Losing Easting

After working hard to gain as much easting as possible the first three days out the winds have shifted to the NNE and we are beginning to lose some of what was gained. We are still sailing on-the-wind with a fifteen knot breeze and again encountered a few squalls in the night the saw the winds alternately jump into the 25 knot range and fall under 10 knots. Our nighttime progress has been much slower than what we make during the day for the simple fact of these annoying squalls, but we have managed to eke out another 112 miles yesterday.
Now for a question: Have you ever seen a rainbow at night? On my late night watch two nights ago I thought I saw one for the first time, but was a bit worried to write about it for fear it was a figment of my lack of sleep. Then came last night. The first squall of the night arrived on Kevin's 2000-2300 watch and I wound up taking the wheel to keep the sails full. That's when the second night rainbow made its appearance. It lingered for a half hour, growing to the point of being a nearly full rainbow before the squall passed and the rainbow disappeared. So what does one look like? Imagine a picture of a rainbow taken during the day printed out in grayscale and you just about have it. At times I thought I could make out traces of green and yellow, but it was mostly just various shades of black in the sky illuminated by a big full moon. Must say it's another one of those things I've never noticed on land that helps make sailing across oceans so rewarding.
Fish update: lost two Mahi Mahi yesterday morning, and released a small Mahi this morning out of unwillingness to fillet such a tiny creature at the godforsaken time of 0630.

June 17, 0745. 27.46N by 155.18W

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