Easy day on the sea. There was alot of lightning over night and suspect more tonight. When I went on

watch at 0300Z I saw a large cell on the radar about 24 miles off our starboard bow so pinched the

windvane to come 15 degrees to starboard and watched the large cell slide off to the left. When I come

on there is really only about an hour of darkness left but it is usually the hardest part of the night

shift to keep the eyes open especially when ther are only two of us to take turns. So as the day

progressed and everyone else was asleep, I dodged one more cell and then shook out the two reefs in the

main. We were motorsailing because the wind had dropped down to 8kts and the wind angle alarm was

constantly going off. After I shook out the double reef I downloaded a 1800Z (think morning) grib file

to see what was in store for the day. Winds from the SE at 15... spot on, shut down both engines and

readjusted the sails for max power on the windvane. By the time the new z day came we had logged 165

miles in the past 24 hours.

I still have some radio problems. During our Pacseanet check in, Bob on Charisma is only about 140

miles to the SW of us but I could not hear him at all. Dietmar on Carinthia is about 150 to our NE and

I could not hear him much either. Most of the net controllers are in the mud except three and one is

Randy who we stopped by to see on Hawaii and the other is Jane who is on Kuai. Both put out about

1,000 watts of power so they come booming in. They all seem to get me so I am thinking it is the

receiver portion of my Icom 802 that is bad. As I have mentioned when we were in Oahu I move the

tranceiver portion and the tuner to above the master closet and nearer the antenna and further from any

static producing wires. And just the other day I changed the grounding system. Still alot of noise

that drowns out any reception that is not strong. I am recalling that the previous owner had taken a

hit from lightning and had to replace most of the navigation electronics. The radio is so dusty I

doubt it was changed. I had a problem traveling through the Carribean and found that the antenna tuner

was bad so I replace it. Now I am thinking I have a bad receiver portion but there is nothing I can do

out here.

We took in a double reef in the main to make it easier on the night watch. While we rolled up the sail

I repaired the leech at the two lower battons where it is beginning to fray. I use a sticky back sail

cloth that is cut four or 6 inches wide and presses right on the dacron sail material. Works good but

generally only last about 3-4 days. Hope I have enough..

All is good on Orcinius and it is about time for the night watches to start and the real sleep to

begin.

All for now

John