Happy July 4th !!

Hello All,

I cleaned up a few things on the boat after Tracey flew home and then left Lahaina on July 2nd. I left at first light, thinking I would go up and cross the channel and pass the east side of Molokai and head north. But by the time I got into the channel there was good east wind and 3-4 ft chop, so decided it wasn't worth the 3 hour bash across. Going down the south side of Molokai and around toward Honolulu did add about 39 miles more, but I had good downwind sailing at 6-7 knots to the western end.

Out past the west end of Molokai I could see Diamond Head across the channel. There was considerable haze so it was just peeking through.

Trades were not too strong as I cleared the islands, but with the boat on a beam reach there was lots of boat motion. Speed was about 6 knots for the rest of the day and evening. Swell and wind waves seemed NNE, so lots of spray across the deck. Sometime during the night a wave hit the starboard lee cloth and ripped it apart. Oh well, I think it was sun weaken anyway.

The 3rd continued with good wind and again lots of spray. I had gotten a little queasy from all the motion, so did do much but hang on. During the night, the wind eased up and the seas flatten out.
Today has been mostly a 3 knot day with light winds and 1-2 foot waves. Very pretty out if a bit slow. The wind has shifted to the NE some, so I'm running close to the wind so keep a northly coarse. Even so I'm going northwest a bit.

It wss nice to have a slower day with less motion and I got some cloths rised out and dried. Tomorrow the winds should be about the same or less.
Happy 4th of July to all !!
Ed