After spending yesterday trying to whittle down our distance in decreasing and meager winds, we invoked all the spiritual strength we could bring to bear towards Aeolus for even a hint of a zephyr and as a result we turned on the motor. The iron horse, the reason sailboats are the pursuit of an ever decreasing minority trying to bring a sense of nearness to nature into their lives, will cut through Aeolus' fickleness and allow us to reach land by midnight tonight, hopefully. We are careening along at 8 knots showing what a catamaran can do under power. We just spotted land at 50 miles out and are getting excited. We should cross the finish line at about midnight so we have changed the watch to allow me to get things done and to get rested. Our spinnaker patch has held and done well even in winds up to 26 knots. I wouldn't want to even try to get it down in that wind but one dayÉ. The halyard wear out problem continues. There is definitely something inside the mast that rubs through our rope covers in a very short time. We can figure out the location as soon as we make port and go up the mast. SAILBOATS! Too complicated!!

Good morning to all. We are in a deep reach under barber-hauled jib and reefed main with the wind holding a steady 19 to 24 knots. We have had passing rainclouds all night veering the wind 50 to 60 degrees and increasing the wind to 26+ knots. The seas are 5-6 ft with a 11-12 foot NW swell and lots of whitecaps. Beautiful rainbows just after dawn. Last night was a bit wacky as Tania and I rolled the Code 0 jib twice to avoid the worst of the rain events with their incumbent wind veers and forcing. Katy and Jill experienced about the same through the night. Looks like two days of this with a gradual strenghtening through today and tonight and finally easing off the pedal tomorrow. Then to finish this off will require skill to maneuver through some light winds. We're still moving.

Wayne

We have a spinnaker halyard problem. We have severe chafe happening inside the mast. We were little upset two nights ago when we noticed severe chafing and thought we would need to send someone up the mast. By morning our thoughtful synergy brought us to the conclusion that we could cut the halyard and use the remainder since it is a 2:1 halyard and we could use it as a 1:1 until we finish. We did this and were back in business having lost yet another night of fast sailing by going wing and wing until we figured out the problem. One day later we discovered the same chafing on our 1:1. We cut the halyard again and then sleeved the area with a dyneema sleeve and lashed it on. The dyneema sleeve has also seen chafing but is holding. We do have options as we need our big headsails to get there sooner. I had bought a spare dyneema halyard and it is still in reserve. But tonight things will be changing. Forecast for the next two days are 17-20 knots with gusts into the high 20's. Swell 9-11 feet with 5-6 foot seas. A little rough and windy, so spinnaker in the hole and jib and Code 0 go to work. Food is holding and Tania is working magic keeping everyone happy with good meals. We are back to being obsessed with passing a few more people before the end of this thing. I am estimating Monday late arrival to Tuesday midday. Let's see what the weather gods bring us. I haven't been fishing since the middle of the Atlantic is like a desert and flying fish are like lizards on the rocks. There are just NO BIRDS or signs of life. We are now in the Sargasso sea and there are strings of the stuff all over. I snagged a piece and took a photo. We were wondering if flying fish are holding their breath when they fly. Who knows.

Wayne