Woke up this morning to a grey and overcast sky with winds out of the ESE and the first time we have seen a temperature below 80 degrees since leaving Mexico. Not that it is freezing but when you are used to nights in the mid 80's, 79 seems cold.

I baked another loaf of bread this morning. Had it rising before Lisa was rising. Had it finished by 10am. Some of the bread flower we bought back home had some insects in the package. They weren't weevels but a species of a fly a little larger than a nat. The first bag I managed to use most of it after sifting the whole bag twice. Then Lisa discovered the critters and dumped the two bags that still had some in it overboard. We had purchased some bread flower in Mexico and that is what we are using now. Has a little different texture, a slightly darker color and doesn't rise quite as well what we had. The recipe called for 1 1/4 teaspoons of yeast and I used 1 3/4 teaspoons. Turned out good but still didn't rise quite as much as I wanted. Will try for 2 next time. Lisa had made a couple of attempts with the bread machine following their recipe. They both turned out real flat. Always an experiment.

After the bread was out of the oven, we headed for the main sail repair. The wind was pretty steady a 11 knots so made the sewing a challenge. Had to pull the main out to the third batton to work on the luff tape tear. Removed the batton and placed a layer of sailcloth over the bolt rope, overlaping the existing luff tape. Then we set the sewing machine up along side of the mast and layed the sail under the machine foot. Ran a set of stitches up as tight as possible against the luff rope then a second set and finally two set inward by a half inch. Will baby the tape entry to the groove at the second batton until we get to New Zealand for a proper repair. The sail was brand new back in September 2010 when we had the furling boom installed. I purchased it from North Sails and like the sail alot with one exception. That is the luff tape. It is made of a material that uses a teflon thread or teflon coated thread intertwined with the luff tape and around the bolt rope. I think the design concept was for a large boat using racing sails. The sails on those types of boat generally don't last more than three of four races without replacement or major repairs. The concept is with teflon tape, it slides in the track better than a dacron tape. That may be the case but I don't quite see the durability and a cruising boat's sails should be for durability. After the sail was repaired we rolled it back onto the boom. The wind had picked up to about 18 knots and we didn't want to raise the main while at anchor with a lee shore so we didn't get to refastening the clew of the main and will have to do it another day. Project number three for the day was the pesty freezer. So the freezer only freezes when the generator is running which means we have lost DC power. Problem is the wiring diagram is not clear enough to chase the origin of the wire back in the power panel. I have tried chasing it down before and thought it was connected to the same circuit as the refrigerator but turning on and off the refrigeration circuit breaker had no affect. So Lisa and I spent about an hour chasing the wire back to the main junction panel. We used a tone generator and a sensor to chase down the exact wire. What we found is a blown 25 amp fuse, not a breaker. 25 amp is pretty big and something caused it to blow, we just don't know what. Also discovered the fan for the condensor was not working causing the unit to overheat and then shutting down. It uses a standard computer type fan but I cannot get to it without either removing an air handling unit for the air conditioner or removing the washing machine. Either task is daunting and not something I really want to do until New Zealand when we will have lots of time. I had an extra comfort fan I installed over the compressor for now and will baby the unit for the next 4-5 months.

Lisa went through and cleaned all the screen traps for the sump waste pumps and then went on to making some repairs to the awning before putting away the sewing machine. Finally she scrubbed the solar panels to let in a little more of the sun. We now have most everything back in order and are standing by on the marine SSB net for the evening puddle jump chatter.

Now for some good news. I finally managed to get ahold of Boats.net yesterday morning. Ended up talking to the internet order manager who has never responded to my emails. What was interesting is he sounded like he was just reading through the order tracking history, first telling me he has a FedEx tracking number which I copied down and then he told me it was going to Nuka Hiva, to which I said NO NO NO... then he said oh no it is really going to Rose's, BP 21 on Nuka Hiva, to which I said NO NO NO.... then there was silence.... When I re-quiried where the parts were shipped to he finally said, Papeete, Tahiti. To which I said... Chris, you need a geography lesson. I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, some 5000 miles West of where you are. I am in the Tuomoto, Islands which are still 500 miles away from Tahiti. The first two addresses I tried to get the parts shipped to were in Nuka Hiva but your shipping department could not reconcile the addresses with FedEx s o you put my order back into the warehouse and when we tried to change the address your system made up a whole new order number and then showed all of the parts as on order from Tohatsu America and three of them were unavailable and I would have to wait for another week or two. Now you tell me that we have a FedEx tracking number that the parts were all shipped to my new address in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia on the 5th of June to arrive on the 16th. You have charged me for expedited shipping and you call 11 days expedited even after you have screwed up the order twice and caused the deliver to take a month from the date I ordered it? To which he chuckled, a crying chuckle and I took that to mean he was embarrased. So can't check the tracking until I have internet which won't be for another week so I can only assume they are really going to arrive. Now all I have to hope for is that they included all of my duty free paperwork in the packing slip so it doesn't get stuck in customs for God knows how long.

All for now on this grey and gloomy day in Tahanea, Tuomoto, French Polynesia.

John