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October 7, 1998

San Francisco to Hawaii, Second Attempt. Update #16

16. Date: Wed, 7 Oct 98 02:45:14 GMT
Latitude: 34 degrees 20.884 minutes North
Longitude: 126 degrees 33.813 minutes West

My day began at 3am. Jason woke me for my pedaling shift and I ploughed happily on by moonlight, catching a beautiful dual sky at 7am. Pink moon set and yellow sunrise. Jason awoke 9am to small fresh-baked bread wafting through a sunlit hatchway and we swapped pedal duty again. Thanks to Diana and Arvid Stein (vets of '97 Trans-Atlantic rowing race) for the recipe for pressure-cooked bread.

We're now experimenting with sprouts as our fresh vegetables are running out. So glad we made the effort to bring these invaluable items. Other small but priceless stuff includes food spices to jazz up Reliv dehydrated meals and small speakers for the walkman. In this much confinement, any way you can make the same environment seem different is a Godsend. Wish we could also have brought funny audio tapes like Monty Python or Dudley Moore / Pete Cook to smile through dark hours.

Now getting dark again, wind picking up from the west making pedaling a struggle and have just had to pedal off course to avoid another container ship steaming to Japan. Our Ocean Sentry (radar enhancer) picked up ship's radar first and alarmed us, followed by our C.A.R.D. alarm which also gave its approximate bearing. Again, no response by vessel to our VHF. Typical... In the oceans there are thousands of huge vessels barreling along at 20 knots and oblivious to rest of humanity. Why should we allow this? Let's start a petition here!

Power to the little people.

-Steve

Lewis & Smith,
The Moksha crew

Posted on October 7, 1998 5:36 PM