The wind is very steady now, NE at 15-18 knots and I am moving along nicely. My noon-to-noon distance is 131 miles for an average speed of 5.4 kts. The sea state is 4-5 ft. waves and a low NE swell. The air temp. is 74 deg. while the water is 76 deg.

There is not much need to trim the sails or adjust the autopilot at this point. Sand Dollar just racks up the miles. Because of this, I have gotten into a, more or less, daily routine. The first thing I do upon waking is pop my head outside and check the sails and sea state, then I check course, boat speed, and battery condition. Changes are then made if necessary. Coffee goes on the stove while I dial up the 6:30 AM Picante net, give my position, and chat with some other boats. There is another net I check in with at 8 AM which consists mostly of Europeans going to the Marquesas.

After breakfast I go for a walk on deck to check all sails and rigging for chafe. For the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon I work on various maintenance or repair projects. For example, today I will wash the deck (found six dead flying fish on deck from last night), attempt to eliminate some creaking in the cabin, repair a door latch, and troubleshoot the alternator which is not putting out a full charge to the batteries. In between projects I nap and listen to my French language tapes. Before dinner I send and receive emails. At 5:45 PM there is a weather briefing by the weather guru followed by questions and answers. Boats call in from the entire Eastern Pacific, from Hawaii to San Diego to Ecuador to French Polynesia. After dinner I read and sleep on and off for the next 12 hours while looking outside from time-to- time.

There you have my life at sea. It's not for everyone but it suits me fine for now.