Day 6 now on our journey across the Pacific Ocean and already lots in store for us. Let's see if I can remember it all now...
The race started on March 20th. We were on the boats by 0800 sharp for immigration and then we slipped lines around 1100. After a parade of sails, we had a "fake" start for the spectators in Qingdao. Since there are so many fishing vessels and lines outside of Qingdao, the race officials thought it would be best if we motored out past most of it and had a Le Mans start. Therefore, we motored out overnight and began the real race at 0900 the next day. As usual, we were about mid fleet after the start of the race. Everyone had spinnakers out on deck ready to fly. LMAX was the first to fly along with two others. We all waited anxiously to see if it was the right decision and decided to hold off for the time being. However, looks like we were the last ones to the party and lost some positions in the end.
The beginning days were surprisingly calm and very cold, not so surprising. We were changing sails left and right like we were back in the Sydney to Hobart race. In one watch, we went through all three spinnakers and then back to yankee after Code 2's leech line ripped from head to tack. Being on the sail repair team, I had the lucky fortune of stitching Alexander up. It took about two days, day and night, cutting patches, taping them on, and then sewing them on with the sewing machine and finally adding webbing to each overlap. Karri had unfortunately come down with an eye infection and had to rest but Tino, Alex, and Pawel stepped in to help get the job done! As we were working on Code 2, Code 1 and Code 3 both had to come down on top of her to get wooled...what a mess! Patsy commented that it was the cleanest she had ever seen the sail locker with all the sails out all over the boat!
As I was down repairing the Code 2, the wind turned back upwind and with some gusts so we were down to Yankee 3 and eventually dropped to just the staysail and reef 2. After my late nighter working on the spinnaker, my watch let me sleep in some and when I woke, I came to find our bowsprit had broke off again! Seriously! This bowsprit has it out for us, I swear! This time it broke off when we were going upwind and not even flying a spinnaker. We have been beating on it quite hard through these Pacific waves though, so I don't blame the poor thing. And once again we have the shortest boat in the fleet and we were only 5 days in to this 30+ day leg! Our only saving grace is that the conditions may be too rough to even fly a kite most of the time so hopefully we won't end up taking too much extra time because of this mishap. I really hope the race officials give us a new freakin bowsprit after this because this is getting ridiculous now! There is actually talks of playing an April Fool's joke on Justin, the race director, telling him that we plan on detouring to Hawaii and demanding to get our bowsprit fixed before sailing into to Seattle. We'll see if it actually happens or not.
In other news, tomorrow is Easter, which means I can finally eat biscuits and candy again!!! Woowho! It also happens to be Patsy's birthday! So today I baked a very multipurpose cake in preparation. One layer was funfetti and the other was red velvet. We also had to bake a cake for our Visit Seattle sponsors with the weeks left to go on it, so the middle layer says, "3 weeks until Seattle". A picture was taken and then the top layer went on and was appropriately decorated for Patsy's birthday. I am a baking genius basically...Ana will be so proud! However, I still managed to spell "Visit" wrong! What is wrong with me! No idea why I always write it, "Vit...", it will remain a mystery to me.
Grilling up grilled cheese for lunch
Happy Birthday to Patsy!
That reminds me...unfortunately, two of our crew were not able to join us this leg due to injuries they sustained in the previous leg. One of which being Ana, one of our core Round the World crew members. It was very upsetting to find out that Ana wouldn't be able to join us and I can only imagine how devastated she is after coming all this way and then having to miss out on this leg. On the bright side, we hope that she is getting the rest she needs to heal her shoulder and will be joining us back again in Seattle for leg 7!
In terms of crew this leg, we have an awesome team! We have a few key members who have returned such as Emily, John and Kate and brand new folks who fit right in with our team! And there are finally a few more Americans on board too, with Martin from Salt Lake City and Ben from San Francisco. Martin is quite the adventure seeker and after this leg will be the first person to sail the seven seas and hike the tallest summits on each of the seven continents. Pretty freakin awesome! In addition, to all the new crew, we also have the camera man, Rich, on board with us as we sail into our home port of Seattle. Unlucky for him that he is possibly on the slowest boat to get him over to Seattle, but on the other side, he is also with the best crew on the fleet! So at least he has good company and we will for sure keep him entertained ALL along the way!
In other, other news, we've seen some dolphins, one huge pod and another random solo one, which maybe was a shark now that I am thinking about it, and most importantly, I got to wash my hair today!!! Amazeballs! :D
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A few days have passed, wait, no, just one because Patsy's birthday was yesterday. But several watches have passed and with no wind. This is almost the most no wind we've had in each race and this is supposed to be the "mighty Pacific"! No idea what the deal is! But I guess I shouldn't complain since it will get bad eventually. Today, a few even went swimming! Who would have thought in the Pacific! This was mainly to just get a good look at the damage the bowsprit did on the boat from waves crashing it into the bow. I wasn't mad enough to go in just in case I died of cold shock when I hit the water...those sea survival classes did teach me something! The water temp is about 21 degrees celsius though, no idea what that translates to in fahrenheit, I just know it is too cold for me!
Chillin' in the Pacific
Huw practicing for his first pitch throw at the Mariners game
Jamming with Jesse
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So I think I jinxed us! Yesterday morning as we were finishing off our 0200 - 0600 watch, I remember Martin saying, "Well, looks like it is going to be another calm day today." We went to bed and within an hour or two the tides had turned. We were still within eye sight of PSP and Ichorcoal at this time, even after they had sailed passed us with their kites up rubbing it in our face that we couldn't fly one. As the other watch was up on deck, they saw the wind shift hit the other boats in front. The boats immediately heeled over, both broaching, their booms hitting the water. We knew something was up and were down to notify Huw promptly if we should drop the yankee 1 we had flying in preparation before it hit us. He agreed but said to be prepared to rehoist it right away in case it was just a quick squall passing overhead.
Within minutes, the low hit us. The other watch dropped the yankee, then went down to reef 3. At this point, the wind was still gusting up to 60 knots apparent, so that is when they woke us up to help them drop the staysail below and hoist the storm jib. We ended up taking the staysail down hank by hank and attaching them on to the preventer line as we transferred the sail aft and down the companion way hatch. Once the sail was below, the storm jib was hoisted on the inner forestay and then the yankee was dropped below deck, unflaked, through the sail locker hatch in a lovely, big pile!
The other watch went below for some much needed rest after going nonstop for much of their watch and it was up to us, to keep the boat sailing through the rest of it. However, once we had the right sail plan, it was much easier to steer the boat and we were having a grand old time surfing through the large waves! During the watch, the wind dropped from about 50 knots, down to a steady 35-40 range. So we got Huw's approval to get the staysail back on deck. The tricky part would be trying to flake it down below in the galley with no room. However, that was no match for Jesse and I as we tackled it and got it ready to go up on deck. We moved the storm jib to the outer forestay and then hoisted the staysail back up on the inner.
Tackling the staysail in the galley
Just as Tino and I were about to walk back to the cockpit, a huge wave crashed and I went flying, landing right on the middle cleat! I thought for sure I had to have broken what Huw so delicately noted as my "lady parts" ...I did not use so nice of terms. Man, did that hurt like a mo fo! I wasn't sure I'd be able to move but managed to hobble back on my knees. This has now become the running joke on the boat...Georgio said I should title this section of my blog, "How to make love to a cleat".
After that, the wind continued to die down. We ended up shaking out all the reefs, then hoisted yankee 2 last night, and changed again to yankee 1 this morning. The wind eventually almost died completely and it gave us the opportunity we needed to send Jan down to remove the bobstay, which is what holds up the bowsprit. Per the race office, we should be able to rig a tack line through the old fixture the bobstay was connected to and then up to the bottom of the outer forestay. Jan was able to get the first part done, now it is up to the other watch to connect the tack line and then hopefully, we'll be in business again with the kites!!
Such a sexy outfit...wait Jan or Tino, you ask?
Dropping down to rig the new tack line...
Oh that also reminds me! Guess who else joined the #nobowsprit club?! Garmin! They were in the middle of a peel, which is when you hoist another kite behind the one that is flying and then drop the old kite. Well in the process, one of the kites was dropped in the water being dragged as the other was flying, causing pressure on the bowsprit in opposite directions...and snap! Ash contacted Huw for his expert opinion since we have now managed to do it three times and see if there could be any redress for faulty parts...ah, man up Ash! We've had to deal with this shitty bowsprit three times now!
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I think a few days have passed or maybe just several watches again, I can never tell the difference anymore. Today is April 1st though and we are not playing our prank on Justin. What happened to us being the fun boat! Well the day is still young and we'll see if any jokes are preformed.
In sailing news, we are yet again in last place, our favorite position these days. There is quite a fruity low forecasted for tonight with gusts up to 80 knots. So yesterday, we veered east to try and avoid the center of it. So far, last night was a bit fruity to the point our starboard runner snapped while under load. Luckily, the crew took speedy action, as if this is not taken care of immediately, it could cause the boat's mast to break! We were just about to drop the yankee anyway, but with the turn of events, we quickly dropped the staysail and then the yankee so there was less pressure on the mast. We sent Jan up the mast right away to fix the runner.
With the shift east, we started going more downwind, which makes it a bit harder on the helm with the large waves, but a good arm workout! After getting the runner fixed, we had the staysail back up and we managed the rest of the night. Today has been nice with the sun out and big waves to surf. We ended up hoisting the yankee 2 this morning to gain a bit more speed as well. We'll see if this front comes in as expected tonight!
Waves crashing over
Martin enjoying every bit of it!
Surfing the big waves
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Well the front came in as expected. Not the worst we've seen and we were prepared for it, so all went pretty smoothly for us. The main issue nowadays is just the freezing cold weather. We try to keep deck time to a minimum of an hour unless we are doing an evolution. And your toes are just cold all the time no matter what you do. I'm back to doing exercises on deck again to keep warm while I'm up top. So if I keep this up for every watch, I should be ripped once I get to Seattle, especially if we keep sailing north as it will continue to get colder and colder! It has been hailing quite a lot when it rains and it even snowed the other morning! Which I thought was quite cool however, if it kept up and stuck on deck, I don't think anyone would be very happy for very long as we slide all over the deck on the frozen surface!
In addition to all the cold and wetness, pretty much 90% of our crew are sick. We jokingly blame Patsy as ground zero, although I blame Pony who Tino and I shared a room with in Qingdao. As I got sick when we were in port and Tino has picked up his cough. Now the germs keep getting spread around and no one gets better. As you walk down the corridor to do the logs at night, you hear a symphony of coughs going off as each person rattles their tune. I myself have been taking vitamin C at each watch trying to fight the sore throat I have and the cold from coming back. Good thing Pony got me a face mask in port...if only we had one for everyone on the boat! At the rate we are going, we may get quarantined when we come into Seattle as they will think we are bringing in some infectious disease with the sounds they hear coming from the boat.
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Although, we have been quite fortunate and playing it safe with our sail plan as we always do, we learned of some very upsetting news the other day. Ichorcoal had a man overboard and were able to retrieve the person, but did not reach her quick enough. This is the second time a person has died during the history of the Clipper race. The first time also being during our '15 - '16 race on Leg 1 and on the same boat, Ichorcoal.
When we were given the news, Huw had us all gather together during our morning watch change. We don't usually have a team meeting during this hour so we knew something was up, especially given the state that Huw was in. Immediately, you always think the worse and I wanted to ask, "but it won't be as bad as the Andy situation, right?" Based on the mood Huw was in, I didn't even dare ask that question as I knew he wouldn't want to answer yet. Then your mind goes to wondering who it might be and what happened and you selfishly wish it isn't someone you've met along the way and formed a friendship with. Although, even if you don't know the person first hand, someone else will have and will be devastated to hear the news.
Sarah Young was a Round the World'er, I didn't get a chance to meet her during our port stopovers but I'm sure countless others have. Everyone on her team who got a chance to get to know her must be grieving the loss of one of their own, for a second time. As we are still 2-3 weeks from reaching Seattle, Sarah's family decided to have the team bury her at sea. I can't even imagine having to do that for one of our crew on Visit Seattle and how the team of Ichorcoal were able to do it. We have become a family now and losing any one would mean losing a family member, something no one wants to go through.
It is moments like this that remind us what we are doing and how dangerous what we are doing is. Sometimes it seems all fun and games on the boat but in reality, we are crossing the North Pacific in a relatively small boat and letting nature throw at us what it will. And all we can do is hold on and try to sail safe. I will have a major sense of achievement once we reach Seattle, even if we come in last place because not many people can say they've sailed the mighty Pacific Ocean. We may have lost motivation for winning the race but we will continue racing in memory of Sarah.
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Today we crossed the International Date Line! Hip hip hooray! Well, not really. I am very disappointed in my boat. This had to have been the most uneventful crossing in the history of mankind. The crossing happened while I was on my 1200 - 1800 watch and we asked the other watch beforehand if they wanted to be woken up for the event. The overwhelming response was, "no!" What the hell! This is a long, cold, and wet leg and we don't get many milestones, so when one comes along, you need to celebrate it to help bring morale up for the team! Not to mention, it is smack dab in the middle of the day, I'm not asking to wake them up in the middle of the night! But, no, they were apparently too tired and couldn't spare one hour of their lives to celebrate the crossing. So I left them to it and our watch attempted to celebrate on our own. We happened to be speeding along quite fast at the time and it snuck up right on me while I was trying to figure out how to draw a golden dragon. Sidenote, you can get a tattoo of a golden dragon if you cross the international date line in a boat. So, true to Visit Seattle crossings, I was planning on doing a dragon tattoo for everyone. However, as noted, I had no such luck in finding what the heck a dragon looks like and what I came up with without a picture was certainly interesting to say the least! Anyhow, I quickly ran on deck with the board as I heard the shouts above and we captured a few photos together. Then once I went back below deck, I was chastised for talking too loud...pardon me for trying to celebrate and be happy! But no, just because everyone else is in a foul freaking mood, no one is allowed to have fun! Safe to say, I am now in a foul mood! And now the only milestone on the pacific has passed and we did nothing to celebrate it...so disappointing.
Well at least I got the year right!
In sailing news, we are on the verge of a secondary low. This means we will get the shit beat out of us at some point. We have been preparing now since last night. Yesterday, since we are going downwind and not using the staysail, we unhanked it and hanked on the storm jib, so it would be ready to go when needed. At the moment, it is still tied down on deck though. Then we rigged the trysail along side the main. The trysail is the main storm sail. Basically, in a storm, you drop the main sail and the boom gets lowered all the way to the deck and lashed down and then we hoist a much smaller trysail on a side track of the mast. So the trysail is now also rigged and lashed down to be ready once the storm hits. During last night's watch, we also switched from Y1 to Y3 as the wind picked up north of 30 knots. Today, we added some reefs and as I went off watch, we were down to reef 2 and from the sounds of it now, they are either dropping Y3 or putting another reef in. So the next day or so should prove to be some interesting sailing...but that is why we signed up for the Pacific, right?
Another fun wave photo of Posh getting splashed
And one more thing...DaNang has now joined the #nobowsprit club! They joined over the last few days, similar to us, just couldn't handle the beating from the pacific waves! That would be awesome if all the boats broke their bowsprits over this leg! I'm sure Sir Robin would be none too please about it though. All I can say, is that we better get dibbs on the only two replacement bowsprits they have in stock! The other boats can deal with the makeshift repair jobs that we have had to endure already.
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It has rained straight for at least two days now. When I was just up on watch, I'd never seen it rain so hard while at sea. Everything is just wet and damp now. The ceiling rains on us below from all the condensation and nothing dries. We get rained on when we walk down the corridors, while we eat food in the galley, while we are trying to use the heads, and while we sleep in our bunks. Even the toilet paper we use is wet...like a wet wipe in one! There is no escape! My mid layers are wet and the drysuit I am borrowing is soaked to the bone. The worst part of my day is putting that darn thing on when it is so wet and cold. But at least once it is on it isn't as bad. Our waterproof socks are soaked through, so we have started using the doggy bags we have for seasickness as a barrier between our socks and the drysuit footies otherwise I would be standing in a puddle of water all day with the shitty boots I have. FYI, don't ever purchase Helly Hansen sailing boots! They suck.
So far the secondary low has passed us or us it. We still have the storm sails rigged up on deck in case anything hits. But we've been keeping a good steady pace of about 12 knots up to 20 with big waves and that's with hardly any sail up.
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34.6 knots is now our top speed of the day! We still have managed to stay clear of any big storms but have now come across the mighty waves of the Pacific! And what fun they are! Moral is back up on the boat, the sun is shining, and we are having a blast surfing down these waves! We were on the morning watch today and I managed to get my personal best of 24.6 knots. Then Jesse came on while we were dropping the yankee and managed to get 30.5 knots while crushing Huw with a huge wave at the same time...quite spectacular! Now we are hearing shouts from above and the boat is zooming at a crazy pace and they managed to get 34.6 knots! We are hoping we were able to get footage from the boat's steer camera of it. And speaking of cameras, I managed to get Kate getting knocked down by a wave earlier in the cockpit. She is good though, nothing broken and she ended up taking a nice swim in the pit with all the water that crashed over!
The procession of photos that were miraculously captured as John hit his 34.6 knots!
Checking the speed...
Check out that wake!
The looks on their faces are priceless!
And these were the shouts we heard from below! Patsy may have just shat herself!
Safe to say, today has been an awesome day, surfing the waves in the beautiful sunshine and so much better than the "monotonous" grey, raining days we've had recently.
Sun is out so hair washing can be resumed! Here is Karri demonstrating the skillful act.
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So yesterday I had the pleasure of shaving off John's hair! As noted earlier, as part of the international dateline crossing, sailors can get a golden dragon tattoo. However, none of us have heard of the story behind this and as such John came up with one which he shared with the crew and in the crew blogs with everyone. His story is all about Fergus the dragon and how he became settled in the Pacific Ocean and helped sailors over the edge of the world where east met west. As part of John's blog, he asked for donations to Unicef to be made and also vowed to shave his head. Huw decided I could do the honors since I am so in to the festivities on the boat and probably from my disappointment from lack of previous celebration. After our happy hour yesterday, I went to town on his hair. Unfortunately, the razor I was given didn't work very well, well that and I have never really shaved anyone's head before, so the process was taking forever! I was also being very particular to give him a good mullet and then mohawk at first, but after it taking so long, Jan went and grabbed his razor and started buzzing away! Soon John was completely bald except for the stubble left behind! And I have to give a shout out and apologize to Ana, because I'm afraid his hair got all over her drysuit which she has been kind enough to let me borrow during this leg!
And it begins...very slowly
Mohawk complete...note lollipop in mouth to help with concentration
This is when Jan joined in and started hacking off John's hair
Other than that, not too much going on sail-wise. The big waves have left us, but the wind and boat speed have been pretty consistent. We are hoping that we are about a week out now from Seattle! In the meantime, I've been making some sail ties as we seem to lose all of ours over the deck every time we make a bunch!
Some more wave photos because I have so many!
Posh on the other hand, who got a good burn on her leg after a wave hit and hot water spilled out of the tea cup she was making, has been busying herself in the galley at night making bread since she cannot go up on deck. One night, she was getting adventurous and was going to make some brownies which required melted butter in the mix. So she went on her marry way to melt some butter in the pan, when a wave crashed down and the pan went flying all over the side of the galley! The melted butter solidified on impact with the cold temperatures down below and made the clean up process impossible. It was like someone threw a tub of butter all over the walls and floor and then dipped our nepresso maker in it! Awesome...not one of Posh's finer moments. Safe to say, she sticks to making bread at night now.
I suppose one other thing I should mention is that Rich, our camera guy onboard this leg, has been interviewing a few of us around the boat. Today he is following me around to see what life is like on the boat in a normal day. However, I am not sure I'll make it to the documentary as I am really quite dull on the camera. Either that or I am goofing around and can't answer any question seriously...standard. Either way, should be interesting to see what comes out of this segment with the leg 6 filming. And props to Rich for dealing with this lot!
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Well the big waves and fronts are back in full force! Yesterday we had some more fun with big waves rolling in and I got three new personal boat speeds in a row...25.6, 27, and then 28 knots! Being behind the wheel going that fast is exhilarating! My heart was pumping and I wasn't sure if I was going to roll the boat out of control off the wave or if it would just go on forever surfing! I can't imagine how 34.6 felt! It is literally like being on a roller coaster and coming down one of the big drops but at a thundering speed through water! Absolutely amazing! Definitely makes this leg worth it!
So much FOCUS! I didn't realize how addicted I was to lollipops until going through all these photos!
Surfing through the amazing waves!
The wake coming off the side of the boat as Jesse beats down the wave at a whooping 29 knots!
However, with the fun comes the bad...I'm on mother watch today which seems to be standard whenever we hit any fun, exciting weather. Maybe not exactly fun, but worth everyone being on deck for to help out and gets your blood pumping. Anyhow, that being said, I'm still not entirely sure what went down, but a big front hit, I think they were saying force 10 with true wind up to 90 and apparent wind ranging between 85 and 115 with gusts. Kate, who is our local weather expert, said that it is categorized as a hurricane when it reaches those speeds. So basically, really freaking crazy! And on top of the wind, HUGE ass waves crashing over. What started out as them putting in a reef from 2 to 3, and gybing, became them dropping the full main and now we are just sailing with the storm jib up on the inner forestay and still hitting up to 19 knots of boat speed! We were still doing 12 knots with no sails up, just from the force of the waves. I still need to get the full story of what went down, but I heard people shouting that lines broke, we ended up heaving to on accident and so forth. Oh and I forgot to mention that the starboard steering broke earlier in the watch when someone did a crash gybe, so we can now only helm on the port side.
Now picture those big waves crashing over...apparently, one knocked Patsy off the helm and she went flying into Huw and knocked her elbow quite badly. Possibly the same wave or another one flooded the entire cockpit and continued into the galley where we were serving dinner and managed to knock Kate back in her seat, hitting her head on the back wall. Just when you thought you were safe from the waves down below, think again! Luckily, we had just served everyone food and had most of the rest covered waiting for the other watch to come down. Otherwise it would have been destroyed as the entire galley counter was flooded from the wave that crashed down as well. Crew always comment, oh that sucks for you being on mother watch during this weather...well, I only think it sucks because it sounds way more fun upstairs! Although, it is usually the people who get seasick who make these comments as they would be throwing up all over the place in these conditions if they were on mother duty. I did, however, get quite the core workout today trying to stay upright in the galley with the waves knocking us from one side to the other the entire time.
I didn't get any photos of the other wave knock downs but here is a series of Kate being taken out on deck...
Kate sitting quietly in the cockpit, no idea what's coming next...
...you can barely make out Kate's yellow hood in the wave...
...wave flooding the entire boat...
...life jacket exploded, but don't worry, she managed to hold on to her mug the entire time!
Now, we are still down to just the storm jib flying and I can hear the wind howling past the boat and huge waves crashing overhead even through my ear plugs and buff around my ears. Let's hope we make it through the night in one piece and no one else hurts themselves! Then just four more days until the finish line, fingers crossed!
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Well the weather has calmed down and the wind has died down to the point of the boat barely moving. After much frustration, we finally decided to fly a kite! Huw completed the jimmy rig of the tack line and up she went! The wind is still a bit variable and there are the occasional waves knocking the boat over, but not too bad conditions overall to be flying a kite. We'll see if it is still up when I come back on for watch at 6...Indeed it was up when I came up on deck but after the next watch, it had been dropped through the sail locker hatch and wooled away after an unfortunate wave.
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The last few days are a blur. The last I remember is crossing the finish line in ninth place in front of PSP, DaNang, and Ichorcoal, a whooping 29 days after we started. That was certainly the best finish of all the races so far, knowing we just crossed the freakin Pacific. We celebrated and took photos, ticking the box for a Pacific crossing. Being the sponsored boat of this stopover, we had to arrive in daylight, so we had just enough time and some to motor the one hundred plus miles into Seattle. We arrived just at sunrise and it was a spectacular sight, watching the sun rise above Seattle from the boat, finally reaching the end of our Pacific crossing.
It was still quite chilly as we came up to the finish line
Did it!
Crossed the freaking North Pacific!
Arriving up to Seattle as the sun comes up
We made a "We ❤️ Visit Seattle Supporters" sign in appreciation of our amazing friends and family following us from around the world!
Celebrating with our first beers on land after 4 weeks!
Donuts and beer! "Who could ask for anything more!"
Some other fun photos from this leg...
No hands!
"You gonna learn!"
Espresso for breakfast...
And the most amazing cappuccino cake I've ever eaten in my life for dessert!
Adding to my bubble butt growth!
Rich chowing down on Nutella which he did about every four hours
Huw sporting his warm clothes...sweater, socks, shorts, and sandals...standard
Posh in the red light district cleaning the heads
Amancio - "Kate, yes I believe you can cook this!"
Kate - "I don't know..."
(Actual conversation was not heard, but this is likely what they were discussing here, I'm sure of it)
Life at an angle as seen from the low side
Chillin' on the high side
Huw being silly
Checking the trim as the sun rises over the Pacific...not so bad!