Seattle bound day 7

Motoring along under a blue sky at five knots it seems like we are standing still. A gentle swell from the south east rocks us back and forth. The mainsail flaps from one side to the other as we try to wing it out a little more to catch what little wind there is. At the bow of the boat, right at the waterline (the cutwater?) a little striped fish has been riding our bow wave for the last day. Out in the blue we see small jelly fish creatures about five inches in diameter each with a little curved sail sticking out of the water.

My ears are ringing and will probably continue to ring until we get to some wind and can turn off the engine.

How good it feels to be clean, to wear clean clothes, and to change the bed sheets! How good it feels to be off shift right at dinner time and thus be able to have a glass of red wine with the meal. How good it feels to be approaching your 53rd birthday and have your able mate at your side.

I believe we are more than one third of the way home, having traveled about 900 nautical miles from Nawiliwili Harbor. Tonight, I'll check in with the Pacific Seafarer's Net, a HAM radio net at 14300kHz. I'll get to hear the locations and sea conditions of other boats that are a couple of days ahead of us. One of the guys on a boat named Rafiki has no working engine and his auto pilot stopped working. He is hand steering and it looks like he's decided to head for the Alutian Islands. We hear his voice every night and worry about him.

No worries here, though. We still have lettuce!

Scott, Connie, and Randy

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