Pacific Odyssey - Leg 6

Today we celebrated Sarah Brizan´s 23rd birthday; we never thought in
Osaka that her birthday would be celebrated at sea, she was sure she would
be having a day at the beach with her sisters, going out for supper and a
movie etc.  This way though, she has all of us, her ´family´ around her on
her special day and she can still spend a day with her sisters ´out on the
town´ in Honolulu when we arrive in a few days . . . the best of both
worlds.  She chose the meals today; yogurt with bananas, grapefruit, and
lemon squares for breakfast, chapattis, 5-layer dip, and humous for lunch,
and penne noodles with spaghetti sauce for supper.  Molly, Skipper, Diana,
Keira, and Simon rolled the chapattis; they were delicious.  Arwen has made
a vegan chocolate cake with mocha icing, which we will enjoy later in the
evening after the ´Talent Show.´  Her sister Emma made her a beautiful ditty
bag, embroidering it with Sarah´s initials and filling it with chocolate.
Emma did a beautiful job on the sewing of the bag; Sarah is thrilled with
it.  Sarah´s other sister, Diana, made her a card and gave her all the rest
of her ´stashed´ chocolate; this may sound funny (and it is a bit) but at
the end of a passage such as this, when most of us ran out of personal snack
food awhile ago, half a chocolate bar is worth more than you can imagine, it
was probably worth the most out of anything she could have given; again,
Sarah was happy and . . . she shared it with Diana.  Trainees and crew gave
her cards and she proudly wore her ´birthday girl´ button all day.  On her
1600-2000 evening watch, when she was hauling in one of the fishing lines,
she suddenly called out, "I´ve got a fish, I really have a fish!"  We
thought she was just kidding, the lines come in every evening and go out
every morning; she was doing her job.  But we soon realized by the sound of
her voice that she really did have something on the line.  It turned out to
be a gorgeous brilliant yellow and blue Dorado, about 15 lbs.  Sarah hauled
it in and filleted it; her first time.  Jacob and Noah taught her how to do
it and stayed with her until the end.  At the ´Talent Show´ this evening,
Elske, Gabriel, Tristan, Bec, Jordan, Gillian, and Katie sang the song they
had written for Sarah; it summarized her life on the ship since her arrival
in Fiji, to the tune of ´A Whole New World.´  Sarah loved it and I just
overheard her say this was probably the best birthday she´s ever had.  The
wind is blowing light from the northeast; the trysail, foresail and jumbo
are up, but the engine is also pushing us along.  The air was cooler today;
we wore our pants and coats again.  This morning Skipper sighted a Japanese
glass float and was able to retrieve it; it will decorate his house; a
beautiful reminder of this passage.  Jordan taught a seniors tide lesson and
gave an introduction to the theory behind celestial navigation to trainees
interested in the sextant.  The sun has not shone the past few days and so
no one has been able to take any sun sights.  As soon as there is sun,
Skipper and Jordan will teach the physical aspects of taking a sight and
plotting a position.  Antony taught a seniors chart work lesson.   Antony
and Jacob spent the early part of the evening creating fishing lures; the
plan is to make some prototypes and then allow interested trainees to make
one too; he has all the materials aboard to make them.  Will made a leather
sheath for the Japanese carving knife he bought in Japan; it looks good.
Gillian completed her scarf, it´s as tall as her.  Sara R. finished her
ditty bag today and feels good about it.  There are so many projects under
way; it is fun watching them come to completion.  It is a gift to have
unlimited time to start and finish something we would not undertake or have
the chance to learn ashore.  Skipper gave an introduction on ´How to Plan an
Offshore Voyage.´   Last offshore, a club was formed from this presentation
and the present offshore is in part the result of that effort and interest.
At the moment we are 370 nautical miles from Honolulu; our E.T.A. is for
Sunday morning.  It has been a very full day; we have been at sea for 32
days yet there are always things we still want to do before we arrive in
Hawaii.  That is a good thing; a sign that we´re doing well.  Until
tomorrow, good-night, Bonice.