Current Position as of 4:30 UTC: 19.16N, 162.08W

Thank you all for praying...the squalls either passed by me or were light compared to what I had earlier. It was still a rough night with sharp swells and some of the dumbest birds known to mankind. Yes, it was the booby birds again. They circle my boat crashing into it every now and then. One landed on my solar panels. Not wanting to clean my solar panels in these swells and knowing from experience about nesting booby birds I began to scheme a way to get it off my solar panel. The oranges from my parents' hotel room were getting a bit moldy so I threw them at the bird. He would get hit and then right himself and stubbornly stay put. I ended up taking a washboard from my companionway and using it to push the booby right off the end of the panel. Then about 2am another booby ended up in the cockpit, threw up some half digested fish and flew off! Just in case you think I'm cruel, the Aussie guys on Mahana are having a similar problem and are seriously considering getting out their BB gun! For those of you who asked about our radio frequency, we meet at 0200UTC at 8188 on SSB. I'm not very experienced with radios so if I have left out a mega hert or something, let me know and I'll try to figure it out.
I have been making good progress going between 5-6 knots day and night. It has been hard for the windvane to steer on this downwind course. The swells are sort of confused, almost like a swell within a swell but going in different directions. My newly fitted lee clothes around the cockpit have been great at keeping the water out of the cockpit. The winds have settled down to about 17 knots and the swells are some less this evening with the forecast calling for then to die down more and more.
I have heard from some people in Majuro and it looks like they are expecting me which is exciting. I am hoping at this speed to make it to Majuro with in about 2 weeks. Mom is trying to find an easy way to post the articles from their local paper.

Someone asked a while back about the Feedburner reader count on the links section of the blog. Apparently, it is a count of how many people are currently reading the blog not a running total.

Someone also asked what are the similarities and differences between me and Robin Lee Graham. Robin sailed a similar course to mine back in the 1960s. In fact, I based much of my route on his. He left Southern California when he was 16 and returned when he was 21. I think one of the major differences between Robin and I besides him taking 5 years and me taking one, is the equipment we have had on board. Robin left with a VHF radio, sextant and at some point in the trip picked up a transistor radio. That was the extent of his electronics package. Alongside my sextant, which I have already confessed I don't know how to use, I have several GPS units, 2 radars, a chart plotter, 2 computers, a high frequency radio, a sat phone, and a stereo system. This is typical cruising gear now a days. I also have an EPIRB, an electronic emergency beacon, and a life raft. Compared to Robin, my trip seems easy or at least a lot safer! Robin left with the same desire to see some of the world as me. In attempting to be the youngest to ever solo circumnavigate, I will have less time to explore in order to keep to my schedule. I am hoping to be able to come back again and take more time one day.
Things seems to be calming down. I ate mostly fruit today. I'm not seasick but the first few days I just seem to feel weird. The fruit keeps my energy up and tastes great out here!
Until tomorrow,
Zac