Well, after some poor planning and wind on my part, we're still here - in the pacific. We're going directly south right now so that we can have a proper approach to Christmas. We should be there in the morning and we're all looking forward to taking a brief rest.

We've been eating backpacking food for dinner the last two nights.

Saw big ship last night and it came within 2 miles of us. It was a big ship. I was about to hail them and then they lit up like the sun. They pointed all kinds of lighting devices at us, determined that they were no match for us and left.

We've been hit by 2 mean squalls and it caused much consternation among crew and captain. Our lowest batten is hanging out of the sail by 8 feet. I'll probably need to pull it out today.

Thanks everyone for their comments and emails. We really appreciate them.

Sean