Team Sandpiper Update 29 Oct 2006

• Noon Position, 17'49.1S/165'49.0E
• 856nm to Bundaberg/Aus
• 142nm from Port Vila Vanuatu
• 123nm last 24hrs
• winds 15-20E
• seas 5ft E

Greetings all!
Another great 24hrs of sailing, the winds picked up this afternoon to 20 knots and are no longer right off our stern. We have been averaging 5-7 knots for the last 12 hours and the winds are predicted to hold for the next few days so keep your fingers crossed for us. The new auto-pilot is working like a champ and it is taking some getting used to as it is so quite, it even steers much better than the old one and we have it doing all the steering vice using the wind vane. Having Ron aboard is our 1st crew since Geroge (Dr. Hook) helped us sail from San Diego to Cabo, its the 1st time Amy and I have been able to sleep for more than 3 hours at night so maybe when we arrive we will not be dead tired! Saw 3 fishing boats last night and this is the 1st traffic we have seen for a long time, I am sure when we close with Australia we will be seeing alot more.
Tom, Amy and Ron