Saturday July 22nd

Position: Latitude: 21 50 North Longitude: 155 55 West, Course Over Ground: 237 true, Speed Over Ground: 14 knots

Skipper’s notes: The Sun, the Moon and the Stars gave us a mesmerizing show for the last sunrise of this race. The night was soft and moderately windy. Just enough to go fast and not enough to make gibing maneuvers too tricky. We looked at the Big Dipper, found the little Dipper, Polaris and the “Great Square of Pegasus.” There was a hole in the cloud cover that allowed us to see the whole Pegasus constellation. A good omen. A great story too. Here is how it goes: After Perseus’ victory over Medusa, he took to the air to present his prize, Medusa’s head wrapped in a sack, to Athena. On the way some of the blood from the Medusa’s severed head dripped out of the sack and fell into the Ocean. Poseidon fell madly in love with Medusa when she was a beautiful maiden, before she was turned into a monster so hideous that a glance of her would turn anyone into stone. A nostalgic Poseidon raised her drops of blood from the Ocean. Then he mixed them with white foam from the dancing waves and white sand from the beach. Out of this mixture of waves, wind and sand Poseidon created Mighty Pegasus, the Winged Horse. Pegasus flew up to join the gods on Mt Olympus, and was caught by the goddess Athena, daughter of Zeus. Athena tamed Pegasus with a golden bridle. Years later, Athena made her beloved Pegasus, the Mighty Winged Horse, into a bright and beautiful constellation. As I am writing this early afternoon log, we’re checking in 100 miles out from the finish line. I think that We are the first boat to check in. From roll-call this morning we know that we now have pushed our competition significantly behind. That’s because we were able to get some separation from them in the last 24 hours. We find ourselves ahead of them and out to the right of the race course where the classic wind shifts should increase our lead significantly throughout the evening. If the wind holds up we should finish before midnight. The stretch of the Pacific Ocean that we just sailed is the longest stretch on earth without land.