Finally, some wind! We are sailing towards our destination with wind at 17 knots, and a boatspeed of 8 knots. This is a big improvement over the last couple of days.
Our position as of 5:40 PM is 26deg 52 min N, 143deg 09min W. We have dropped one position in our race division, but have maintained our overall position in the combined fleet. Whatever — we just like sailing!
Yesterday we all signed and launched a message in a bottle, commemerating our passing the halfway point in this race. We had to drink a *whole* *bottle* of white wine with dinner to do this, but we decided that the sacrifice was worth it. Of course we chilled the wine before serving it.
Today Paul and Ville had the 5:00AM to 9:00 AM watch (and the 9:00PM to 1:00AM watch before), and while this is the more tiring watch, it has the advantage of letting us watch the sunrise. This morning, we had just sailed out of a rain shower as the sun came up. The attached photo shows the clouds in front of us being lit by the sun, rising behind us.
Later in the day we had some clear skies so some of us did a little laundry. The attached photo was taken before a large squall required that the laundry be brought in prematurely. On the bright side, VALIS herself finally received a much-needed fresh-water rinse.
Dinner last night: chili over rice. Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with sausage, and pancakes (thanks, Daniel!). Dinner tonight: ???
Aloha,
VALIS and her crew