June 17, 2011 Saturday Traveled last 24 hours: 149 miles Miles from Bora Bora: 1076 Miles Remaining to American Samoa: 47 14 21 639S, 169 48 507W

After banana pancakes for breakfast, we put up the mainsail with the jib and increased from 6 knots to 6.4 knots (winds were almost off our beam). A few hours later the wind started coming from the E, directly behind us, so we took down the jib and the mainsail, and put up the gennaker. In the afternoon, winds increased to 12-13, now we were making way at 6.8-7.0 knots still with one engine on. We were happy that we had decided to cut one engine last night to conserve fuel which gave us an added sense of security that we will have enough fuel. We have both been worried that despite our calculations we still won't have enough fuel. Steve has taken to putting a stick in one of the diesel tanks to see what depth we have left. It is a comfort to see the diesel on the stick. By the afternoon the seas had become a bit confused which means we were confused as to which direction they were really coming, but in any event they were around 8'. We dined on mahi mahi salad in the cockpit with baguettes for lunch. It was a bit cooler today, 88 degrees. For dinner we had teriyaki tuna, sautéed vegetables and white rice which was interrupted by our starboard engine's "sputter, sputter sputter" and loss of power. Mmmm! Were our calculations that far off? We could physically see plenty of diesel in the tank but Steve added 5 gallons from our jerry can. The engine then seemed to run without sputtering. Our theory is that either the sloshing back and forth in the near empty tanks is causing intermittent diesel to the engine or there is something wrong with the fuel filter (possibly more sediment towards the bottom of the tank?). We shut off the starboard engine and ran the port engine without any sputtering for 15 minutes but shut both down because now we were very nervous. We want to have running engines when we arrive Pago Pago to motor into the harbor and anchor therefore we will sail and not use them until we have to. In the 10-12 knot winds which increased overnight, we managed to average 5.6 knots with sails only. We sighted and passed Tau and two other small islands in the wee hours of the morning. We are getting close. If we make only 5 knots for the next 47 miles from 7:30 am, we will arrive in 9.5 hours or about 5:00 pm (Tahiti time)/4:00 Am Samoa time tonight (6/18) with enough daylight to enter the bay. Luckily the seas never increased to the 14' level overnight; they are around 9' and still pushing us along but not from the predicted south. We shall see if they rise to 20' as projected by this afternoon. So far, so good, despite the "sputter, sputter, sputter"!