Asolare arrived safely in Tahiti on Friday 23 April and tied up on the waterfront in Papeete, the first time in a marina since she left Panama in late January. Mark and Clare left here to be replaced by a slightly jet lagged Mandy who when waking at 2AM was delighted to be welcomed to the southern hemisphere by the Southern Cross framed perfectly in the hatch above the bunk. This delight is now wearing a bit thin after the third night of wakefulness but Mandy is pleased that she is already so in tune with the rhythm of the southern night sky that she wakes at exactly the moment that this constellation passes the forestay every night. This bodes well for future passages so long as a watch system can be devised that takes advantage of this. Activities have so far been somewhat domestic, provisioning, laundry and boat cleaning being the priorities. Peter kindly cleaned the entire forward head and shower for Mandy while she was busy on deck by the novel method of filling it with foam. This will hereafter be known as the Washing Machine Incident. Mandy is still getting used to the luxury of a cruising boat with a washing machine so had not yet hit upon this method of killing two birds with one stone, that is the recycling of fishy ziplock bags while simultaneously getting tiresome cleaning jobs done. There was a break from domestic activities when the local tourist board put on an afternoon of traditional Polynesian water sports for the World ARC gang, the pictures show us helming a Tahitian sailing canoe in the harbour. Today a island tour is planned, a day on an air-conditioned bus seeming appropriate after the Asolare crew drowned their sorrows at winning absolutely nothing at last night’s prize giving party due to staying a couple of days longer enjoying the Galapagos. Having given serious and sensible consideration to the Tahiti Pearl Regatta it was decided to not enter as sailing two handed and with half the Pacific still to cross it would be better to abstain. The entry form was then filled and handed in within minutes. We have resolved to chant “we will not be competitive” each day of the regatta on waking and at the first start signal. However the suggestion by someone at the party last night that we could always enter the white sails only class as we would be short of crew to fly a spinnaker was met with a snort of derision from Peter and gasp of incredulity from Mandy. Lots of love to all back home from the crew of Asolare.