Thetis spent the cyclone season on the hard in Vuda Boatyard while we did some travelling to Germany and to New Zealand. From July 2024 onwards we sailed her to the islands of Fiji, enjoying the Yasawas and also the remoter islands of the Lau group, including the Bay of Islands, Ongea and Fulanga. Instead of spending yet another cyclone season on the hard in Vuda we waited for a suitable weather window for the passage to New Zealand and arrived in Opua, NZ in November. The idea was to spend the NZ summer exploring the eastern coast and islands of NZ. But instead the boat was hauled out in Norsand Boatyard, Whangārei and stayed there all summer for refitting and renovations, while we returned to Germany now and then.

As mentioned above the sailing season of 2025 has been very short. When the boat finally left the boatyard it was time to consider the passage back to Fiji for the NZ winter. But there was no weather window until late May which promised a comfortable passage. We tried once, sailed to the Bay of Islands and spent some nice days there only to find out that the chosen weather window closed again. In the end we returned the boat to Whangārei and left NZ for a long stay in Germany. To obey the NZ immigration rules we will return to the boat in December with the plan to spend part of the summer in NZ.