Finally some winds… And they are here for awhile. Early this morning there was some light wind but by the time I had all the sails up it died down. Once more I had not much hope that it would be back soon. Then during the day several squalls came over me. A very heavy one, with winds up to 45 knots, I spotted a little late and I had to fight to bring in the halfwinder. It was not so easy to do with Guppy leaning on her side – her gunwales in the water with the sail flapping violently – begging me to take this thing down! Well…I won that battle. Guppy is sailing upright again and the undamaged halfwinder is stowed in its place in the fore-section. Now a steady and constant 15 knots wind is blowing and our speed is a little more than 6,5 knots [12 kilometres or 7,5 land miles an hour ] !… I won the ‘Battle of the Flu” and I feel much better today – I just started reading a thick book, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” of the ‘Millennium’ series… So for now, I am in another world …

Laura