Happy Friday from Latitude 25

We are finally in the trade winds. It is so beautiful and warm. The skies are filled with cumulus clouds (have not yet sighted hedgerows, but did see a mackerel sky) and rainbows. The sea is the most brilliant of blues, with just a hint of purple - this my favorite color! At night, it comes alive with bio luminescence that dances of the boat's wake. Tonight, we finally have a moon and a Milky Way-filled sky. I wish that my camera could actually capture the intensity.

We have little knowledge of what is happening in the outside world. No cell phones - yeah! All we know is what we hear on the daily Pac Cup "children's hour" on SSB and the occasional e-mail from home. Our focus is on a little sphere that surrounds this 41 foot boat and the 4 other crew inside her. We have learned to work together as a team and to look out for each other.

The amount of plastic and styrofoam sightings has reduced. Lots of flying fish, tropic birds, storm petrels, and the occasional albatross, but no dolphins. The swell is still quite impressive but has rounded out a bit. The winds are down to 20 true.

As luck would have it, just at the end of my afternoon watch and some amazing helming under spinnaker, the spin halyard gave up the ghost. We quickly recovered the kite and I went up the rig to retrieve the naughty bit of string. Apparently, it was blowing 25 knots and our boat speed was 11 knots. Dennis did an amazing job at the helm - keeping the boat as stable as he could and Travis, Mark, and Jack manned the halyards with perfection. Due to several approaching squalls, I did not have time to take pictures. The view was amazing!

We are excited to be near finish mark(and Mai Tais!) as we are exhausted and in desperate need of showers. I, however, will be sad when this fantastic adventure comes to an end.

Off to bed, I need to be up for my next watch in 2 hours.

Aloha
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At 7/28/2012 3:56 AM (utc) our position was 38°06.27'N 122°16.02'W

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