I went to sleep last night at 4am after my night watch and was awake at 6am due to a ruckus that I just couldn’t ignore. Evidently while I slept, Helga the auto-pilot had broken Bret’s speed record by reaching 14 knots and a celebration was in order! Captain Mark took over at the helm just as the sun peeked over the Big Sur range. I jumped into my foul weather gear and got in line to steer the boat in the choppy seas. “G-L-O-R-I-A…Gloria” was blaring on the radio and it was clear this was going to be a fantastic day. As I was steering, we watched a small pod of dolphins follow the boat for hours, making surprise appearances along the way. One thing for sure – you don’t get much sleep at sea, but you get plenty of adventure. We pulled into Morro Bay , near San Luis Obispo , around noon after 6 days at sea. Unfortunately we had to say good-bye to our passengers Mike and Bret, who were amazing during the journey from Portland . They were a huge help onboard and we had a number of interesting discussions with them regarding the pros and cons of various renewable energy resources during our journey. Thank you both and we hope to see you again soon.

- Maura Fallon-McKnight