At 13:00 on 18 May, Leander is at 23 40 N, 71 28 W, sailing on a broad reach at 6.3 knots. We jibed earlier this morning, and are now taking the wind on our port side. Our sailing tactics have, so far, played out perfectly. The wind had been forecasted to veer from the E to the SE, and we timed our jibe with this wind shift, such that we have been able to continue to our destination with the wind comfortably just aft of our beam, but now on the other side of the boat. We are on a course of 257 magnetic in 15 knots of wind. The seas are moderate and the sky partly cloudy. The temperature has not changed, at 87 F, but it sure feels a lot muggier.

We had a squall line pass through last night that kept us on our toes from about midnight to 1:30 a.m. There was no lightning, which made it easier, and the entire line passed just west of us. If it the line had been three miles further east, or we three miles further west, we would have been drenched for about an hour and a half, with the accompanying shifty winds. As it was, we watched it all pass by with only a sprinkle or two, and one major wind shift, but it was all relatively easy to deal with. With all those clouds, and an encroaching waxing moon, we weren’t able to see Scorpio and Mars last night. The moon is bleaching out a good part of the sky these nights.

This has been an unexpectedly long passage. We chose to sail all the way up to the middle of the Bahamas, rather than make pit-stops in mainland Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Turks and Caicos, because the weather gave us a great window and because we are eager to get out of the tropics now and make our way home. But we’ve now been out for three full days, with another two in front of us. Not surprisingly, we’re ready to get this one done!

All are well aboard. Alexander and Aylin are beside me as I write, rolling in blankets about the cabin, yelling and giggling, and Sima is in the cockpit into her third book of the passage.

We’ve got two fishing lines out, but no bites yet. The fishing is supposed to be good once one gets within the islands, as we will be by late tomorrow afternoon, so perhaps our luck will improve. Our current course and speed has us arriving at about Noon on Friday 20 May.

We traveled 158 miles yesterday, for a total of 474 sailed, and 279 to go to George Town. And 1,132 to Boston.