I never expected this much cloud on the trip. Keeping the batteries up is a real pain and requires running the engine for several hours each day. My alternator doesn’t put out enough power and was on my to fix list while in the islands before the next leg of the trip. On the bright side, I’m making excellent time, ahead of schedule. At this pace, the crossing could take less than 20 days. Ideally, I need it to be less than 21 days to avoid arriving in Hilo Friday evening or on the weekend. Talking to the customs officer by email, he tells me that their office is only open Monday to Friday and if I arrive outside of business hours I can call him on his cell and he can either give me a shore pass to get some food, or order me detained on the boat until Monday. Fortunately, I only need to average 120 nm per day to get there on time and my worst day since day 1 has been 130 nm. The winds have now solidly shifted astern and seem to be getting more constistant. I expect the waves t
o slowly move astern also over the next day or so. A container ship passed within 2 nm around dusk yesterday, he appeared on AIS well in advance so I knew he was coming. Strange seeing another boat for the first time since leaving Cabo.

Current Position:
21,18.52N 126,05.23W
Course: 267 at 6.5 kt
Progress: 139 nm
Wind: 18kt at 45 deg