Just when we thought we were about to break into the Tradewind Highway, a big high pressure area snuck in and left us becalmed. Every cloud has a silver lining however so we took advantage of the slack seas and cooked ourselves up a feast of ribeye steak, grilled onions and mushrooms, potatoes and a salad and served ourselves up in the cockpit - the only first occasion we've had where conditions have allowed us to actually set up the cockpit table.

We also took advantage of the slack seas and elected to go single-handed night watches so that everybody can catch up on their rest. I took the watch that started just before sunrise and sitting at the helm with my MP3 player plugged in to Johann Sebastian Bach's Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations, it was a surreal event almost orchestrated to the music.

Because of the calm conditions, we ended up motoring almost 36 hours but it appears now that we are in the Tradewind Shute with winds building between 10-15 kn.

The other event of the week is that for the first time since leaving Juan de Fuca Strait we have changed from a starboard tack to a port tack.

By the way - did I mention we're now into shorts weather and working on our tans. It is sure nice to get out of our woollies.

We are now over halfway to Hawaii.