Michael’s pasta dish on Tuesday was yummy, I’m looking forward to his next culinary creation…. Yesterday was a catch-up day; the wind died, as predicted and seas flattened out but it remained overcast so the temperature remained relatively cool (still wearing jeans during night watches). Although we really haven’t been using a whole lot of water, we tried out the water-maker for a couple of hours which successfully replenished about a quarter of of our aft tank. The good news was that there were no signs of leaks from the water-maker during the process so the service over the summer seems to have been successful. As a result of all this, and because the engine use had provided a plentiful supply of hot water, we could be a bit more liberal with water during our needed showers, what luxury!

We have now done about 825 nautical miles and have about 500 to go. If we manage to maintain an average of at least 6 knots, we could be checking into the USVI as soon as Monday morning! We are heading for a way point approximately due north of St Thomas at 23 north latitude, which is where we expect the easterly trade winds to start filling in. Shortly before sunrise this morning the wind started to pick up so we rolled out the sails but had to head a little further east of our course as the wind was on the nose. This was a bonus because Chris Parker didn’t expect us to see much wind until noon today. Gradually the wind is clocking to the west so we are now on course doing 7+ knots and have even started to ease the sheets a little. The Sun is shining, water sparkling and life on the ocean wave is all good aboard S/V Timing; makes it much easier to deal with the election result.