First of all Happy 4th of July to all.

Yesterday after I wrote the blog our excitement was the discovery of kelp on the keel and rudder. We had hoisted the code 0 around noon then Steve saw the kelp dragging behind the boat. We dropped the code 0, stopped the boat and Will went over to clear off a 30ft long piece of kelp off the keel and a smaller piece off the rudder. That was the big news for day two.

We also have a persistent leak that allows 2 to 3 gallons of water every 8 hours into the boat. Annoying but not a threat to the boat.

At this morning 6AM position we were 2nd in class and 7th in fleet. They use the distance from Hawaii for places and we still have a lot of race in front of us, around 2000 miles. With the current forecast this could be a 12 day race. Good news is that Suzie planned food for that long and has at least two days of spare ration on top of that. So we will not go hungry.

I wrote the note yesterday before I was able to describe the meals for yesterday. Lunch was a hot ham & cheese on potato bread pressed sandwich. Dinner was a pork medallion with cinnamon apples and herb stuffing. Today we started with Raisin brand with cold fresh milk and hot coffee. Morning snack consisted of fresh apples, Vermont sharp white cheddar and some very tasty crackers. Lunch was a turkey and cheese roll. We will never fit into our clothes when we get to Hawaii.

Sailing on day 3 has been boring wind 3 to 10 knots on a close reach. The crew after looking at grib files around 2PM decided that we could carry a chute so we hoisted the 1.5 Pink chute and were proven wrong. The Genoa in these conditions is the better choice.

Till tomorrow from the SV Passion located at 28.46N and 122.44W headed to Hawaii (Slowly)