Day 6: Still slow going, and going, and going...

To recap, we got off to a great start and had two great days of racing. The
weather forecast for the third day showed the area of high pressure (the
"High", where winds are light, and so should be avoided at all cost)
currently in the fleet's path was moving NW, out of our track - clearing the
way down to Hawaii. The reality of day 3 was that the High slowed down,
started expanding, and we, with a number of other boats, became trapped in
it. We continued south as that was still the fasted way out of the High and
to the breeze at its edge.
On day 4 and day 5, the High had still not moved off and we stayed stuck in
the middle, still trying to get south of it. The High had become stationary
and so trying to get further south still looked like our best bet.
Today, day 6, the High was supposed to be dissipating, and a cold front was
pushing down from the north. Now our quickest escape was to head north,
towards the front, which would be pushing the High south as it dissipated,
helping us get out quicker than if we were to continue south. So we set
sail to the north, in hopes of escaping what had become our real adversery,
the High that had held us for days.
We had another beautiful, sunny day, with better wind than the day before.
Though we had periods of light or no wind, we had decent breeze for most of
the afternoon. As the evening drew near, we contacted the initial edge of
the cold front, as evidenced by a few rain showers in the area. The winds
soon died, as they sometimes do around sunset, and we struggled to make
further progress.
After dark, we were treated to a clear, bright Milky Way, with a far number
of meteors providing additional entertainment. Progress was slow but
measurable throughout the night. Around 5AM, we sailed through the cold
front, where the winds were light, but the rain heavy. As the temperature
is balmy at this lattitude, the rain was actually more welcome than not, and
within minutes, we popped out of the other side of the front, in clear
skies, smooth waters, and unfortunately, light winds.
We covered just under 100 nautical miles today. We continue to download the
latest weather information and will soon find out if our northerly strategy
will pay off. Till then, like that pink bunny, we'll keep going, and going,
and going...
Jay