Lat: 19 37.938
Long: 167 10.601

We are still plodding along out here. The winds have been really light for the last couple of days, so we aren’t making very good time, but we should arrive at Beveridge Reef tomorrow. In the meantime, I have been trying to develop my seawomanship by reading Chapman’s "Piloting and Seamanship" (highly recommended) and applying it during my watches. It’s pretty gratifying to trim the sails so that they are balanced and watch our speed increase as a result.

Sea water dish washing

Dallas and I just happened to turn on the short wave radio for the first time on this passage and heard about the tsunami that struck Samoa (and to a lesser extent, Tonga) yesterday. It sounds like warning came much too late (30 minutes AFTER the tsunami struck land), so in addition to destruction of several resorts along the southern coastline of Samoa, there were many casualties. Needless to say, we are thankful that we aren’t in that area and concerned about other cruisers who might be.

FYI, the sea is actually the safest place to be in the event of a tsumani. We probably wouldn’t even notice it, as the wave wouldn’t begin to break until close to shore. We hope this is comforting and will keep you posted on our status and that of our friends.