We have been on such a good and steady course that seems to be zipping us along to the Marquesas that we have not wanted to change anything. The sails have been set for 2 days and have not had to be moved at all and adjusted only slightly. We are following the Southern Hemisphere trade-winds that are coming from behind us and to the port side. Not only are the trade-winds behind us but also along with the trade-winds come the waves that continue to help push us along. Usually we can maintain a speed of roughly half the wind speed but today with the winds at 12.5 knots, we are gliding along at 7 to 7.5 knots.

Dailin kept asking for permission to stop the boat and spend an hour swimming but there was no way I wanted to prolong the journey. By the time you stop and start again, it hardly seems worth it. The only time I like to stop is when the wind forces me to. Needless to say we didn’t stop for a swim as much as he begged, pleaded and then advised us of what we were going to do.

A good part of the afternoon was spent doing our “white glove” cleanup. This is the time where everyone on board has to do a thorough cleaning of their own room. A cleaning that will pass inspection by Mom or Dad. I spent my time helping Orin and Eli in their room and by the time we were done a few hours later, it felt great to have cleaned things out so well. One also discovers a few leaks and other issues that need addressing when a deep clean is done. A few boxes and a bin of craft supplies had become wet after a side hatch was left open a few days ago. As a result we had to throw out a few things and were able to dry everything out.

Once the rooms were cleaned we finally got around to doing some haircuts on the front of the boat. Dailin has been asking me for over a week to give him a haircut. We have a set of clippers on board and so I gave Dailin, Jaeden, Orin and then myself a haircut at the bow of the boat. The bow of the boat is perhaps the bumpiest part of the boat and the least ideal to do a haircut. As I was cutting I had to maintain balance with both my legs and hands as the boat pitched forwards and backwards and side to side in the waves. The reason we did this at the bow however was because of the wind direction. Last time we did it at the stern. But if we did it there today the hair would have blown directly into the cockpit and living area of the boat. Needless to say we made do and all of the hair just blew away into the ocean as I cut. When starting out we did have one surprise. Eli, has been missing his glasses for over a month now and has looked everywhere for them… well almost everywhere. As soon I pulled out the hair clippers from their case I found inside his black rimmed glasses which matched all of the other black objects inside the case. He was excited to have them back again.

By the time I was done cutting everyone’s hair, my legs were extremely tired due to continually balancing and rebalancing myself as the boat moved around. An hour later Jaeden asked if I wanted to do a P90X leg workout and I advised him that while he and his brothers were sitting down getting their hair cut, I was doing my own leg workout.

5:30 pm PDT, Lat: 04° 45.711′ S, Long: 133° 11.916′ W, Course 225° T, Speed: 7.3 K, Wind: ENE 13 K, Swell: ENE 4′, Cloud Cover: 5%, Barometer: 1010 hPa, Temp: 28°C … Current Location