It was three years ago that we moved aboard Zephyr in Newport, Oregon having to smuggle the cat tree down the dock in the night so people wouldn't laugh at us. Now three years later and well over 10,000 miles under her keel with us, we have learned a lot about boating. Boy were we green when we started. It's lucky we didn't kill ourselves that first year. Now in the three years, you have to throw out most of the first one as it was spent doing the refit on Zephyr. Then take out another 5 months last Summer when we had to go home to take care or our house. So out of the 36 months since we moved on board, we have actually been moving about 19 months of that time. We've covered as far North as Juneau, Alaska to where we are now, South of the Equator on our way to Tahiti. Not bad for two lake sailors. I can't tell you how much the two of us have learned in these past three years but the learning curve has been huge. Many boat owners spend years learning and upgrading their boats before setting off like we did. For much of the time, it was spent learning as we went, always fixing things that broke when we entered the next harbor or cove. We spent the first three months of this year in Nuevo Vallarta working almost nonstop on Zephyr and will be doing it again when we reach the Marquesas and Tahiti. If it's broken, it must be fixed before we set off again. That's what cruising is all about--fixing boats in exotic locations.

We're now at 01 23.363S 131 42.229W on a course of 193T after covering 90 miles yesterday. We tried the course our weather router had suggested but only we making maybe 2.5 knots. Tracy made an "executive decision" and changed it to a more southerly and we took off at a much better speed of 5.5 to 6 knots. We ran into some big storms during the afternoon with lots of wind(gusts to 37 knots) and rain. Today has been windy all day so we are still making good time. We'll need to start the engine in a few hours or so to top off the batteries for the night. Oh, the swells out side are now close to 12 feet as they come rolling under Zephyrs hull. In a valley and then on the top, It's up and down all day.

We're trying to get more naps as the day progresses. We'd both burned the candle at both ends over the last few days and nerves and emotions were getting a bit thin. So we are each getting as many naps as we can today so tonight will be a better night for us both.

Tracy's two cents:

The storms that Bill mentioned were unnerving for me. I, for whatever reason, had been on watch all day from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., then the storms hit, one after another after another. Unrelenting wind, rain and waves. The boat heeled over to over 45 degrees and let me tell you that is scary. I'll be the first to admit, that while big winds don't particularly scare me, heeling over that much does! Water starts to pour over the side and my imagination is a pretty active one. Add in the I'm exhausted factor, my stomach was in one giant knot. When I did a night watch last night, my eyes wouldn't focus on the wind gauge, which is my primary steering guide at night. I started to make mistakes, that was scary to me. James wasn't working particularly well and I was hand steering all of my shift. I was pretty low and nearly in tears...I knew I was in trouble. Thank goodness, Bill showed up for his night watch shift, I hit the sack and got some 40 winks After fours hours of sleep I felt much better to handle the next shift. I went on deck for two hours while Bill went down to get a much deserved rest, as he was just as exhausted as me, I'm sure. Today is a much better day. I've had a couple of hours sleep so far and am feeling more myself. I certainly hope the night storms don't happen again tonight....