We had a big day with 194 miles covered over the last 24 hours. We changed from the 0.6 ounce to the 1.5 ounce kite around 8:00pm just before sunset. It is a good thing we did because the wind piped up to 30 knots shortly there after. We are running several scenarios of when to gype to make our final approach to Kaneohe. The waves, wind speed, and squalls all play a part in our final decision.

Yesterday morning we had a interesting close encounter. California Girl crossed behind us going north and Back Bay crossed our stern going south. It is truly amazing how you can be racing each other for nine days in three different parts of the ocean, and then converge all in one spot. We are making good distance on both our class competitors, but now we have our sites on Green Buffalo. They weigh quite a bit less than we do since they are racing double handed. They nudged us by 20 minutes in the 2008 Pacific Cup, so we are focused. Our current route will take us into stronger winds that will hopefully payoff.

We celebrated our half way crossing with a party yesterday. Ted opened a bottle of nice champagne to commemorate the great event. Jane gave us a nice bag of party favors to spice things up including drink umbrellas, jelly beans, and Pez toy story action figures. It is tradition for all first timers to go through the ancient crossing ritual and be initiated into the Pacific Cup Crossing Club. RJ was darning a nice pink hula skirt while reciting the oath of membership. That kid can really hula!.

The waves are getting really big right now so it is pretty hard to cook. I did manage to make a pot of coffee this morning while surfing down waves at 12 knots. I use a downward dog position bracing my head against the hand rail, feet spread apart wedged against the engine compartment, while trying to pour boiling water into a melita filter that is moving back and forth. I managed this entire event without spilling a drop, then Ted knock his cup over and covered the counter with coffee - ugh. You can imagine the state of the boat right now after nine days. We need a fire hose to clean this thing out when we get to land.