Whale of a day! (Day 2 - July 7)

Kel, we got your message and all is well. Ricky has some minor sea sickness and we had a long slow night with very light winds and a lot of sail slapping. Today we have been crusing along about 5 knots with 7-9 knots of wind. We are not going as far north as some fo the others in the fleet. I think we are in 6th place so we need to make up time. With all this food and water the boat is low in the water and Tiki needs at least 10-12 to get her in giddyup gear.

We had phenom whales interaction today with five different whales. Three of them so close to the boat that we had to dive down to avoid hitting one. It was really exciting and also nerve racking as two crossed under the boat and I'm thinking whale strick soon. Fortnunately NOT. They were just playing with Tiki and keeping skipper and crew on their toes.

Our only on board issue is software malfunction with our AIS and nanvigation system. We are trying to fix it with land support from Steve and we hope to download a fix via sat phone later. Rune has a plan C if that doesn't work.

Good news is we have plenty of water and food this trip. Probaly enough for the return if we can keep it frozen. Tyler had a revalation today: Hey dad this is the first time in my life that looking in any direction i don't see land! ....Funny this reminds me of my first ocean trip with my dad when I was about 10 yrs old on a passenger ship from Hawaii to SF and having that same revalation and then the ocean being a part of my life from that point on.

Torben is keeping us in check as far as focusing on sail trim, speed, direction and on going strategies. Rune is assiting with all and not only the on board IT guy but also photographer and documentarian. Tyler is abosrbing the challange and starting to get comfortable with the long range sailing activities. He played his guitar today. Ricky is sailing the boat fast in marginal conditions and off watch reading a book. Judy is still the light air sailor queen and keeps us organized and makes us wash our hands and sit down to use the head..ha ha..

I still can't believe that send off with the SF Fire boat spraying water hundreds of feet in the air with you guys all on board. Hell of a time from both perspectives. Tiki sends love to all and we keep sailing on! G.