We had another big day today. Lots of 3 meter waves and more spray in the cockpit than usual (usual is none). It was a fairly bouncy night but the crew is starting to get into the off shore groove. We had some tasty herb omelets for breakfast and the sun shone all day for the first day since we left. It was a fun day under sail even if not the most comfortable.

We are still collecting squid and flying fish on deck every night. I removed 20 bodies this morning. Too bad we don't have a recipe for squid or flying fish. We also haven't been fishing due to the rough seas. It is no problem catching them but often you need to slow down the boat to keep the big ones and we're not going to be doing that or cleaning them on the back deck in these seas. We haven't seen any Boobies out this far but the little brave Storm Petrals are still flying about. They are amazing, 600 miles out to sea and never stopping to rest.

We did have another great mileage day over our second 24 hour period at sea, turning in another 220 nautical mile day, and that with a reef in the main for motion comfort.

Nobu and I investigated the genset overheating problem this afternoon. We discovered that the impeller was fine (my first suspect) but the sea strainer was packed with slime and sea grass from Isabela. We had been running the port motor (the one without a prop) in neutral up until this afternoon. The genset certainly charges better, faster and with less fuel. Nice to have it back in action.

We have been chatting with lots of other boats in the neighborhood over the VHF and the SSB. One group has formed an ad hoc net to keep track of everyone on the way to Fatu Hiva. The fastest are doing 8 knots so we will unfortunately leave them all behind shortly. We haven't connected with any other cats in route. We are likely to get into Fatu Hiva after a little less than 2 weeks at sea if we can keep this pace.

Nobu says: "Today is my six year anniversary with Natsuki so I made Banana bread, Thanks a Bunch"

Hideko says: "Nobu made some yummy banana bread!"

2,406 nm to go...