At 1510 utc today, at 40 deg 20 min S and 01 deg 05 min E, 297.5 miles covered in past 24 hours, Great American III passed north of a point of the first ice gate. We are with gray overcast skies, periodic rain, 25-30 knots of wind, and making 12 knots with solent and two reefs in the main. The pilot is doing a good job. The barometer is rising slightly as the very steady weather pattern of the last several days–being sandwiched between a moving low to the south, and the South Atlantic high to the north–is changing finally. We are en route for the second ice gate 4-5 days down the track.

Had a good chat with Radio Vacances today. And spent time this morning learning how to use new video editing software. The main software didn’t have enough options, so it turns out that another program may well work to get the right file sizes, etc. Not exactly what I’d like to be doing out here, but….  And great news from our Newspaper in Education series, that Missouri’s Dawn Kitchell, State NIE diredtor, has pulled in 25 papers there for our series – Welcome Aboard Missouri!

The boat surges from time to time into the 20 knot range, like on a rail, she stands up straight and drives ahead, the faster boat speed makes a faster wind speed which makes a faster boat speed which makes a faster windspeed which makes a … you get the picture. It cycles up until something throws it off, a wave, a flaw in the wind… but from the chart table, especially in the dark, it is very, very tense… the loads go up as the speed goes up, and you just hope that everything comes out OK at the end of the surge