Another night of bobbing about, looking for wind. I am worried about fuel consumption, so I shut off the engine at 0020. In the light, light west wind we are tacking north and south again.

At 0500, RObin wakes me to confirm that we are not crossing a ship. We accidentally tacked.

At 1000, there is a nice SW wind finally, and we are makng progress. There are big swells from the northwest, from the storm. By 1600, we have the second reef in.

Saw an eastbound sailboat -- spoke to them on the VHF -- man with an Australian accent said they were bound for Mediterranean Spain -- told me we were headed into a storm. I said I was hoping to go south of the storm, and hoping it would lift north before we reached Bermuda.

There is a big, deep low north of Bermuda -- 986 millibars, which is lower pressure than most hurricanes. Gales are indicated south to 30N. It is frustrating not being able to turn NW towards Bermuda yet, despite an ideal wind to do so.

Herb Hilgenburg tells us to stay at 24n to avoid the gales. But the longer term forecast beginning to promise a break.