Racing With Dummies! (Transpac Edition, Day 5)

by Mike

This morning, after the onerous task of telling Transpac our 6:00 position, there wasn't much to do.

We were still sailing the same as the night before. We were shooting for a direction of about 250. But the wind we kept curving us
between 240 and 280. That's not a bad direction towards Hawaii. But according to the forecast we needed to edge south to stay in
stronger winds.

Complicating our decision making was the fact that if we went 10 degrees more to the north we were able to go faster. That sure was
tempting. However, being strictly disciplined, we stayed the course. Honest, it had nothing to do with us being lazy!

Actually, we did change directions a few degrees left and right once in a while. And we did some token rope adjusting on the sails.
But that's about it all day. And nothing made any noticeable difference.

Movies on the Minnow:
Over the last couple of years Bob and I have occasionally gone grocery shopping for the boat, typically at Walmart or K-mart.
Somehow we usually end up at the bargain movie racks. We have accumulated a few movies as a result of these "provisioning" events.

A few months ago we noticed that we were missing some important movies. Bob promptly went shopping at Amazon and ordered I think
every movie (new or used) for less than a dollar. Now we are properly stocked.

Among the most prized are the 20 James Bond movies and the 15 Star Trek and Star Wars movies (though we are missing Star Wars II).
Our collection also includes important classics such as "Indiana Jones," "Attack of the 50-foot Woman," "Monty Python: The Life of
Brian," "Rambo," "The African Queen," and "Captain Ron."

We also have lots of musicals, including these favorites: "Oklahoma," "Hair," "Paint Your Wagon," "The Sound of Music," "The Best
Little Whorehouse in Texas," and "Camelot."

Since there wasn't much sailing to do and Bob was asleep, I cleared off the living room table and proceeded to clean it since I hate
sticky stuff. Then I began the task of sorting 300+ movies in alphabetical order. About three hours later we had 354 sorted movies.
I culled about 20 duplicates.

Transpac Climate:
The temperatures so far have been just about perfect. We haven't run the air conditioner yet. During the day it has been 68-70
outside and in the upper 70s inside. Just about perfect. If we get warm, we go outside. If we get cool we stay inside. It gets a
little chilly at night.

It's been cloudy most of the time, but not in a rainy way – just enough to keep the sun from being too bright. There is a tropical
storm a few hundred miles to the southwest of us. That might be where all the clouds are coming from. But it hasn't rained. Yet.

Daily Cuisine:
We ran out of cake today. We also ran out of Jambalaya. I just realized that there has been no potato-eating so far on this trip. I
like potatoes. Especially fried potatoes. And baked potatoes. And mashed potatoes. I suspect there might be some potato-eating going
on tomorrow.

Fishing report:
Day 5 and still no fish. To rub it in, another boat was talking on the radio about catching 5 albacore tuna today. It was painful.

Arts and Entertainment:
Someone claimed that "The Good Shepherd" is the best spy movie ever. I thought it was boring and really long. And it was hard for me
to follow. But I made it to the end. The main actor didn't talk much and rarely changed expression. I was sure glad it was over so I
could get back to reading.

In the book "Gypsy Moth Circles the World," Francis Chichester made it alone from England to Australia in 107 days, with some
assorted difficulties. This was in 1966. He was following the old clipper ship routes. From the back cover of the book (and the fact
that the name of the book says so) I expect to read about his return to England tomorrow. Right now, he's in the roaring 40s of the
south Pacific heading east, half-way to Cape Horn.