Day 15- Halfway mark pizza party

Time: 1700 Zulu (noon PV time)
Position: 19-deg 09-min N 131-deg 22-min W
Wind: ENE 12-knots Seas: NE 4-ft
Avg. Course: 274 T Avg. Speed: 5.3-knots
Rig: Single-reefed main, 80% jib poled out
24-hr distance traveled: 113-nm
Distance to Hilo: 1343-nm

Early this morning (5/31 0430 Zulu), we reached the halfway mark, and were 1,405-nm from both Punta de Mita, Mexico and Hilo, Hawaii. We celebrated last evening with homemade pizzas (BBQ chicken, onions, and hearts of palm), cold caffeinated cokes, and fair trade Trader Joe's dark cacao chocolate bars. Halfway there in mileage, but the second half we expect to have more consistent NE winds nearly howling the rest of the way to Hawaii, pushing us along the 19th parallel more quickly than the first half.

That said, last night, winds waned and this morning they have barely ramped back up. Our weather data shows that the 1018-mB contour that usually is found at this latitude, will swing a bit further south for the next day or two bringing us lighter-than-normal winds. Although with less wind the swell has become a bit more tedious, we are fine with slowing down a little. At the rate we were going, we were looking to land in Hilo on a Friday afternoon, and we are more aiming for the next Monday so we can properly check all of us and Grizzly into the Islands within 48-hrs of landing.

So we left the 80% up alone most of yesterday as the squalls got further apart and finally disappeared completely. It wasn't until the middle of the night when the winds dropped to less than 10-knots Chris raised the main. Now that it is daylight again, we will jibe the main, run wing-on-wing and likely put the 100% back up to take full advantage of the lighter winds. Or maybe, if we're really motivated, we'll fly one of our bigger head sails or even the spinnaker?!...