Peter Ingram

Kokiri - for his Pacific cruise from New Zealand to Micronesia with his wife, Katherine, in their newly-acquired Pacific 38. They set off from Nelson, NZ and sailed through Micronesia and Papua New Guinea to the Philippines via Vanuatu to the Solomon Islands they called in at the isolated island of Tikopia, then on to the Santa Cruz Islands and the Reef Islands. Entering Star Harbour on the eastern end of San Cristobal (Makira) Island was a challenge as cyclones had dramatically changed the topography, sprouting densely wooded islets where the chart shows submerged reefs. They then called in at the Indispensable Reefs, then on with a 300 mile passage to Papua New Guinea via New Georgia group which was long and slow, putting into Pinipel Island in the Green Islands for a break but soon continued to the Feni Islands and Lihir Island off the north coast of New Ireland. Then on to Nukuoro Atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia where the islanders were unanimous in their wish to override the mayor's authority and invited them ashore for Christmas Day. They on to Chuuk arriving where the shallow crystal-clear lagoon holds the wrecks of over 50 Japanese ships, sunk by US planes in Operation Hailstorm in 1944.
Then a very fast passage with great fishing, dipping alternately into the opposing North Equatorial and Equatorial Counter Currents, they finally made Tacloban on Leyte Island, Phlippines.