Just got the call from Mom. They sound like they’re having a blast! They’ve gone 173 miles in the last 24 hours. They’ve got the whomper, staysail and main out (usually the whomper goes to bed at night unless it’s perfect sailing).  They’ve got starry skies and wonderful temps.  They’ve, and I quote, “never had such wonderful weather”!  They’ve had 10~18kts of wind the entire trip.  They’ve still aimed at Bermuda until they know otherwise.  It sounded like they might be planning on going to Bermuda because Mom commented on how she’ll make a post via WiFi when there.  That and they also were seeing more power getting to the handset, so they might try email posting tomorrow.  So you might not be stuck with me for much longer!

Their current position is 30.30N 65.13W.

Just got the call from the boat for the morning update. The sat phone hasn’t had great reception so they weren’t able to call back last night. They also weren’t able to get a weather update from Chris Parker this morning because his gear was struck by lightning (I have no idea where his gear is). They’re hearing there might be a low forming north of Bermuda in the next few days, so they’re headed that way now in case they have to stop and wait. They should know in the next 24 hours whether or not they’re stopping, but basically it’s smart to head that way now just in case. So far they’ve only motored for 13 hours total, and those were motorsailing, so they’ve got the fuel to make it w/o the stop. Right now they’re ~180 miles from Bermuda.

Yesterday’s fish was a Amber Jack. That’s something new to the fishing tally (I doubt they even have a flag for it) so Jake said they were trying to sort out how to cook it today. The fish now have 6 points on the board officially, so it’s 1-1-6 then -1 for the birds team. Marnie also said they’ve seen ~60 Portuguese man of wars today.

I’ve also been meaning to mention the crew for this trip. Actually, I’ve been meaning to photoshop a picture of them together using old crew photos, but haven’t had the time (I’ve been building a deck at my house with any/all spare time I have). But the crew is Marnie and Jake, Peter (the usual) then Leo for his 5th trip, Nancy B Frank (mom’s sister, my Aunt) and Ruleo Camacho! This is Ruleo’s first trip, but from what I’ve heard he’s doing great and not getting into too much trouble with “the Admiral”.

They still seem to be having a wonderful time sailing. They’ve got the whomper out in 13kt of wind doing 8.14kt through the water and 7.5 over the ground. The water temp is down to 75, the air temp in the day is in the high 90s and low 80s at night. Their current position is 29.30N, 65.30W.