We've begun our ninth day of our "convoyage" and all is well aboard Mirthmaker.

Weather conditions continue to be light and shifty. The weather routing changes every six hours, which is the frequency that we obtain this technical information through our satellite telephone. The one consistent thing we see is that by Sunday evening we should be far enough down the track to have steady breeze the rest of the way- and just about all of it is reaching. No question the final couple of hundred miles will see us in brisk coastal breeze and big waves. We just have to tough out these periods of motor-sailing. After the glorious sailing conditions yesterday, we now seem to be under the permanent cloud cover that characterizes much of the northeastern Pacific ocean, so that takes some adjustment.

The crew is holding up well and we're enjoying each other's company. There have been very few technical issues, always a good thing to report. We continue to see trash in the water all along our track and have to remain vigilant. When you think about it, if we're seeing this volume of garbage in our immediate vicinity with such consistency, it can only mean that it is everywhere! Yuck. Most of the debris seems to be fishing equipment- nets, ropes, containers and plastic tote baskets.

We anticipate being out here until around the 18th. Bye for now!