Sunday, November 2005, 3:00 pm

Team Welcome reporting in from 26 13.300 N 64 41.077 W. NE winds, 20-25 knots right now. Seas: big. We have seen boat speeds exceeding 8 knots this afternoon, but we are generally cruising in the 6+ knot lane. Full mainsail plus the genoa are flying. Our bearing remains 194 degrees magnetic. We have come 1,094.3 nm since leaving Boston. We hit the 1,000 nm mark last night on Michael's watch. 477 nm to go to get to Tortola. Air temperature is 79.5 degrees; sea temperature is 80.1 degrees. Sunny skies earlier in the day have given in to clouds with a few squall lines visible.

We determined that we were further from land today than at any other point in our trip. We doused the sails in the heavy seas. Depth was 15,800 feet. We went for a swim. To do this and not have the boat drift away, we used the para anchor. A para anchor is similar to a parachute. It spans 9 feet. One drops it into the water on the windward side of the boat, and lets out a couple of boat lengths of line. For this purpose, Jay purchased 450 feet of museum quality 3/4 inch braided line with a stainless steel thimble spliced into the end and a huge stainless steel shackle to attach the para anchor. After the para anchor is dropped in the water it magically opens and looks like a giant orange jelly fish on its side. It floats off of the bow and keeps the bow into the wind and waves. Retrieving it is a little tricky, and required some engine power, but there is a float with a trip line that helps to collapse the para anchor. Trying out the para anchor and the swim were worth the loss of forward mileage. We did not see any sharks.

It was so mild earlier in the day that we cracked open the hatches. With the building wind and seas, we were smacked with a big wave on the port. The water poured into the cabin and turned one of the berths into a water bed. Not sure who will get that berth tonight.

We have talked a lot about the various attributes of ocean going sailboats. In our modest six boat marina in Bermuda, all boats were headed to the islands. All were cutter rigs, meaning that they all had two head sails, in addition to the mainsail. The cutter rig really does make high winds and heavy seas manageable, since sail changes are much easier and safer than with a traditional sloop rig. We like this boat.

Next to us in the marina was an approximately 50' Island Packet "Brother Wind" with a British couple just beginning their voyage around the world. They blew out both their head sails in the Gulf Stream and suffered engine failure every time they would increase RPMs. They were headed to the BVIs, after being unable to secure visas for the American Virgins Islands. Next to that boat was a new Hinckley "Patriot" of around 70'. It had five crew aboard - no owner in sight. It was headed to Antigua. A brand new Hylas 54 named Heart Jump was next. It had unsecured wireless access, and occasionally you would see people sitting on the dock with their laptops accessing the Internet when the Hylas had its system open. Mike and Jennifer and their Pekingese sent the kids to college and said that they sold all their possession to sail for a few years. The type of boat lead us to believe that their bank account was much larger than the story implies. "Ticonderoga of Greenwich" is a beautiful old yawl maintained as though new. Tom was the weather guru of the marina and was waiting for a weather window to bring the boat to Antigua for charter. He has been the paid captain of that boat for 20 years, and had two young men from Antigua on board as crew. Finally, "Emily Martha Kate" was a swan cutter around 55' long. Emily, Martha, Kate, mother Rosemary, father and 17 year old cat were on board. They were at the beginning of a year long sabbatical. Dad was taking a year off from his work as a physician. It is good to have a physician on board, it was explained, since when Rosemary smashed her head during their crossing of the Gulf Stream, her husband was available to sew in eight stitches. Emily had just finished college and was applying to medical school. Martha was getting credit from her college for biology research, and Kate had turned 16 and left high school for this trip. They left for St. Martins the day we left. We not only had the smallest boat, but our ambitions were the most modest.

There really are flying fish, and we have seen them.

Cheers.