Good morning!

This morning's post could have a number of different titles, but let's start with the "Big Ocean Theory".

Last night we had another moonless, starless night with 15-20 knots of wind. Blasting along aboard the Rancho Deluxe freight train at 9 - 13 knots of boat speed into a horizonless ocean, one begins to wonder if there's anything out there to hit. The general hope/theory is that it a big Ocean out there, gotta be room for us.

While that might be great as a theory, it doesn't provide a heck of a lot of comfort when you're over 500 miles from a beach and can't see what you're driving into. Also, yesterday we had to change course to avoid hitting, in the words of Seadon; "the biggest whale I've even seen."

Another theme for today could be, "The Trend is Your Friend". We have gone from yesterday's 7th in class to today's 3rd in class. Our drive South is working, we hope the trend continues.

Another theme could be "Lock-Up Your Daughters". There's already been talk (and we have +/- 7 days to go) about how long it's going to take before the boat hits the dock and the 4th mai tai is consumed. Apparently, there's a special young blonde lady who frequents the Waikiki Yacht Club, and well let's just say some of the guys are looking forward to seeing her again. Being the father of a teenage daughter, my advice to Hawaiian fathers is that once the Transpac fleet hits the dock - "Lock-up Your Daughters".

Here's one the brochure did not mention; "Calamari Anyone"? Squid are landing on the deck, and I have now been informed that "you ain't seen anything yet". We are expecting many more squid and flying fish to come aboard the Rancho Deluxe once we get into the tropics. Could also be called "Look Who's Coming for Dinner".

Young John is doing great. He continues to develop his sailing skills and I am confident that by the time we hit the beach he will be a heck of a sailor.

Currently, we have the A2 spinnaker up, spinnaker staysail and the world's biggest main on a 45 foot boat.

The A2 has been up for 2 1/2 days and could be called "money". 10kts of boatspeed and 17 kts of wind and we have yet to tack or gybe...just know I'm gonna regret saying that.

Hugs and kisses to everyone back home. We all miss our loved ones and look forward to seeing you in Hawaii.

Jim