Beautiful sunny morning, that's the good news. Lighter winds? We'll see. Boat's ready, we're ready. Look out ocean, here we come.

Unlike so many prior years, we're getting some stiff breezes just offshore. A few boats have turned back already. The stronger winds make me glad that Scott Easom totally disassembled, magnafluxed, and reassembled our standing rigging.

Expedition is varying wildly as to best suggested course. You pays ya money, ya takes ya chances.

One thing that never fails to cheer me up is how engaged people get in the effort. The number of random folks who have pitched in as our crew was sweating this task or another is truly gratifying.

Most recently, we discovered our emergency tiller did not fit the rudder post. Disqualifying. A swarm of folks with tools, tons of advice, and plenty of muscle got the things sufficiently disassembled and marked that a machine shop was able to modify the tiller head. Perfect fit.

Next project, say, did you know that not all engines hold 5 quarts of oil? Some of them hold a WHOLE LOT LESS. Yep, and we all know that happens when you overfill a diesel. (Boom!). So we got to drain the engine 1.5 times. Yeah we are wicked nautical.