Mike and Cavatina successfully launched this afternoon from Matiatia just after 1pm with family and friends cheering him on and the wind heavily in his favour. Thank you Bernard Rhodes and Bill Kinghorn for assisting Mike in his final preparatory steps to get Cavatina sailing.

Mike is aiming to be at Deep Cove by Wednesday 16 September. He is still currently in mobile reception range and thus able to send us images from time to time of what he’s up to. He sent us this photo around 5pm as he was nearing Kawau Island.

We assume he will be able to continue sending us messages via mobile data for a few days before he loses reception as he travels south.

Mike will still be able to type updates via his tracker and post them on our live time tracking page, though! Be sure to check this page for Mike’s blog posts, weather patterns and the exact location of Cavatina.