A day in the Life�... When I left home 6 weeks ago, I was sipping on sweet iced tea with lemon and enjoying the last few days of summer. Oh how I would love a large glass of sweet tea with extra ice right now. Fall is my favorite time of year and I understand that this year she was full of glory in all her wonderful colors of red, orange and yellow. If I were home I'd be enjoying the cool crisp nights and the warm days of autumn along with the taste of pumpkin spiced everything. Instead I am sailing the Southern Atlantic. Pinch me! Indeed my days are real! I marvel at the beauty and tranquility the ocean has to offer. At times my senses are overwhelmed; the sounds of the water splashing upon the boat, the rhythmic sound of the waves as they roll on; swaying me from side to side, the feel of the winds as it hits my face; fills the sails and tosses the lines about and the smell of pure freshness in the air. The sights of the day are intense too. The ocean is the deepest intense blue dotted with white in the distance as I can see the waves breaking. Each day I see many flying fish and wonder are they a "school" or "flock"? Every so often I can spot a lone seabird just soaring in the wind and dotting the sky. Sometimes birds tire and catch a free ride on the back of the boat. The sky is so vast and a beautiful light blue with the clouds changing daily. Sometimes they are wispy while other times they are puffy and a bright white and other times they are outlined in various shades of gray. My imagination is vivid and I swear just the other day, the clouds made a snowman and Santa's face! (It must be the season.) The sky changes from day to night as the sun sets. The colors of the sunsets have been splendid. If there are a few clouds present at sunset, they are illuminated with bursts of bright pink, orange, red and yellow all against the back drop of the bluest sky. As night falls, the beauty continues. The starry sky is unlike anything I could have imagined. To look up and see bright stars on a moonless night going from one horizon to the other is absolutely breathtaking and magical. The view of the night sky has piqued my interest in the constellations. Actually I've found that there is so much more that I yearn to discover about this ocean life. I want to know more about the planets and stars, more about the fishes in the sea, the birds in the sky, the effect of the winds on the sails, how the current affects the velocity and speed of the boat, and weather patterns to mention a few. Know that my mind is constantly stimulated whether in a quest for knowledge and understanding of ocean dynamics or in a more peaceful state reminiscing about the love of my family and friends. So in my quiet moments I will imagine the beautiful colors of fall back home and the smells and taste of pumpkin spice and I ask you to close your eyes and imagine my beautiful tranquil moments on the glorious waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

AS of noon today, the end of Day 7, our position is 4 22.4'S: 27 56.0'W. Our course is 267 degrees True, our speed is 5.6 kts. The apparent wind is 11 kts from the east. The swells are about 2 meters from the ESE. We only made 108 nm today as the night was full of squalls and in between the squalls we had little wind, making only 3 to 3.5 kts for most the night. Our day's speed average was just 4.5 kts which dropped our daily average to just 5.1 kts.