=?utf-8?Q?N 32 deg 02', =C2=A3 127 deg 38' -- Race 9, Day 3?=

Not a lot new to report since yesterday. Sailing conditions remain pretty
relaxed. The wind has come up and down and shifted around a bit, leading us
to change sails a number of times -- Yankee 1, Code 1, Code 2, windseeker,
back and forth -- but it's all gone smoothly, and it looks like we're
making the most of what wind we have. We remain within sight of LMAX,
overall race leader, covering their moves and even closing the gap slowly.
The temperature, while not exactly warm, is reasonably comfortable, as
long as I'm wearing a lot of clothes (though I still have a fair amount in
reserve). We're still picking our way around a lot of fishing boats,
floats, and nets, which can be fairly tense, but we've kept clear so far.

Still early days -- total remaining distance just ticked under 5000 nm
today -- but all good so far.

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Two notes for anyone meeting (or thinking of meeting) me in Seattle. First,
the finish line is off an island way out off the Olympic Peninsula,
basically (I think) at the entrance to Puget Sound. Just too much traffic
and too little space in the Sound itself, so we motor about 120 nm from
there to Bell Harbor Marina. This means that seeing the actual finish will
be even harder than I had expected. You'd have to be ridiculously dedicated
to head all the way out there to see us cross an arbitrary line at an
unpredictable time, after which I'd just sail past anyway. On the other
hand, it does mean that my actual arrival at the Marina should be more
predictable, with (I'd guess) about 15 hours lead time during which a drop
in the wind wouldn't slow us down. (I'm told to boat sat bobbing in the
water immediately outside Rio for hours, unable to make the finish line in
dead air.) I'll have immigration and customs to clear at the Marina,
but that should be pretty quick.

Second, I don't know much about the activities planned for Seattle. I
should be able to show you around the boat pretty much any time. There will
be a prize-giving party though I don't know the date or if friends and
family will be invited. Word is the skipper of the Seattle boat will be
throwing out the first pitch at a Mariners game and that he can't throw, so
that could be funny, but I don't know the date. I'll let you know more as I
know, but Clipper is not particularly good at keeping us informed in
advance.