24.53.814N 152.42.519W

Happy Saturday everyone! It is on VALIS. This morning's position
reports reveal that we expanded our lead by 3 hours during the previous
24. We are now a little over 2 days from the finish, with a good lead,
bombing along between a blue sky and an much bluer ocean in 15-20 knots
of wind. Shut your eyes and think about what it would be like sailing
to Hawaii, and what you visualize is what we've got for the past couple
of days.

A word about the standings. Those of you following on the tracker might
see a disconnect between what it says and what I say. Keep in mind that
there is a 4 hour delay on the tracker. Also, there is a handicap
number assigned to each boat, not unlike that in golf, to make it
possible for dissimilar boats to compete equitably. Finally, roughly
similar boats are grouped into divisions, and the divisions are started
in reverse order of speed. We are class A, the slowest. We are
analogous to maybe a Hummer or Suburban, whereas the division D guys
would be Corvettes. So we started first in order to get everybody to
Hawaii for the parties and such at roughly the same time. So when I
talk about our progress, I am talking about the projected time at the
finish, adjusted for our handicap number, compared to the same for other
boats in our division. We need to finish about a day ahead of
Cassiopeia, our main competition, to beat them. Right now we are on
track to do it with about 6-7 hours to spare. So that's why I talk
about it being closer than it appears on the tracker.

There is an overall winner awarded, but it is so dependent on weather
conditions at the time of your start that it isn't the prize most of us
are after. This year, for example, it was obvious on day 1 that the
overall winner would come from the late starters because of the light
air experienced by those of us who started early. Everybody is racing
for their division trophy.

Gorgeous star-filled sky last night, except for the squalls (only a
couple), and some kind of meteor shower made for some really fantastic
discussion with Big Paul, who happens to be the director of the board
for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute.

This is not some whacko's stab at getting some videos on Discovery
Channel. This is the organization that built and operates the huge
radio telescope array used by NASA, JPL, and any other highly
authoritative scientific organization needing such a thing. They also
designed the Kepler Project, among other things. If you saw Jodie
Foster in "Contact" SETI would be the guys that have the equipment her
character was using. Anyway, I digress. Just know that he's a smart
guy that's plenty informed on what's in the sky, so it's pretty cool to
talk to him about it while sailing to Hawaii.

We had to clear a few flying fish off the deck this morning. Little
dudes get scared and take off in front of the boat. Most fly way off
downwind, but a few arc around and hit the sails, then fall on the deck.
We are seeing LOTS of them now. We trolled a fishing line in hopes of
making fish tacos tonight, and hooked one, but lost him. He didn't come
off the hook. Rich was fighting him and the rack that holds the hand
line collapsed, making it impossible for him to hold on, so it was lost
to the sea. Bummer. It was a big fish.

I better go. Gotta keep the throttle on the floor.

Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
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