Sunny Spells is now anchored in the still waters of Phaeton Bay, Tahiti. We motored down here from Pointe Venus this morning in light air, entered the lagoon through Passe Tapuaeraha — threading between sets of surfers catching the long left-handers — and made our way into one of the calmest, most secure anchorages we’ve seen in months. The boat barely moves and it’s a perfect place to pause, reflect, and start building what comes next.

We’re particularly pleased with how well our new cockpit displays performed during the Pacific crossing. The two displays installed either side of the companionway when we were still in the Med ran non-stop for the entire crossing without a single reboot. Conditions were full-on at times — decks wet, wind on the beam, occasional green water over the rail — and the units shrugged it all off. Salt spray, sun, heat, and constant use: no glitches, no drama.

Over the course of 4,000 miles, the displays earned their keep. The high-contrast, legible graphics meant we could easily read them from across the cockpit, even in bright sunlight or in the pitch dark of night watch. The self-dimming brightness was flawless — it always seemed to be just right, whether under the noon sun or a moonless sky.

The interface to our masthead windvane was a noticeable improvement over the old ST60: a smoother and more stable wind angle display, damping was effective without lag, making the readout far easier to steer by.

The touch interface also came into its own. Even when wet with spray, the touchscreen remained responsive. And because we could configure either screen to show any data, we could always get the info we needed at either helm — when had steering we both prefer a heading display straight ahead with the wind on the other display.

I’m convinced these displays will fill a void in the market. My goal for the coming weeks: make it even more useful, more intuitive, and even more like the touch devices we already use every day.

What’s coming:

• A navigation display with a large heading, a CDI, and SOG, COG, and DTW feeds.
• A dedicated true wind pointer on the wind instrument screen, so we can see both true and apparent wind at the same time, rather than toggling between them.
• A UI that does away with the physical buttons. The touchscreen has proven itself — even in rough, wet conditions — so we’re embracing it fully with a swipe-based interface to move between screens (or “apps”), and tap targets on-screen (like units or values) to change them, just like you would on a smartphone.

It’s exciting to be in a place where we can pause and build. Phaeton Bay is quiet, sheltered, and still enough for a floating workshop. Over the next few weeks, while Sunny Spells rests, we’ll be coding, testing, and bringing these new features to life — right here on the water where they belong.

Photos to follow — for now, it’s time for a swim, a stretch, and maybe a glass of something cold. After all, landfall has its perks.