‘Aloha’ is how people in Hawaii greet each other. The word actually means ‘love’. We have felt the spirit of Aloha everywhere we’ve been on the island. We have had the pleasure of the Hawaiian hospitality for over 2 weeks. The locals made us feel very much at home. It has been an amazing stop over. We all made a lot of new friends and had a chance to try surfing, diving, snorkeling, kite surfing. We had a chance to explore the beautiful island of Oahu and I am sure a lot of us would love to go back one day. I would like to thank one more time the yacht clubs that hosted us for the past few weeks. I know it hasn’t been easy on them but they did a great job in accommodating us, for which we are deeply grateful. Now it’s time to turn our attention to the race again. We have done a lot of repairs on the boats, including some rigging improvements. The Clipper staff handled all of it extremely well given the short time they had. So a big thank you to them as well. The race started 11am yesterday and we are now on our way to Santa Cruz. It is taking some of us awhile to adjust to the watch systems and life onboard while beating into the wind. This will be an up wind leg so I guess we will have enough time to get used to it. We will keep you posted on everything that is happening onboard. Today, 6 April we celebrated 2 birthdays – Anthony’s and mine. Thank you to our friends for the lovely presents and birthday cakes. What a way to spend your birthday! One thing I am sure of, I will always remember my 30th birthday.