20 Years Ago Today -- April 18, 1996 -- Day 10

Thurs. 96-04-18 - Day 10 - 16° 17' N  116° 24' W  Log: 684nm

Up at 1645Z. We're really in the NE trades. Wind NE 15 - 20 knots all day and all night. Cumulus clouds (small) and gorgeous blue water in the sun.

John found a 1.5" flying fish carcass on the foredeck, which I made the subject of a couple of photos.

In late afternoon, we were joined by a brown boobie, which landed on the dodger, foredeck and downwind pole before settling in for the night on top of the dodger. It's 0300 local time and he's still there, snoozing with his beak under a wing and miraculously maintainig his balance on this roller-coaster ride (we roll pretty hard at times with the yankee poled out to weather). We've named the boobie 'Douglas', after my childhood neighbour who was nicknamed 'Booby'. [As an adult, I have to wonder how his family gave him that nickname, but as a child it didn't occur to me.]

It's been great, fast sailing all day, averaging ~5.5 knots, and we're enjoying ourselves but for the the occasional hard roll that makes sleeping and other chores hard.

Today's lottery: Dave: 100.1; John: 94; Log: 94; GPS: 103. I win.  4:3. We're getting ~10 miles a day push from the current now.

John made a pair of white bread loaves in the oven (we called it Boobie bread -- no boobies were harmed in the making of this bread) which was very good, and served beef stew, cream corn and salad with it. Great dinner!

We've been without a moon for about a week now and will welcome the brighter nights when it returns (we passed New Moon a couple of days ago).

CD: Sarah McLachlan -- Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.