At 11 a.m. on 4 June, Leander is at 31 54 N, 78 00 W, motoring at 6.9 knots on a course of 034 magnetic, in no wind. We covered 194 miles in the last 24-hour period. The Gulf Stream seems to have temporarily abandoned us, as gone is the wild ride of 9 and 10 knots.

We have traveled a total of 531 miles from Nassau, with 194 to go to Beaufort, NC. We are 740 miles from MA.

It was an uneventful 24 hours, the kind that we like the best. There have been no squalls, and not so much shipping seen. We had been traveling with a phalanx of other boats going north. Just in our sight range we could see five other sailboats, which meant that there must be scores, if not hundreds, making similar trips north at this time. That would make sense, as this is an extraordinary weather window, which is supposed to close with a rather violent bang as of Sunday night. Our weather router has forecasted that there will be poor weather around the Bahamas until the middle of June, at least.

The “violent bang” forecast for Sunday night means that we are once again racing against the clock. A new low is supposed to roll off the coast of the Carolinas by “Sunday evening.” At our current pace, we are due in at about 4 p.m., and that will become earlier or later, depending upon how we hold speed. Our weather router told us yesterday that we have until sunset on Sunday to get in to Beaufort, but in another part of his general report, stated that severe squalls are forecast to begin in that area as of “Sunday afternoon.” We’ll check the forecast again in the morning, and if it does not look good, perhaps we’ll divert further south to get in by Noon on Sunday.

We said goodbye to Piper yesterday. We are continuing NNE to NC, and they diverted NNW to South Carolina. We met up in the middle of the ocean for a final chat. Aylin had left a baby doll aboard Piper. Tripp fashioned a makeshift fishing pole, from a boat hook and a piece of line, and Aylin got her doll back. We then sat chatting in flat calm waters in the middle of the ocean for about ten minutes, our boats touching at one point, before saying our good-byes.

Aylin asked when we would see them next, and we told her “at some point soon.” But she knew that here friends Finn and Mackie were going away, because although she had a big smile on her face as they left, she was having trouble with her lower lip, and her eyes were glossy.