Today was a perfect day at sea, steady sailing close hauled into a light to moderate SW wind, on a smooth sun dappled sea. If we are lucky, more than half if the expected 350 days of sailing over the next two years will be like this. Which poses a problem for your faithful midnight blogger - just how many different terms for “sparkling blue sea” can I come up with?

Most sailors seek out the downwind tradewinds runs, but with a close winded boat like ours, I'll take a beat into light winds any day. Sailboats roll downwind, but on the wind she’s steady as a rock. A floating, slightly tilted rock, but a rock nonetheless.

Looking at the forecasts, it's remarkable how this passage is panning out almost exactly the way the pilot charts i pored over in February predicted. New York to the Turks and Caicos in May is not a passage that is described in any of the ocean sailing directions - no one heads in this direction in a sailboat this time of year. But it's outside of hurricane season and no more fraught than the Bermuda run that is recommended this time of year - just a little bit longer, and more likely to be upwind.

Without standard sailing directions, I had to look at the pilot charts for the N Atlantic in May to get an idea whether this passage was plausible. Pilot charts show statistical likelihood of wind direction and strength for different ocean locations each month of the year. The May charts showed a good chance of westerlies north of Hatteras, then calms and variable winds and (adverse) light to moderate southerlies before reaching the easterly tradewinds around the latitude of the northern Bahamas. And that’s what it looks like we'll get - another day or so of westerlies and southerlies, then a day or so of calm, followed by easterly trades.

I have broached the possibility of sailing right past the Turks and Caicos and on to Jamaica. The tradewinds look to be strong by the time we get to T&C, and all the harbors on Provo are difficult entries over coral reefs that will be hard to read in windy weather. And I am out if practice reading reefs, though Turtle Cove will send a boat out to guide you in.

Also, I have been to T&C and Jamaica sounds much more interesting.

This winter escapist reading meant sea stories, and Sea Wife was a good yarn about Caribbean sailing. Now that I am at sea, my escapist reading is Waterman, by Ben McGrath, about a solo canoe adventurer on inland waters. It’s a good read, full of familiar places,

I served turkey burger sliders with a side of two-bean and cous cous salad with the leftovers from last nights chicken a la Maroque. I went a little overboard at the Kiernan Farm booth at the farmers market last Thursday, so I have to use the frozen chicken, turkey, and sausage up first.

Now, on the midnight watch, the Mabel Rose is gently and inexorably sliding south. I wasted an entire hour contemplating the stars and the copper gibbous moonrise and I don't regret it.