21-April-2006 Position

4'06.5S/132'33.9W
21-Apr-2006 Noon

• 135nm made good last 24 hours
• 2590 Miles from Z-town
• 591 Miles to Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands
• SE 25-30 knots wind, squalls with gusts to 35 knots
• 10ft swell, making 6 knots
• Motor sailed from 1am to 10am.

SQUALLS!!!!!!! We have had rain squalls all night last night. Basically, they are small rain storms that last about 30 minutes. But when they hit, the wind more than doubles!

So last night it rained really hard. Then all the wind stopped at 2 am, then changed directions from the north, just long enough for me to un-reef the main sail, and switch the sails over to the port side. Then after an hour, the wind changed back to the SE. So I had to undo everything I had just done! And, it was raining sideways. So we started the engine and motor sailed all night.

Sandpiper loves to motor sail. The boat really smooths out and steers better. Also, the batteries get charged and we can make water.

At 10am the storms all disappeared and we had a good day of sailing in large swells. When it is raining sideways at night, there really is no reason to be in the cockpit, as you cannot see anything. We just lie below and catch up on sleep.

Today we even caught up on several movies and ran the Puddle Jumpers Net (where all the other boats check in at noon with their weather and positions). Imagine trying to type on a laptop while you are rolling all over the place.

Gotta go.

Tom and Amy

First Mate Amy notes: Amy says I sugar coat the blog entries. Her one word to describe last night was "EXTREME". Lighting, sideways torrential rain, and a near vomit experience. Jimmy Buffet is full of #**#. He never sings about sailing in this stuff!