[110115, 0149 UTC,  Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands , 07º06' N / 171º 22' E]

Dear Friends;

We have arrived at Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands after 19 days at sea and 1487 grueling miles. The passage was to-weather and against the current, and rife with maintenance challenges. We DID have some great sailing too - Carina likes to go to weather - but there were moments when we just wanted to cry as we slopped around with big confused seas and little wind to fill our sails. We had to motor (and hand steer!) the last 46 hours after the dead calm of the ITCZ found us. It was either that or drift SW with the current at 2.2 knots!! We had mostly-nice, sunny, cool weather with a few whopper squalls thrown-in to make things interesting.

We received a nice warm welcome, a bag of fresh veggies, and Starbucks coffee (!) from friends Patrick and Rebecca on Brick House. Officials have already come and gone, so now we'll relax a bit, restock the larder and tackle our long project list.

Hope all is well back in the States.

Your friends of SV Carina,

Philip, Leslie and fat cat, Jake