We are "On the Road Again"; Willie Nelson filled the night air as we asked for permission to pass the ends of the runway on our way to Hawaii. Exiting the channel at the north end of the runway we head north on a line to our first waypoint. It is 2,400 nautical miles to Hawaii more or less. The barometer shows us near a high with the change over the last 12 hours flat, no change. The winds build from none to 14 knots from the south east, typical trade winds, as the lights of Tahiti turn into just a glow in our southern sky. We put out the stay sail as the wind builds. Given the problem we had with the Genoa furler, we decide not to deploy it at night. With no sail the one starboard engine accomplishes 6.2 knots. With the stay sail we get 7.2 knots or better. The seas are light to moderate with swell coming from the south east.
At 10 PM I decide my cabin is too hot and stuffy, so I decide to grab pillow and blanket and sleep on the sun pad in the fly bridge. The view of the southern hemisphere night sky is spectacular but unfamiliar. I think we spotted Orion's belt, but I am not sure he is even visible in the southern hemisphere. There are so many stars; there must be life orbiting around some of them. I have forgotten to grab my glasses after removing my contacts so the stars look like so many fuzzy cotton balls. My imagination runs wild as I identify and name my own constellations. Sleep takes me quickly; about 2 or 3 in the morning I wake briefly to pull the blanket over me; there is always a slight chill in the tropical ocean.
The beginning of Saturday starts as the sun rise glow starts to overtake the rising crescent moon. As soon as there is enough light we try to deploy the Genoa; it works; John's 3 days of genius hard work has turned into 8.2+ knots of speed worth at least 24 more nautical mile a day. Life is good.
As soon as the sun rises above the horizon the red and white fishing lure is out; watch out you tuna, Bella Donna's crew is after you. Once off watch I put the second red and white lure out. We will see.
In addition to just the leaving of French Polynesia the affect such people as Michael Moore, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and various celebrities have on foreigners' view of life in America makes me sad. Michael Moore must have a new film out concerning health care in America. We met Matt, the WIFI man, and his 2 year plus one day old darling daughter; the general conclusions he drew from Michael Moore's new movie was that insurance companies were charging high prices and not providing proper health care to people who later died. While some care is experimental and not covered, this is hardly the business as usual impression Moore leaves. Then there is Al Gore's use of misleading computer simulated video in his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" where simulated environmental conditions are represented as real; what is true?
I just sent a report of our position; it should be after 21 hours at sea. I will be transmitting via short wave radio as our satellite connection will not send data for some reason. It still makes and receives voice and fax calls though.
God Bless Bella Donna
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