At noon Hawaii time on Sunday we were at 12-23N 152-08W, 440 nautical miles south of Hawaii. The route from our marina to our present position covered 650 nautical miles. We are cruising at 6.8 kts on a course of 142 magnetic. We have an 18 kt wind 60 degrees off the port bow. Clouds are mostly cumulous, which indicate fair weather. Small squalls are showing on the radar beside and ahead of us. The forecast cold front passed us early this morning, with 27 knots wind right on the beam.. We hope that is behind us, now. We installed our port-side storm plates before leaving Ko Olina, for two reasons. Prevailing weather here typically would come from the east and our boat has an asymmetrical design, with the saloon extending to the port gunnels. The starboard saloon windows are accessed outside by a walkway, so installing those, or the front pilot-house plates along the way would be relatively easy. The heavy glass windows could take quite a blow without failing, but having thick storm plates installed gives comfort. We found that our plastic storm plates would not fit the bolt pattern on the boat. The plastic material is dimensionally affected by temperature and we had to elongate the holes with a Dremmel router bit. The past two nights we have been able to contact the Pacific Seafarer's Net on ham radio. The net controllers log the location of reporting boats on th eir web site at www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/ Take a look and see if you can find us. We have no idea how long contact with the net can be maintained. The net begins at about 0320 UTC at 14.313 MHz. Boat and passengers are still doing well. Dick and Gail Barnes Aboard m/v Ice Dancer Nordhavn 50, #22