Dear all, here is my email tonight to the boat's Sat phone email connection...

Hi Dad, attached is a wind grib file for Saturday. Unfortunately it looks like the system will reach down to the Bahamas and bring 10-15 knot winds out of the north, which might complicate northern entrances and you'll have to go around to the west to enter. I'll keep an eye on this, but just FYI for now.

Weather tomorrow (Thursday) will be light to nothing in the AM and gradually build to 10-15 knots out of the West as a northerly cold front moves toward Europe and pulls air with it. This will maintain into Friday before clocking around to the North by Saturday morning (as shown attached).

The good news is that you will have wind to sail and that the system is not forecast to get any higher than 15 knots, but the bad news is that it will be out of the North on Saturday so we'll have to see how that compromises your entrance. More on that tomorrow if you can let me know coordinates for your entrance options via email.

You have extended your lead in first place with 266 miles to the finish, having sailed the most direct route of only 407 miles to date. It also seems your southern route allowed you to hit the trade winds a bit earlier than everyone else and you sailed away from them in the early morning. Maybe you motored too or had help from an eddy, but your route was certainly the best in the fleet (positive results and hind-sight always help my confidence levels). Keep up the good work!

Seth