Playing with a cat

Yesterday we were invited aboard 'Bounty', another German yacht, sailed by Harry and Lucy; we first met them in Panama. They wanted some tips on sail trim and boat handling so, together with Peter & Heidi, we had a lovely day sail. Graham was in his element, tweaking the sails to get maximum speed and suggesting a few tricks to make sail handling easier. It's the first time we've sailed a cruising catamaran and, at 44ft, Bounty is a little different from our last cat, a Dart 18 racing machine but we really enjoyed the experience.

After the sail we were treated to a delicious late lunch in the cockpit (or sofa area, as I think it's technically known in these boats) with roast pork. Harry and Lucy had visited the tiny island of Palmeston where all 60 residents are descended from William Masters who settled there with three wives in the 1800's. A pig was slaughtered for the Sunday lunch and they were given a joint to take away so this is what we ate - lovely!

Back aboard Maunie (which suddenly seemed very narrow) we were treated to a beautiful evening sky: 

Looking forward, we plan to sail to Tonga on Friday or Saturday. The weather looks pretty settled so we just need to time the 2-day passage to avoid arriving at the weekend, when it's not possible to clear in. The Tongans take the concept of Sunday being a day of rest and prayer even more seriously than they do here. So we have a few more days to explore Niue which is great.