Tuesday 26th JUNE 19:26 GMT
Back to sea today from Roratanga, but as it is pitching rather than rolling we're sliding from our bunks again. A fresh easterly, right on the nose, so no sail at all today. But as the day wears on the wind slowly dies down to an eight knot breeze and the sea settles to a gentle heaving calmness.
Late morning Tom the radio operator gives the crew a run through of the hand-held radio equipment and a refresher course on radio protocol and use. After lunch there is more boat training: practising our launching proceedures to refine them and more general boat techniques and manoeuvres. Some crew are new to this work, and the more comfortable everyone is in a small boat the better. A wise sailor never loses respect for the sea -- and it is important to shake down the equipment, and identify and rectify any problems or potential problems.
After a long voyage across the Pacific and the five weeks maintenance in Auckland over the last few months the boats haven't seen much use lately.
More as we continue our Journey -- Alice
Two Tahitian representatives of Te Ihutai No Te Hau - The Flotilla for Peace - will give a press conference tomorrow at the Cannes Summit of European Union Ministers. We hope it will help keep nuclear testing on the political agenda in Europe, where most EU members have been noticeably reticent about criticising France's decision to resume nuclear testing in anything but weak terms.
However, the momentum may now be building more strongly. After a high-profile Greenpeace action in Amsterdam blocking French minesweeping vessels entering port, the Dutch Government said it would ensure French testing was discussed at the Cannes EU meeting. Even German conservative politicians have rebuked Kohl for not raising the testing issue at the G7 summit in Halifax on June 17, and have called for him to raise it at the Cannes meeting. European Socialist leaders at the weekend condemned the French testing decision. And reports from Paris, where mobilisation for a national demonstration on July first are in full swing, suggest a huge turn-out is likely.
Meanwhile, the ship had a call from Oscar Temaru, the leader of Tavini Huiraatira (the Tahitian independence party) and the mayor of Faa'a, Tahiti today. Pressure is also building there -- an around-the-island protest march started yesterday, and is slowly building to a large demonstration to welcome the Rainbow Warrior when we arrive there on Thursday morning. We've had no word from the French authorities about entry into Tahiti, so are presuming that they will take the sensible approach and permit us entry into port there.
--Stephanie Mills, Campaign Coordinator on board the Rainbow
Warrior