s/v Circadia

... we have been sailing due east along 47 degrees and 10 minutes north with 10 to 13 knot southwesterly winds and the red spinnaker. We can't make a more northerly course because of the wind angle. It was sunny this morning, now a kind of bright overcast. You get the idea--it just thick enough to obscure the sun, no thicker. It is a bit sleepy but we are steadily counting down meridians every 45 miles, currently the 136th one. We are interested to see what happens when we encounter this so called high pressure ridge at about 134 West - naively hoping very little, we'll just keep sailing.

We just saw the first freighter on the AIS that is heading for Vancouver. I was dozing in the forepeak a few hours ago and Michael saw an animal that probably was a fur seal based on his description. It had prominent flippers, a whiskery face and relatively light colour. The field guide says that this is breeding season but not all animals breed; so perhaps this animal was unlucky in love and just decided to stay at sea with the mackerel and anchovies and squid, nursing its woes.

Another sign that we are finally getting to the Pacific Northwest is that the closest Sailmail Station is Friday Harbour; I've said good bye to the incredibly efficient Honolulu station.

I don't know about the John Banville book - it could be characterized as that of a complaining Irishman or alternately as a book by a man whose wife has just died, neither really light reads, however I am trying to think of it as a coming of age type of story to keep my spirits up. And it is beautifully written. It occurs to my that the travel book by the dutch fellow must be somewhere aboard; I will be reviewing the bookshelves again.

Hinge fell off head door. A Joycean phrase. Fortunately that is the only boat related problem that developed today; everything seems fine otherwise.

Well, that is all the news from Circadia.

Au revoir, love Kim