains,
> without paying enough attention to what we were doing. David applied all
> of
> his sailmaking skills from sewing stitches across the holes he made in his
> patients and successfully repaired the sail with a minimum of fuss.
>
> Since we arrived here in Ua Pou, the weather reports have been a little
> unsuitable for an early departure, it continuing to blow for days as we
> sit
> in harbour enjoying the ambience, friendliness and hospitality of the
> place.
> However, it looks like we have a weather window coming up the day after
> tomorrow for a three day and night sail to the Tuamotos. The delay to our
> departure turns out to be rather fortunate, as luck would have it, as we
> are
> in French Polynesia at the time of the celebration of Bastille Day on 14
> July and the official festival celebration in the islands, including
> Marquesan dancing, food stalls and various local events, begins tomorrow
> night. On the other hand, all the stalls and restaurants set up for the
> festival have been operating since we arrived so we have been feasting on
> freshly caught grilled wahoo and special Marquesan sashimi so life is
> pretty
> good here.
>
> Anyway, we are much relieved to have put the two big passages, the
> Atlantic
> and the Pacific, behind us and we are now looking forward to seeing those
> coral atolls and lagoons of the Tuamotos which we have read about and
> dreamed of visiting for as long as we can remember.