20.23 N
134. 56 W
Distance made good to Honolulu: 104 NM 1367 NM left to go
The winds lightened considerably over night, and so did the seas, but not enough to allow us to gently sail wing on wing, as the waves rocked us enough to cause the sails to bang and slat. We ended up reconfiguring our sails and heading 50 degrees south of our course on a beam reach. This change allowed enough wind to stabilize us and get us through the night. In the morning, when the wind filled in again, we resumed our course wing on wing and have since been happily moving along under full sails at 6 knots. It would be ideal if these conditions could persist the rest of the way - ha!
The winds are predicted to increase again tonight and we should see similar conditions over the next few days as we saw last week. In the meantime, we are enjoying the slight break, catching up on sleep and doing lots of reading. This afternoon we will pass through another time zone when we reach 135 degrees.
Last night, just before sunset, a large cargo ship, bound for Oakland, passed our bow at 16 knots, about 1.5 NM away. It was enormous against the setting sun. I still can't get over how many large ships we have seen on this voyage when the last time we saw none. I also am amazed that in this vast body of water with not much traffic we would pass so close. Thank goodness for AIS!
We have been getting volcano updates on the Seafarer's Net and are sorry for the people who have lost their homes on the Big Island. We will not be effected as we will be far north of that island and the prevailing winds are westerly.
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