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4/16/2006 11:40:00 PM
320 miles to Fatu Hiva
We dropped below our original track

Day 19 of 25 - I feel like on day 2 again ...

DAY 19 of 25 - Back in the future or what ... getting beaten up again.

Damn, this is promising to be a long day this day 19 ... do you remember still what day 2 was like ... feels like a reverse count down ... sort of like a good story that returns to the beginning ...

SAILING UPDATE The new day started like the old one ended ... more squalls, more rain and a new leak we found ... right now it is blowing anywhere from 25 to sometimes even 35 knots, which on its own wouldn't be so bad but now the waves are coming exactly from the side and with swells around 8 feet or more and a short distance apart we are getting thrown around pretty good ... it reminds me of day 2 when we were beating out of Z town except we are not seasick, at least not much.

Because of the waves, we cannot even open any hatches and it is stinking hot inside. As you can imagine, we are NOT having a great time right now, hanging around like we did on day 2 and trying to nap a little whenever possible because this is looking like a hell of a night if this continues.

Having said that one of my cruising principles applied again ... the lows and highs are close together ... I had another one of those adrenaline encounters ... Papa you might wanna skip this part ... when the next squall came thru ... it looked pretty grim with its back everywhere and no blue in sight ... I decided it was time to hand steer again ... I had been up there just before that and it wsa actually not too bad. I find that hand steering the boat helps me overcome even the most confused seas and winds, it must be the feeling of being in control rather then getting tossed around at random. So when the squall came, I just put on my rash guard in addition to my life jacket and here we go ... the winds picked up to about 30 knots, which wasn't that unusual, but then it started raining and that was rain ... think about the strongest shower you have been in and then everywhere around you. You can actually see the rain creeping up on you with a very distinct line and the water looks different. But Robert is still steering despite the rain flying along almost horizontal or what seemed horizontal to the boat at least. When the winds now started picking up to 40 knots an interesting thing happened ... It must have the adrenaline rush but I was so focused on the wind and despite the rain almost blinding me ... imagine I couldn't see the instruments anymore half way up the boat ... I was in a zone just steering and then the giggling came again ... I cannot tell you of the steering was any harder then usual because I didn't feel it ... all I was focused on is keeping the boat somewhat away from the wind to not rounding up and not diving too hard into the waves ... most of the steering happened by feeling anyhow given the visibility ... and 10 minutes later, the blue skuline appeared behind the squall and everything was gone as fast as it arrived and I came down below to Niki and the kids again with this grin on my face ... a feeling that is hard to describe and I wouldn't want to force on me but when it happens it feels pretty amazing and shows what the body can do if required.

BOAT UPDATE We have another broken piece to report ... our big winch on the starboard side has given up ... glad that we have another one not quite as big but sufficient right behind it ... we won't know what spares we need until we get there and I have a chance to take the winch apart. The leak we found yesterday seemed to be a reminder of a bad installation of instruments before our times and we found holes way in the back of a lazarette that were insufficiently filled with Silicon ... when we get just the right amount of rain (A LOT) and we are on a port tack, then it leaks ... call that a shake down cruise ... :-)

FISHING UPDATE Fish ... what's that ... cannot even think about fishing at this point.

FOOD PLAN OF THE DAY Breakfast - Soft boiled eggs and sandwich ... very Easterly Lunch - Cheese quesadilla ... a reminder to MX which seems ages ago Dinner - Sandwiches again because of all the rolling ... by the way, someone commented on the fact that my little notes in this section sound like I am making fun of Niki's food ... quite to the contrary I have to say ... I am still amazed what Niki puts together despite the seas, the wind and the limited space ... I love it

HIGH OF THE DAY Definitely celebrating Easter ... Niki did a wonderful job of hiding little Easter eggs with little sweets in them, then there was a nest hidden with some goodies for the boys and the highlight for them was an Xbox game. To see their faces light up was just great and their heartfelt thank you felt special.

LOW OF THE DAY I have to admit I had it now with confused seas ... if I wanted to get beaten up for 20 days I would go out of San Francisco and sail forth and back between the Gate and the Farallones ... that would do it but not here in the trades ... Neptun come down and have some mercy with us ... we did give you the best chocolate we had plus champagne ...

All I can say is a little bit over 2 more days to go ... we can do this .... and despite the seas we did make some good progress over night and the squalls abated too so we did get some decent sleep!

Happy Easter to you all,

Robert and crew

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