Friday evening (from Lance)

We just crossed 40N, 158W meaning that we're north of San Francisco and finally east of Ko Olina where we started from. The closest land is Alaska - we've been using SSB base stations in Kodiak and Anchorage as well as Hawaii and the West Coast.

Last summer while sailing around Corsica our hosts noticed that there's no faster way to get me from a bunk than to announce that it's time for the spinnaker - it worked just as well today when the breeze finally got behind us. With a light wind it was just right to set L'Eau Life's beautiful green, yellow, and pink asymmetric kite. Adrien thinks it's the first time it's been out since the three of us used it to sail into Noumea when we visited New Caledonia six years ago!

It took maybe half an hour to get the lines set and make sure they weren't tangled with anything else, then another five minutes to hoist it to the top of the mast and tease it from its sock. "Whoosh!" - it filled and our speed went from 5.5kts to 7kts. We've had it up all afternoon, and it's glorious.

On this point of sail not only are we faster than with a genoa, the motion of the boat is much gentler. It's calmed down since the afternoon but we're still slipping along silently at five or six knots. I'll sleep very well tonight knowing a kite's over my head and all is well with the world.

Unless we need the fire extinguisher again for Steve's lentil dinner.

- lance