Our days have continued to alternate between beautiful sunny days and rain – although today the rain is just small squalls and even blue patches and some sun in between. The wind continues to be light so we’re not going super fast, but no water on deck, and relaxed sailing. Yesterday we had a high swell from the NW, I normally think high swell is quite cool because when you’re on top of the swell it just feels like being on top of the world. However because of the light wind whenever we were down we would just roll and the sails flap which is the most painful thing for a sailor. The teens still thought the high swell was pretty cool though as they didn’t care as much about the flapping sails… We’ve also been sailing along a shipping route and we’ve been seeing many ships over the past few days on the AIS and 4 close enough to see. In general, it hasn’t been very cold, so just one layer of thermals and foul weather gear is sufficient but gradually the saloon is becoming more and more the place to be as it’s getting colder outside and our teens are getting cozy on the couch playing games or doing schoolwork in between watches and chores. Personally, I love being outside in the fresh air watching the amazing cloud formations, sunrises and sunsets, and shearwaters playing with the wave tops.

Laura