Picture: Our beautiful friend Helen. We will miss her more than words can say! This was taken in Martha's Vineyard. The last time we saw her.

We left Turks & Caicos a couple days ago after eight days of rain, the most we have seen since we left NH. While there, we said farewell to our friends on Side by Side and LeoCat who were heading to the Dominican. It was especially difficult for Nicole who became close to Parker and had a real hard time saying good bye. We vowed to stay in contact and meet up again in a couple years when they return to New York. The night before we were to depart, we received a very sad message from my parents about our dear friend Helen who was loosing her struggle with cancer. The doctors had decided there was nothing more to be done. Helen and Jack spent the first few weeks with us on our journey. Lisa and I both new we needed to get home ASAP. We decided to get back to Georgetown where we could leave our boat safely on a mooring. Also, we needed to have someone keep an eye on our cat, Dallas. With several friends back there, we knew Georgetown was the best place to fly out of. Now, we just need to get there. With 250 miles to go, we strategized on a route that would bring us from the Caicos to Mayaguana, to Acklins Island, onto Long Island and then to Georgetown with no need for overnighters. There was something churning in the Atlantic that was kicking up large sea swells and the winds were forecasted to be 25 knots. Higher then we like to sail in. Traveling about 60 miles a day, we would get there in four days. The seas have been larger than we would like and found it hard to believe that we are getting accustom to them. A year ago, you would have never caught us out in 10-12 foot seas. Today, on the way over to Long Island we were running downwind and blew out our main sail in about 25 knots of wind. The worst thing is Lisa had suggested I change our point of sail to avoid accidental jibe, but I knew better and because of that the sail blew out at the seam. Boy, do I hate when she is right, it usually winds up costing me money or a whole lot of work. Oh well, my momma always said I had to learn everything the hard way. Lisa is a very patient woman.