After a very quiet night daylight did not show up for work this morning… That is because of pitch-black clouds hanging over Guppy. The mega-squall I was expecting did not show up, but the 180° shifting winds coming from squalls a bit further away! So after a fight with the spinnaker pole and doing a sun dance on the foredeck, the clouds slowly disappeared and I could enjoy the sunrays again… The wind has shifted to my not very favorite direction and is now blowing directly from behind! It has also weakened too, so together those two things have cut Guppy’s speed by 1,5 knots… But she is still sailing at a nice 5,5 knots so I really have no good reason for complaining. Gup is now only 75 nautical miles behind Sogno d’Oro [139 kilometres or 86 land miles], so chances are that I will have catched up on Henk by tomorrow night. I will also be closer to the shipping lane and the first reefs of the Torres Strait. I am very curious as to how it will be because of the many reefs and also because that is where two Oceans collide making for some strong currents… In any case, after the reefs I should be finished with cross seas and in no hurry to meet those again…

Laura