Picture: The difficult part of the wiring was done, now Ted just has to solder the wires together at the panel.

Position at noon: 53 59.96'N; 166 25.44'W Noon to noon miles: 101 Miles since Mexico: 23,592

Weather: Cloudy, no fog and much warmer (56 F or 13 C). Morning: Wind - Northwest 14 - 20 knots. Boat speed: 6 knots (left DH @ 11:00) Afternoon: Wind - Northwest 14 - 20 knots. Boat speed: 6 - 7 knots (11-12 knots in Akutan Pass) Evening: Wind - Northwest 17-22 knots. Boat speed, (sail reefed): 6 knots

Breakfast: Eggs, corn tortillas, onion, tomato, and kale salad. Lunch: Flank steak with vegetable and rice. Dinner: Tuna salad (cabbage, onion, tomato, avocado with plain yogurt) Dessert: Chocolate squares and gram crackers. Drink: Coffee, hot and cold water, wheatgrass-lemon-honey water, hot chocolate. Snack: Smoke salmon, dried squid, granola bar, peanuts and Japanese crunchy snack, ap-ple.

There were several repairs that needed to be done while we were in Dutch Harbor. One was the sensor for the fuel gauge; it is crucial to know the amount of fuel we have in the tank. We biked all over town for a sensor replacement but no luck. As a result, Ted soldered the super fine wires together in the copper coil inside the unit and it seems to work fine now. He tried to fix the aft head (back toilet) but could not because the motor for flushing was a sealed unit. The head quit working during the long passage from Japan so we have to wait until we can get a new motor. The other repair was rewiring the instrument cluster in the cockpit (wind instrument, depth sounder and water speed). The entire instrument panel quit working suddenly so we had to re-wire them. Pushing wires through small, hidden, tight spaces is almost as bad as childbirth. We pushed and pulled the thick wire through spaces that are like miniature tunnels, very difficult, especially when they are already full of wires. We used 40 feet of wire to go about 10 feet in a straight line because the wire routing goes all over the boat before it gets to the switch panel. Jan from S/V "Liv" describes cruising as: "Working on the boats in exotic places." That sums up our experience also.

The swells and the turbulence sent me back to bed after taking a seasickness pill shortly after we left the harbor at 11:00. Ted said passing through the Akutan Pass, between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, was like being in a bubbling cauldron; the waves crashing together and then the wind scattered the foam and mist high in the air. At one point the current was about 7 knots in our favor. We were doing 11 to 12 knots according to the GPS. I missed out on all the discomfort because I was asleep. Darn! Poor Ted, he had to stay up and endure the tribulation. We sailed on the outside of the Aleutian Islands to avoid rocks and islands because we will be sailing at night. There was some swell on the Pacific Ocean side but at least it was from behind. We had a following sea and wind with us all day so it was quite pleasant sailing.