7/13-14 update

Sorry folks, yesterday was a busy day. We've been pushing the boat as hard as we can in the conditions we have. One of our spinnakers has been up 24/7 the last 5 days. Each day brings a new speed record. Yesterday we hit 14 knots. That record will likely fall before we reach Hawaii. We had a bit of a scare yesterday when the bottom rudder bearing started making unusual noises. We dropped the spinnaker temporarily in order to check it out. We weren't able to definitively determine what was going on, but literally three phone calls got me in touch with the NA distributor, who I originally purchased the bearing from. We diagnosed it to a dry bearing from spending so much time on one tack. We broke into the medical kit and used a syringe to inject soapy water into the bearing. This appears to have cleared up the problem. Phil, at PYI, was also kind enough to follow up with several text messages this morning to confirm everything was okay. In the middle of the Pacific, that's customer service! Yesterday we got passed by two of the late week starters, waved our hellos and they were on their way. We keep jamming along, hoping to make our jibe towards the finish later today, early tomorrow. Aloha, Tracy & crew