After holing up in Newport, Oregon for a few days, we are on our way to Hilo. (I think we made it a day before Freya asked how much longer until we reached Hawaii.) We left Newport Thursday evening, a good thing too because the bar was closed Friday morning with more bad weather on the way. We saw many fishing boats around Newport and down the Oregon coast, but very few since the California boarder.

The first couple days at sea were spent adjusting to the motion and routines again. We had hoped to engage the kids on their school work while at sea, but that is proving difficult. It may get easier as we get more accustom to the motion and get into steadier winds to the south.

Sophie and Finn managed to play some monopoly, and Sophie created her own version based on the Harry Potter books, called Wizardopoly. She made a very elaborate board, but for ease referenced her properties back to the Parker Brothers properties cards and money. If the kids can play games with each other, it will be much easier for us. They watched one movie on Christine's laptop, then it stopped working. Hopefully we can get it repaired in Hawaii. My netbook is now our only computer, critical for communication and weather information.

Yesterday and last night we had 22- 25 knot winds from the north, and were sailing fast under double reefed main and staysail. The west swell made it a bit uncomfortable, but we are making good progress down the coast. Today the winds have a more comfortable 15 knots, and we are sailing due south at a good pace. We are all looking forward to warmer weather.

Our Spectra watermaker is working great, and enabled us to take some nice showers. We still have to conserve water, as it takes substantial power, but it is a nice piece of gear.