N 6deg 38.5' E 135deg 45.0' COG 115T, SOG 5.7

Baro 29.80; in last 12 hours baro cycled from 29.80 - 29.74 and over the last 3 hrs back up to 29.80

Wind ENE 6, right after the 1200 UTC report the wind dropped from the 10-15 it had been to less than 3 for several hours; last 8 hours 5-10kts

very little sea, at least two swell sets: 2meter coming out of E/NE, another (or maybe 2 others) SE and S at 1meter

cloud cover last 12 hours tended to be clear (stars) overhead, but cloudy forward NE-E-SE-S; currently (local 0800 ZD -9) about 60% cloud cover,
clear behind us NE to W, Heavy cloud cover to E, less so ahead us us SE-S.

we're experiencing some current against us still, not as strong as from PI to Palau, we're also losing about .5 knot due to the p-vane fish being in
the water for stabilization. with the big swell on our beam, the others at the port quarter and ahead, we were having a really herky-jerky ride; the fish
have smoothed this out considerably

our estimated 24 position ahead will be something above N 5.5deg and something like E137deg; after we break thru to N5deg, we will shallow out our southeast
course, to a more easterly course, unless other conditions dictate differently.



It's a much easier ride -- for sleeping, moving about, using the toilet etc, etc -- with the p-vane fish in the water, in spite of the loss of .5kts speed forward. Did you get
that Bill Kimley? -- the p-vanes make a big difference (smile).

A big flying fish Kamikazied right into the pilot house, through the door during Wade's shift.

We've apparently still got some issues with the pressure cap on the heat-exchanger resevoir, but the engine operating (coolant) temp is staying right where it should be
so we're going with that. There's always something to niggle at your brain when underway.

The fuel we took aboard in Palau was pretty turbid-looking. They'd just had it delivered and pumped into their tanks yesterday morning before we fuel from same tanks;
so that may have been sediment or maybe entrained air, but regardless we're running those tanks we filled round and round through the Racor 1000.

In my report to Lee you can see that we're swooping down to a lower lattitude (than a straight line between Palau and Pohnpei), hopefully to take advantage of a lull area
below the North Equatorial Current, or maybe even ride the Equatorial Counter Current. Regardless, between P & P on the rhumb line, there are many reefs, atols and banks, while
running south a few degrees skips most of that.