It took from 9AM until 3PM this afternoon for us to take the sails out and even though we were then only making 2.5 to 3.0kts in the 5kts of wind, it seemed like we were racing after drifting all day long. Now at 4PM we are 83nm from Mazatlan.

I just finished cleaning the cockpit, Lori's got the sewing machine out on the galley table and is working on the mizzen sail, Jason is reading one of my favorite books that I just finished rereading, George Orwell's Animal Farm, and Amy is working on her beading in the cockpit. In fact, if you were watching us today you wouldn't know that we have had mechanical problems by the way we are relaxed and just going about the day. We all watched 3 episodes of Battle Star Galactica this afternoon while waiting for the wind to start. The one sure tip off would be our boat speed because before today we have always started the engine any time we were making less than 4kts. I know we didn't have to, but there was just that sense of hurry in the back of our minds that made us want to get there faster. Without the means to get there faster than the wind would naturally allow, we have finally stopped focusing on the boat speed and our time until we reach our destination that's always displayed on the GPS. For the first time in our cruise the question of when will we get there is totally out of our control.

We are flying the mizzen staysail and Genoa and ghosting along down our course to Mazatlan hoping that the evening and night will bring us another 5kts of wind. If it doesn't at least don't let it go away because once you have seen the speed of 3kts, you sure don't want to go back to drifting again!