Dear all,

The first leg of my journey, my first solo offshore passage, was most certainly a challenge of the highest order, indeed it was harder than I had expected, and undoubtedly it didn’t go exactly to plan. But thankfully, I eventually made landfall in a little spec of paradise, and now with the chance to look back, I can’t help but smile. All in all the first leg was a roaring success!

I have written and spoken at length about this first part of the journey, and some of which has been available on my website. But now I would like to share with you something a little different - An hour-long online presentation I did for the recent Worldwide Classic Boat Show. I very much enjoyed this presentation, and I hope you too will enjoy watching. I was able to tell the whole story so far from, my arrival in Peru, all the way to my time on Penrhyn, and all the crazy things that have happened in between, and the way they have shaped me as a person.

This all-online show is produced by the dedicated team at Off Center Harbor. OCH, as it is known, is a subscriber-only, advertisement-free, boating website focusing on high quality videos and articles related to boat building, sailing, rowing, adventure and simple living. Based in Maine, USA, OCH has a large, worldwide following. They have been generous and important supporters of my journey for over 12 months now.

There is a lot of content on the Off Center Harbor website about my voyage that is not available anywhere else, and they already have five short films about my adventure. These videos start with a stem-to-stern tour of my boat, MAIWAR, and then they follow my 5,000-mile adventure from Peru to Penrhyn Island, including a live satellite phone call from the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

If you're not already a member of Off Center Harbor, I encourage you to consider joining to get access to everything they are creating about my journey, as well as access to the 600-plus other videos about all kinds of wooden boats and boatbuilding.

Here are links for you:

You can CLICK HERE or click on the photo above to see the full-length video of my presentation at the Worldwide Classic Boat Show

You can CLICK HERE to learn more about Off Center Harbor and join or get a free trial membership

You can CLICK HERE to see the fast-growing collection of everything on OCH's site about my journey (you can see short previews as a non-member)

A note from the shore team:

At the time of writing, Tom, in Maiwar, was around 80 nautical miles (148 km) from the Island of Tau in American Samoa. It's at S14 14, W169 28 and is marked on Tom's tracker as Leusoalii. Zoom in to see the remarkable escarpment on its southern side.

Tom is hoping that conditions will be right for him to stop there for a few days. The island looks very interesting. It is, in effect, a mountain jutting out of the ocean. While it is only 10 km long, its highest point is 931 m. He should have no problem seeing it long before he gets there!

With the only place where Maiwar can shelter being one of the two small harbours cut from the coral fringe on the north west of the island, a successful landing will depend on benign weather and swells. Some serious nail-biting coming up!

Of course, wind and current may prevent Tom from landing at Tau, in which case he is likely to choose somewhere else in American Samoa or Western Samoa to land…we’ll keep you posted.

Enjoy Tom's video presentation; and apologies to OCH members who may have seen it already.

First leg online presentation and shore team update 9