Day 20- clearest skies since Mexico and still sailing

Time: 1700 Zulu (noon PV time)
Position: 19-deg 09-min N 142-deg 32-min W
Wind: NE 12-knots Seas: NE 4-ft
Avg. Course: 269 T Avg. Speed: 5.1-knots
Rig: full main, 80% jib
24-hr distance traveled: 123-nm
Distance to Hilo: 712-nm

It was an amazingly lulling and beautiful afternoon. We set the drifter (our large loose luffed light air sail made of 1.6 ounce rip-stop nylon), pulled down the main and relaxed. Tao glided quietly and quickly along in the light 10-15 knot breezes as the sun shone down from the near clear blue sky. It was so beautiful that Shawn didn't want to crawl in the bunk and miss it. Yet, both of us have discovered that keeping to our schedule helps everything run more smoothly aboard, and we're both feeling the effects of cumulative lack of sleep. So Shawn finally surrendered to sleep and Chris soaked in the rest of the gorgeous day.

Dinner was a very refreshing cannellini bean tuna salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and capers smothered with lemon and lime juices and baked a fresh loaf of whole wheat topped with honey cashew and sesame seeds. Well fed, we decided to take the drifter down and replace it with the 80% and main so we could could each sleep well with the knowledge that the other could easily manage Tao alone through the night should any changes in wind direction and intensity occur (as they always do). The moon is indeed growing and once it set the milky way was in full view between small squalls with stronger winds and little moisture.

Today dawned mostly clear, but the sky continues to grow more cloudy as we write. We were still able to tune in to the morning SSB Amigo Net from mainland Mexico this morning. Our weather guy, Don Anderson, continues to forecast 20-25-knot NE winds all the way to Hawaii. However, our GRIB files (data extracted from a GFS weather model) forecast light NE 10-15 knot winds throughout the rest of Sunday. So far, the GRIB predictions are closer to our current reality. While we're both still up, it's time for some tabouli quesadillas and decisions about possible sail configurations for the rest of the day.