We are still offshore, still underway for Nova Scotia...Expecting landfall around midnight and, with luck, docking in Shelburne in the morning. The weather continues light winds (we actually only sailed about 3 hours so far) and gentle seas, although the occasional 6-foot swell passes by.

The excitement today was my first Mayday call! Evelyn was on watch and the rest of us were snoozing belowdecks when Evelyn called me to the cockpit and pointed to the engine ventilation outlet which was dischargeing a massive plume of smoke. I looked at the engine temperature guage and it was off the scale! We quickly shutdown the engine and suddenly smoke started pouring out from under the sink cabinetry accompanied by a nasty burning smell...uh-oh! Fire on a boat is a very bad thing: I sent our DSC distress signal and called a mayday first, then we grabbed the ditch kit and the liferaft and got everybody into the cockpit with PFD's on, THEN I looked for the source of the smoke.

To be brief, it turned out to be relatively benign: Our engine belt had self-destructed (producing the burning smell) and that meant that our engine cooling pump wasn't working anymore so the engine overheated and then blew a gallon of superheated coolant into the bilge, which led to steam (not smoke) coming out everywhere. Once the engine cooled down, we only had to replace the belt (that's why we carry spares!), refill the coolant, and gently test everything again.

Meanwhile, Tahu Le'a went to afterburners and arrived on scene within a half hour and, to my surprise and great pleasure, a US Coast Guard jet appeared and circled us while they made sure we were okay. Considering that we were more than 100 miles from any land, and not in a very popular stretch of ocean, I was very impressed that they could respond so quickly....I guess that emergency equipment works!

So, although it was a rather intense day, things appear to be under control now and we are continuing towards Shelburne.

(43 04.507'N 66 29.316'W)