Hula, 13:12
Hey,. I was going 7 knots an hour ago, and now I can row my El Toro faster than this!


Green Buffalo, 13:17
Had that tortellini last night… with red sauce… half a package made two meals worth (so tortellini again tonight).

Wind finally went aft late last night so put the chute up this morning.  Only 10k of wind so cannot drive as low as I would like – to get under the dropping high – but c’est la vie.  Sailing to Hawaii is always a struggle to drive the boat low without going to slow (or accidentally gybing).

Suspect another day or day to be south enough to turn west and aim at the finish.  Though the weather looks light “most of the way”… 10k-12k of wind… so going to be a “long one” (Mary will get to Hanalei a day or two before I do).

The broken vang bracket was despite all I tried to stabilize it was just not good enough… especially thinking about heavy air squalls later in the race.  So after thinking, planning, thinking, napping and gathering all the needed tools and hardware, went forward this morning and removed the solid vang.  Took the blocks, plus a few extras I had on the boat, plus a few shackles and loups, and reinstalled them – so now I have a “regular” vang (12:1 purchase instead of the sold vangs 24:1 purchase). A rare job I didn’t have to go back and forth to finish up.

Took a good long time to flake the Jib Top… such a big sail so a lot of back and forth from point to midship.  Now I need to flake the code zero (ripped) and the hard one – the #1.  Not sure I can get the #1 out the forehatch as It was a bit “big” when I stuffed it away (was that two days ago?).  Maybe tomorrow I tackle flaking the #1 tight.

Heard Robb on Nozomi talk to Siren on VHF last night… but I couldn’t hear Siren and they couldn’t hear me.  So they are “in the neighborhood” but not close.  Late last night Reed from Mountain rang and we talked for just a minute (signal strength was a bit week)… but it was real nice talking to someone after 4+ days alone.

Broke into the boys half way cache for my candy fix… the boys know well about my Walgreen’s candy aisle “habit”.
Cherry licorice… mmm mmm good!

Cheers,
Jim
Green Buffalo


Aloha, 13:19
im alive! now if only the wind had as much energy as lunch just gave me….
cheers,
Kyle