July 20

July 20, 1700 hrs. Position N 46.36 / W 132.28 145 miles in the previous 24 hrs. 340 miles to the Columbia River Bar
The winds have been kind to us the last couple of days. Yesterday's distance was the biggest day of the trip so far. The wind was blowing right up our backside so we were wing and wing most of the night. It makes for a rolly ride but we were making great speed. This morning we switched to a reach. The seas had really built up and we had about 3 meter following seas. Eventually we dropped the main and have been sailing Jib only and still holding 6 - 7 knots. It is good to see those miles clicking off since we are pointed straight at the river. It has been another laid back day. The fog is gone which makes us happy. We've seen the sun peak out a few times, also a good thing. We've been surprised by the lack of ship traffic. We had one come up within a mile and a half behind us a couple of days ago but haven't had any show up on the AIS since. We expect that to change as we get closer to the river entrance. We crossed another time zone line, we are now in Pacific time. We are still operating on a one hour difference though. Hawaii does not use Daylight Savings time so there was a 3 hour time difference when we left there and only 2 time zones to cross. Our tide book uses standard time so Bob decided that it would be easiest to leave the difference until after we enter the river.