Wow last night was fun. The wind was solidly behind us all night and day. We did 164 miles in the last 24 hours and have 274 miles to go. We would really like to make it to Flores by mid day on Saturday to be able to clear immigration and customs. We probably kept our reefed main up a little too long last night. The seas really started to build yesterday topping 15' at times. Jamie and our local "Speed Addict" were trying to see who could get the new boat speed record. Jamie claims that he saw 17 knots on the GPS, but the record must be displayed on the knot log. So CR has the new max speed record of 12.7 knots - I wonder who will break it.

By 2am we had put enough distance in the bank to somewhat secure our Saturday arrival so we all thought it would be a good idea to drop the main. Jamie and I have the two aft cabins and CR and Hal have the forward cabins. Hal likes to talk about his weightless experiences in the bow. He likens it to floating in space for moments, a very serene experience, but then what goes up must come down, kind of like getting hit with a tennis racket. It was a special moment for Hal when we decided to drop the main - mainly because we were surfing down waves at 9 knots. Then CR has to turn the wheel at the bottom of a wave to get the boat going in the opposite direction so we can drop the main. Jamie is with me at the mast and Hal is in his cabin. So CR takes are hard right and gets the boat turned around - now we are doing 9 knots into a 15' high breaking wave. Instead of a tennis racket I guess it was like a brick wall.

I spent some time today wiping up little black hairs in the cockpit. Hal was on watch and though it would be a good idea to give CR the duck tape treatment. Hal always has good ideas. He is also very prepared for his passages. Hal has done a bunch of passages, but unfortunately in the wrong direction - that is why they call him "wrong way Hal". He also brought all kind of sailing spare parts like spare line, ginger snaps and Gorilla Tape - if you have not tried Gorilla Tape it is really good stuff - I wonder how it works on hair?