Good day for all those who are back at work and now have a high speed internet connection.

I left you yesterday I was headed up on deck to check with Billy on what was happening. While we were discussing sails it looked like we could carry the Code O, so up it went at 10:10AM speed was up and off we went straight to Hawaii. I was glad to see the heavy 1 on the deck for a while. We had long discussion whether we should even take the heavy one with us, even had a rating without it and it saved us 460 seconds. someone would have been in hot water if it was on the dock back in LA. The sail has been up most of the trip so far.

Well as you know from other articles the wind changes a lot and we had long discussion about what to do as we sailed below our plotted course to Hawaii. We decided to leave the Code O up and sagged further south until the wind backed and then we were happy we had it flying. With the forecast for the wind to back and build we felt good about where we were with our class. We are the second farthest north boat. Only time will tell if we are as smart as we think we are. The discussion on wind changes and sail selection happens all day.

At 3:30 PM the wind had backed to 010 and we decided to set the � A kite the turquoise one and head wherever it took us. We managed the sail change with 5 people on deck and we were glad we did not have to wake up all the off watch. Good news it was taking us to our next imaginary waypoint 24 N and 135 W. All during the day the wind kept moving around and we were making ground. When we received the report from the tracking people showing the other boats we were all in agreement in what to do.

After dinner and on thru the night the wind picked up and we saw some 16 knot gust and boats speeds in the 10 knot range. The boat is much happier at these wind speeds and angles. We were able to sail a TWA of 125 to 130 with an AWA of 95 to 105, all the time keeping the boat on her feet. This is made a little easier due to the fact all the sails are stacked on the weather rail and the starboard water tank is full providing us with lots of stability.

Has anyone noticed that I have not talked much about tacking or jibing? Since we have left Catalina we have been on starboard tack and it looks like we will stay on Starboard for a few more days.

Now to the LEAK, we kept tracing it down to the head area with some ingenious detective work. Once it was located Gary went to work on actually finding it. First we looked into the lockers where we found standing water. There he located a broken hose clamp and a loose hose clamp on the Y valve. Yahoo we have solved the problem and we start cleaning up the bilge in the main cabin. When we start the final mop up in the head sure enough the area where the Y valve is located was dry BUT the area around the thru hull was still wet. Gary goes back to work and decided that the hose on top is so old and dry it will not fit tighten to the fitting. He comes up with a way to make a gasket to give the hose something to bite on when he applies the hose clamp over the top of the thru hull fitting and now we have a dry boat. Not quite turns out the answer, the bottom of the valve which screws onto the actual thru hull is still dripping but just a drop every couple of minutes. Prudent minds said to leave the small leak alone until we had the boat out of the water. Better a small drip than a 1.2 inch hole in the bottom of the boat. Good news is this morning we are pretty dry and we have made significant progress.

The leak consumed all the efforts on the boat and Chef Suzie had to postpone breakfast until 12 noon. So officially we missed breakfast so she made it up to us with a Crust less Quiche with English Scones covered with a dollop of butter and strawberry jam. She also had some Paces picante sauce for the diehards.

With the � A kite up and pulling we had a delightful dinner. Suzie made some fresh cilantro cut up some onions, lettuce, and peppers and added the left over steak from last night all wrapped up in a fresh torrtilla wrap. A great start to a nice evening of off wind sailing.

I understand that the menus today will provide some surprises. I will fill you in tomorrow on what Suzie cooks up.

With the cloud cover we not able to actual see the moon. But with it hiding behind the clouds you can still see quite well. Carter remembers the last crossing and has remarked a couple of time what a big difference a full moon is even if you can not see it.

Morning came with the skies still overcast and the wind still bouncing around with a TWD from 350 to 25 and WS from 7 to 16 knots.

With the weather and meals we have had so far you might think you were on a cruise except for the lack of showers. The temperatures have been great so far warmer than the last trip and cool enough to sleep. A few more cloudless nights so we could really enjoy the full moon would be nice. You know there is not much nicer way to spend an evening than sailing along with the chute up watching the moon rise over the water. Maybe we will see the moon tonight.

Till later signing off from the SV Passion located at 26.17N and 122.28W only 1688 miles from Hawaii (getting closer every day)