I was on the dawn watch when the sun came up this beautiful 4th of July morning. We were motorsailing in relatively calm seas. As the first rays appeared over the horizon at about 0415, it actually took my breath away. I stopped and quietly sang the anthem to myself, as the sky and clouds started turning multiple shades of purple, red, orange, yellow, and other colors to complicated to name. It was a sublime moment, the perfect way to begin Independence Day.

We are about 650nm from Horta. The wind isn't being fully cooperative, but we are making more east than north now. We'll probably have to tack in a few hundred nautical miles (tack, what is this, a yacht race?) to point the bow directly at our goal. It looks like the last few days has made landfall by the 7th unlikely, but we feel like we're at least closing in. Last's night dinner of freshly-made hand-tossed pizza and chocolate chip cookies for dessert seemed to mark a turning point in morale. When I woke up, Ted was making two loaves of bread and David was quietly reading in the cockpit.

Happy July 4th everyone! Enjoy the fireworks, wherever you are. We miss you.

Far winds!