Boy, is this ocean crowded! You can't do anymore a decent day's sail without running into some ship. This night we noticed a light at the horizon, and, after starting the radar, realized that it was not a racer, but again a big ship. And we kept seeing it at a constant angle, which meant we were on a collision course. Again. Calling them on the radio had no effect. No answer over 10 min. Then we used flashlights to shine on our sails and to flash at them. No effect. There may not have been anyone on duty; how comforting. Finally Bill got out his new high beam light. They probably felt the heat from the light beam on their sleeping heads and finally answered. I heard a voice with a strong Asian accent, and could not understand a word. Eventually they went by and we calmed down. Three ships ties with the record from 2000, and we are only in day 4.

At about 5 in the morning the planet Venus is rising. Venus is very bright, and when only a little bit over the horizon it looks like the steaming light of a big ship. So imagine you are on watch and have dutifully screened the horizon every few minutes for any traffic, never saw anything, and suddenly you turn around and, as judged by the size of the steaming light, a really, really big ship seems to be coming up right behind you! Such mistake has happened before. Even on Cirrus. I tell you, even when you are aware of this, your heart stops for a blink.

Boy, did we do poorly! It is almost embarrassing to speak about it, but the night was so slow we fell back to #4 in division, and back into the middle of the pack overall. We hope this is not the punishment for staying north. However, forecast suggests that we should be ok by the end of today; we are hopeful.

Boy, has it become hot! We are being fried in the cockpit, and it becomes really stuffy down below. This is another penalty for being too close to the center of a High. The sky is blue with only a few clouds, the night sky had myriads of stars again. Bill thinks he had seen the space station passing by in the sky, visible as a very bright spot. I am back into my traditional pant-cutting : a good inch comes off from the bottom end, and when we arrive in Hawaii, I will have brand new shorts. It is so easy.

Last salad is gone today. Fixed gooseneck is doing ok; everything in good shape.

Aloha,
Ulli

position at 1345PDT : 31N24, 132W35, COG: 224M, SOG:5.5kn