Today marks 7 days at sea as we approach the Equator. We covered 150 nautical miles in the last 24 hours, sailing without the ripped mainsail. Conditions have improved considerably; we have blue skies and the winds have moderated to 16 knots. We still have a huge swell, though, mountainous waves 7 meters high, sometimes with breaking waves. Amazingly just when you think an especially big wave is going to flood the cockpit or knock us over, the wave just passes under our keel harmlessly.

In the recent days, we were constantly being sprayed with or sitting in sea water, so our clothes needed a good cleaning and drying, but it wasn't possible to hang the clothes to dry on the lifelines because of the waves that would spray anything hanging there. While Pascale was resting this afternoon I surprised her by washing the clothes and hanging them to dry. I had the idea to attach a clothes line to the topping lift and hoist the drying clothes up the mast, well away from the salty spray.