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8/10- 0800 hours: Great night last sunset! Went on deck to listen to my positive tape and the dolphins came and played with us. Fantastic. And this morning they were here again. About two dozen. Light winds again. So far this trip has had one day of strong winds, 4-5 days good winds, and the rest light winds. No matter what it does out there, I control in here. Many times I think about all the humans that have spent years in concentration camps and how easy this is. Millions upon millions of humans have spent time in Siberia, Egypt, Germany, Viet Nam, Turkey, Iraq, Africa, etc. over the ions. My forty days or so here on DS II, is a piece of cake. Those people are the real heros. 1630 hours: Dinner tonight will be steamed noodles with a cajun-sundried tomatoe sauce, and tabouli grits. 2030 hours: Listening to the radio now on AM. It is coming in real good. I am a 1000 miles from land and I get fair reception. It`s talk radio about aliens, abductions, UFO`s and crop circles. Pretty cool out here. 25*48 N 129*15
8/11 Really weird to listen to the radio this far out at sea. I do not know why I tried to tune it in, but it worked and I ended up with alot of stations. 1600 hours: Still light winds. I find it strange that the big SE swell did not help me at all with winds. The rotation of winds around a hurricane and my direction to Hawaii are one in the same. The barometer has been higher at 30.05, and this means the high pressure has moved down on me a bit. I`m only 300 miles north of Hawaii, but 1500 miles to the east. No one has heard from me and it has been three weeks. The radio will not work in this dead airspace.
8/12- 2100 hours: Listened to the again last night. I get about four stations, plus some Spanish ones. They are all talk radio. I know about the UPS strike. 25*04 N 131*04 W Sat in the Lazy-boy most of the day. Gonna try to sail 12 hours everyday if I can. 8/13- 2200 hours: Should have made some good time today. Put the kite back up - that took an hour and I had a full on temper tantrum. I do not like putting that F_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Kite up! Saw a beautiful white tropic bird today. He circled me for a 1/2 hour and when I got the camera - gone. Hot dinner tonight. Gotta make H2O. Sailing downwind at 2-3 knots with the kite and jury rigged main. 24*52 N 132*19 W
8/14- Set my watch back one hour this morning. Had kept an hour ahead to make myself feel I was getting up an hour later. Too much now. I often wonder how the Norwegian man who just recently walked across Anarctica did it day after day in sub-freezing tempertures. Amazing. At least I`m not cold, don`t have to worry about crevasses or avalanches, and no storms. Just light winds again this morning. The kite fell last night, so I get to look forward to putting it up again when the wind comes back.
8/15- 1600 hours: Got the kite back up only to have it fall again last night and cause a death in the family. Kermit the frog is gone. Decided to take a swim. His swivel broke free. Made a replacement streamer out of strips from my survival blanket and two batteries. Changed back into the big mainsail today. Works better at this point of sail - downwind.
The small main and gennaker work good, but not at this point.
We flipped the windsurfer today. The big main backwinded against the hatch and put us in the water. Everything cool. These next two weeks will be tough mentally, `cause I`ll be getting closer everday. Don`t like to think about it too much. (8/6 0700 hours: Where are you now? Wherever, keep cool, not too excited, that makes mistakes. Finishing on the beach is the goal - A handful of sand! Patience, Steve, patience, it will pay off!) Above is a little note I wrote 9 days ago. I would like to make it to Maui, Labor Day weekend, but that is a tough one. I`m still keeping myself up, even though the past week has not seen the best wind -10-15 knots day, 5-10 knots at night. When it blows 10 knots, I can only go about 5 knots. That makes a long day. But everyday we are getting close. Remember, no mistakes allowed.
2100 hours: Turned out a good sail day. Made some decent time. NE 15-20 knots. Overcast. 29*80 Barometer stable last six hours: Presently 24*54 N 134*59 W
8/17 - 0700 hours: Sunday- Light winds again on Sat. 5-15 knots. The trampoline bed cable broke, so I had to fix it. More like jury rigged it. Hopefully it has 20 days of life left. It will take me that long unless the winds increase a bit. Alot of plastic bottles and debri in the water here the last three days. While I am sailing I often change clothes, eat, adjust sails, lee boards, and tie knots.I must be part contortionist to be able to sail and still do all those things at the same time. Light winds again today. I`m sure everyone is worried about me and wishing me calm weather and no storms. Well, they got calm weather alright. Going to take me along time. When I get there, I`m going to ask people if they prayed for calm weather and if they say yes, I`m gonna make them buy me a nice dinner. "Can I buy you a beer", is what some will say. "No thanks, feed me!", I`ll say. I`m beginning to believe that this journey is really a solo one. I had very litttle help putting it all together. In fact most people did not want me to do it at all. Some sponsors helped me, but no one came in as a sponsor in a big way. Some friends would not even help me at all when it came for assistance. This radiois great, but it does not want to seem to communicate with anyone at all. I`m sure many people think I`m dead already. That`s OK, I think they`re dead too! It might be possible that I should arrlve on the beach with no fanfare. If that is the case, so be it. 2:00 pm or 2:00 am, I`m still there. That is the most important thing and that is my focus. Please give me some wind! 1330 Been thinking about the idea of people thinking I`m dead. Gotta better idea than that. ANYONE that may think I`m dead is going to be on the DEAD LIST and I am going to make them buy me dinner. I hope that everyone thinks I`m dead. Yahoo!! Take that!
2100 hours: Full Moon!Very bright out here. I am writing this by moonlight. Michelle said she was going to have a party on the beach for me tonight. Thanks, I`ll be home soon. Sailed with the jib and big main. More sun today, but still a high barometer 29.95. Calm winds, 5-12 knots. Everything cool! I`ve been eating real light the last two days. At this pace, Icould be here 20-25 days. Nothing I can do about light winds. 24*59N 137*02W
8/18 Have had 3 knots to 20 knots, mostly around 8 knots. Where are the wind Gods?
1700 hours: Not much to report today. 1/2 overcast, 1/2 sunny. I want PIZZA delivered now! plus beer, a couch, a remote, and a good flick. P.S. Dry clean pajamas!
2100 hours: Had a beautiful sunset and then a red moonrising. It is clear and winds are 10 knots. Still getting talk radio and I found out tha the UPS strike is over. Haven`t caught any fish and I think the main reason has beenme not going fast enough to troll.
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