10 am
We are getting in the Windward passage. Yesterday and last night were very slow but peaceful. Now the wind has been building a bit from the NE and should remain like this until Monday when it might strengthen to 20kts from the same direction. We've been going 4.5 to 5 kt for the last hour and I hope it'll remain so for a while; in addition with the wind on the back the boat is sailing flat and the motion is gentle. The current wind angle favors us transiting the passage on the Hispanola side but if we do so I'm worried that we might get in the wind shadow of that big and high island, with local effects that I cannot predict. SO we should alter course more toward the Cuba side, which would slow us down initially because it will put us on a course dead downwind. We'll see soon.
Nathaniel made Mole again last night with chicken thighs that were no more than slightly questionable. The fridge is taking so much energy that we transferred everything to the freezer side and will only turn it on when running the engine to charge the batteries. We still have quite a lot of meat: probably about 4 or 5 meals worth.
Yesterday I got the first bad egg, but luckily it was the first one I was breaking in a bowl. Today I'm going to fiddle with our old generator that isn't producing as much as it should.

Also I might get you to buy online a replacement prop for our new generator and ship it to Shelter Bay Marina in Panama, but it might be too late already if it can't get there in a week or so.
Alan

11 am
That sounds like ...interesting stuff. [I had attended the Haitian fundraiser at the university Saturday night.-cbc] I would really like to be doing some stuff with Haiti and a boat (bring supplies, students, meds ...), it's right there, a stone's throw away!
....
I think we should try and rent a trawler together in the fall on the bay, maybe 36 ft or so with 2 cabins for a few days. You can have a music retreat on a trawler for 3 or 4 days!
You should look at the Kady Krogen 42 or the Diesel Ducks (designed by Geoge Buehler) ; they have crossed atlantic and pacific and are a nice size heavy and stable. Personally I would like something with a sail on it but very low tech like the diesel duck or the aluminium "Steadysailer" designed by Ed Dubois that was on sale last spring (although its bigger 54', it is fairly narrow and easily driven. I'd like a good size master cabin and saloon to live on it easily and a small double cabin and 2 bunk beds for guests -all of this fitting in 48' better than 41/42... so compromise.
Nathaniel has done a nice pole setup for the reacher and now we are heading SW by W kinda taking the Windward Passage in a diagonal and heading for Gitmo! We'll jibe back South by the end of the day to leave Jamaica on starboard in a couple days (200 nm from here) and then SW by S for a final 550nm.
Nathaniel is in East of Eden now and I'll do some math (I asked Evan to send me a proof of the Implicit Function theorem (famous one) which he did so I excited about reading it.

Alan

4pm Sunday (from Nathaniel)
....It's been pretty good on board. We just finished Firefly and relived our frustration that the show was canceled. I've started a workout regime much to dad's disgust. The tropical air wonderfully heavy and warm. During the day I mostly hide below to avoid the heat though; delighting in the odd breeze that finds its way through the hatches. I've also managed the energy to do a couple of calculus sections. Most of my daytime, however, is spent reading. Right now I'm working on Steinbeck's East of Eden- which is really great. I wish you were here to talk about it with me though. I feel like every chapter is crafting some profound lesson that I'm too stupid to see- haha. Evan even offered to send me the Sparknotes so I could read about the themes and motifs, but I've resolved to scrutinize it myself- try and exercise my poorly developed skills of literary analysis. If I were you I wouldn't waste too much time on Tania Aebi. She's a remarkable person and all but the book kind of drags on. Could have been I was just impatient to start East of Eden.

....dad has been trying to keep me busy with "boat chores." He put me in charge of fixing the ignition spark for our stove. Unfortunately we need a replacement part....[redacted N's arrangements to have the part sent to Panama.]
Nathaniel