When I came up on deck yesterday at 11:45am we were socked in a fog bank with 15 knots of wind dead behind. Then the fog cleared but it stayed cloudy and it was time to hoist the spinnaker and give the crew a break from the boredom of the engine. The mood lifted when I yelled down to everyone to get up if they wanted a kite up. We changed to 3 hours on 3 hours off for the period the spinnaker was up. I taught Charlie how to wool the kite and I realised it was a good thing we were putting the kite up because it was still full of grass cuttings from the lawn at Kanehoe YC and still a little damp from when it had been washed.

So we crept up slowly on Green Buffalo making sure not to spook them and cause them to stampede! At roll call we were 60 miles south of them at 38 06 and 4 miles aft of them. Coyote is 60 miles directly on our stern so there is no chance of them catching us.

As the wind went forward we doused the kite making sure to keep it dry and went back to a more relaxed 1.5 on 4.5 off and the very familiar droning sound of the engine. So we are now under 300 miles to the dock at RYC and the crew is looking forward to it. The only other thing to report is that I got to wash my hair again yesterday – it really does make you feel more human!

Looking like Ed could be getting the bottle of red wine as we might be closer to his ETA then mine at the bridge! We could always throw a bucket over to slow us down..

Sorry Dee with the spinnaker going up it looks like an early morning arrival at the dock. Don’t worry I don’t expect to see you till a more reasonable time by which time we won’t be so smelly aboard!

Position is 38 10N 128 35W