#127 NOW October 16, 2006 03:35 (UTC -10 hours Hawaii Standard Time) N14 45 W157 07, Temperature 80, Pressure 1003 mb, Course 004 magnetic 180 @ 8 knots, light rain, Seas: 3 to 4 ft swells from SW, Para-vanes down, Miles Completed 668, Miles to Go 300, SOG 6.1 kts average. 1600 RPM Good Morning, This is turning out to be an amazing passage. We are still being blessed with light winds out of the South, which according to the pilot charts only happens 8% of the time. By now, we should be encountering strong NE trade winds. Riding the coattails of this low-pressure area off our port bow has been a real help in giving us an extra push to our destination. Since the winds have been favorable, I have been able to increase our RPM to 1600 giving us some 150-mile days. We are now estimating Honokohua, Hawaii (Big Island) Wednesday morning. As I am sure, you are all aware I do enjoy this technical aspect of cruising. The every changing weather, tweaking the course and RPM, checking the fuel burn for the 100th time to make sure that we arrive at our destination with a respectable reserve are what make cruising so challenging and rewarding. However, there is so much more, which I find hard to write about. Perhaps it is because you must open your very soul to express feelings, and by nature, I am a very private person. However, I must try. The other morning was one of those special times. I like the night watch, which ends with a glorious sunrise. The first hint of daylight stirs your imagination as the horizon and the outline of clouds become visible. As the darkness of night fades away giving you a new day, you feel like a fresh page has been set before you. What will this day hold? What will be written on this page? I move outside to the Portuguese bridge so that I may savor every moment of this miracle of night turning into day. The gray gradually takes on color, a tinge of blue and green give way to yellow and gold. Streaks of orange and gold radiate from just below the horizon and stretch out across the sky. Finally, in a crescendo of color, the sun bursts forth casting off the shackles of night, and a new day has dawned. I look toward the west at the huge towering cumulus nimbus clouds that we passed under during the night. They are now ablaze with color, glowing red hot like some atomic bomb. Why are sunsets and sunrises so spectacular at sea? Perhaps, it is because they are painted on a vast canvas. A canvas spared of all the clutter made by man. Perhaps it is the reflections from a thousand wavelets. My very soul is stirred as I enjoy the symphony of this new day. OK, so I got a little carried away. Perhaps I have been out to sea a little too long. However, once you have experienced a sunrise at sea, you will never be the same. Life is a Cruise, Larry and Mike -- Larry Rick Done Dreamin' Nordhavn 40 #33 Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/Dads%20Web/doneDreamnHome.htm