N 41 deg 27', W 166 deg 38' -- Race 9, Day 18

Cold, though not as cold as it was at its worst, but now with added grey
and drizzle. It's clear now to me why the set that musical in the South
Pacific rather than the North Pacific.

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I read this story a while back, an excerpt from a memoir of a Jewish kid
growing up in New York. One day he went to his grandfather, excited because
Babe Ruth had hit sixty home runs. His grandfather pondered, then asked,
"This thing that Ruth did, is it good for the Jews?"

I'm like that right now about getting to Seattle. If something gets us
there faster, great; if not, I'm indifferent. For example, one of the
overall leaders, I think Garmin, lost their bowsprit. This means they can't
fly a spinnaker, at least not well, so they'll go slower, and it helps us
place better. But this thing that Garmin did, does it get us to Seattle
faster? No? Meh.

On the other hand, usually race position and getting there faster go hand
in hand. Yesterday, we saw some old repairs in our Code 3 weren't holding.
(We inherited this sail after we destroyed our in the kite wrap incident,
so for once, it's not our old repairs that are going.) I spent about five
hour during the night doing repairs, first a bit after our 6pm-10pm watch
ended, then pretty much the whole of the 2am-6am watch. The first part, I
worked with Linda to cut and apply some new adhesive patches; the second
part, I sat on the floor and sewed so they would stay on. We were able to
fly it today, the patches held, and we made good speed. We've pretty much
given up on fixing the Code 2 (the repair might be possible, but the
conditions haven't been conducive to using the sewing machine, nor are
there enough people on board who know how to use ie), so it's important
that we have the Code 3 as an option, and a few hour sewing is a small
price to pay.

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I continue to be surprised by the amount of breakage and fixing of things.
Just today, the preventer snapped. We fixed it. Reef 2 was in bad shape. We
fixed it. Just lots of wear and tear.

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I don't want to jinx anything, but we're looking on track for arrival in
the early part of the arrival window. No guarantees, as a lot can happen,
but the slowish start has given way to sustained good speed, and there's
nothing in the forecast that suggests that's going to change. Here's
hoping!

1816 nm to go.