Position 37d 48m N, 13d 10m W. By tonight we will have sailed 1000 miles, with 3700 remaining to Brazil. Last night was as different from the previous night as possible. Instead of ripping spinnakers, snapping mainsail sheets, booms crashing across the deck, and no sleep for anyone, it was a stable spinnaker run on good seas under utterly brilliant moonlight. I spent my fair share of the 3-7am watch at the helm. On a 68ft boat with an 80ft mast hoisting a spinnaker bigger than any house I've ever lived in, it was a challenging and even intimidating task, but it was also exhilarating. The boat plows through the water and occasionally surfs down the huge waves that are rolling the same direction we are sailing. Standing at the helm on a starlit night, leading this 46 ton mass of fiberglass and Dacron through wind and waves, it's amusing to remember being so intimidated by my 14ft catamaran years ago which, in respect to this boat, seems like a paper airplane compared to a 747. How good it is that we are able to grow.
