We left El Salvador on Saturday. The bar crossing was no big deal. I have a video clip of it that I'll post in about a week. The first couple hours out was rough. There is no moon, so at night it is very dark and the black clouds don't help much either. The windvane is set up and ready to go, but the wind isn't consistent and we would have to make several adjustments. With the auto pilot, we just make a few adjustments and it works fine. The wind is on our nose, so we can't go down the rum line. We have been motor/sailing most of the way, although we have had the motor off for 17 hours straight now. At night we have a single reef in the main and a double reef in the jib. This has worked out well for us, so when a squall comes through at night I can handle it while Denny is sleeping. I'm in short and a t-shirt at night because it is so hot. I made clear screens and we have them zipped up when a squall comes threw and we don't get wet but a few drips. The first night, we were sailing along then all of a sudden I hear a screw drop, I looked around and the next thing I knew the wheel dropped off. Oh my, I yelled for Denny, "we have a problem", he was in the cockpit in 10 seconds. Grabbed the wheel, shoved it back on and we were back in business. The auto pilot worked through our ordeal.

We are in contact with S/V Sound Effect every 4 hours. They are 11 miles ahead of us. Their watermaker is not working properly. But we have plenty to give them while Denny (Spectra Watermaker Tech) fixes the problem. They have enough water until we reach them. Last check-in they were happy and content.

Happy 4th of July - we will be thinking of all our friends and family on this happy occasion!

Becky