Decisions, decisions, decisions, that's what a hard working racing crew is facing. Should we make the boat lighter by throwing one or more crew overboard - illegal by racing rules - or do we jibe now or later, or do we have the Champagne with the caviar or wait for the main dish? Yesss, we made it to the half-way point and had our party!

At about 5 pm yesterday we reached the top of the hill - 1035 nm behind us, 1035 nm to go. We blew the horn, and skipper served us his best Champagne, a bottle of German Sekt, Schloss Gutensteiner. Mind you, this is a "dry" boat, meaning no alcohol on board! So Bill really went out of his way to offer this treatment. We used our best crystalware, which nevertheless looked strangely alike to our day-to-day cups used for coffee, soup and cereals. It was delightful, but the best was still to come.

The elegant dinner cruise party began at 8pm. We began with starters, consisting of premium caviar avec un peu de Creme Fraiche, complemented with finely minced fresh onion, and crisp light rye bread. (I got the caviar in Walnut Creek, snatched the onion in my friend Ben's house, and smuggled all aboard, hiding all in the fridge) We had a bit of trouble deciding on whether the second bottle of well chilled Champagne (2nd ! on a dry boat!) should go with the caviar, or with the main dish. We settled on caviar. The evening was very mellow; warm, but sufficiently cloudy and windy to make sitting in the cockpit very pleasant. We all dressed up with clothes not worn for more than one day. Otto was driving, so we could all sit together. Main dish was a succulent filet of Ahi, lightly braised in lemon butter, presented on a bed of savory coconut rice, and topped with grilled, green asparagus. We savored the meal, enjoying a scintillating conversation about God, the World, and Siberian toilets. After a short recess to admire a gorgeous sunset specially arranged for the occasion, desert, chilled cheesecake with sun ripened mango and bite-sized pineapple was served, which we devoured while watching the rise of the full moon. For entertainment we had hired the singer Diana Krall, who set the stage with exclusive jazz and blues. A dinner cruise possible only on a cosmopolitan vessel like Cirrus.

This midpoint between San Francisco and Hawaii is actually quite unique in that there is no spot on earth which is further away from land! 1035 nautical miles, or approx. 2000 km. It's like going from Moscow to Portugal at bicycle speed, and having a party in Berlin.

As expected, we have fallen back to #4 in division, but given that we are kind of the one-legged man among the long distance runners, we are doing not too bad. The late starting, fast boats are playing among themselves; they are now covering all first 15 positions. Still a slow going race overall.

I am having trouble with transmitting our email. All mails so far have gone via short wave radio. Unfortunately, transmission from our current location and at mid-day, when I was usually sending, is difficult due to atmospheric ionic conditions. I hope to have more luck in the evening.

And, yawn, yet another ship has crossed our bow, and still no racers in sight.

Aloha,
Ulli

position at 1750 PDT : 27N55, 142W36, COG: 255M, SOG: 5.5kn