31.07.985N 142.43.895W

Just a reminder for those who joined us late, the numbers at the top of
each post are our latitude and longitude when I start typing. Plug
those into google earth or something similar and you'll see exactly
where we are.

The clever among you will note that today's position is closer to
Kaneohe than it is to San Francisco. That's right, HALFWAY! The crew
of VALIS celebrated with a concert by Tiki Drummer (I'll have video
later) plus some fabulous gifts provided by several of the VALIS wives.
The chocolate covered coffee beans and the truffles in the little blue
box were especially outstanding.

Well, the conservative route worked so well last night that we stayed
with it all day. Michael and I rigged a double-headsail wing and wing
deal that is dragging us downwind at a pretty steady 8-8.5 knots and the
plan is to continue that through the night. We are in a close race in
our division and I fear our cautiousness may have cost us some today.
We'll see in the morning with the daily position report. If Cassiopeia
and No Strings have really put it to us today, we'll need to pour the
coals to it tomorrow. If not and we're still logging competitive days,
there's no need to raise the risk of breaking stuff. There's 1,000
miles to go, no need to get stupid. There have already been a couple of
retirements and there is a rumor of some damage on Cassiopeia, even
though our last report didn't show they had slowed.

I saw my first flying fish of the trip today! Man I love those little
dudes, a sure sign that the water is getting tropical. I was working on
the bow while we were booming along in 25 knots and we scared a school
of about 6 of them up from right under my feet. The champ went maybe 40
yards.

The waves are up over 10 feet, but they are starting to get a little
more organized, which is good because the 8' lumps coming from 3
directions that we had was tough to deal with in the dark. Wind is
varying from mid-teens to high 20's. Now it's the old deal where you're
either in a trough looking at a wall of water over your head behind you,
or you're on top of the thing so you can see all around. Repeat about a
million times a day.

So all's well in mid-Pacific. Nice conditions, still cloudy but warming
up. The crew is having fun and eating well (Mongolian beef tonight).
We have all developed a protective salty crust that prevents our
situation from deteriorating further. The current thinking is that we
are in the beginning stages of forming an exoskeleton. We're making
good progress and are projecting a late Monday arrival in Kaneohe.

I need a nap so...

Whiskey Delta Bravo 2898 VALIS out
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