I awoke at around 4:30 and lay there. I should have kept sleeping as I was a little tired, but I was having mild strains in my back from lying perpendicular to the plane of the boat and we were on a 20' list to starboard. I found this uncomfortable. I should have moved to the saloon couch (runs parallel to with the plane) but I was stubborn. At 6 AM I got up and relived Greg off his watch. Overall I felt rested and relaxed. I went topside and listened to my iPod...

Night watch at 3 AM. We are rocking around as if we were put in a washing machine. I sit up on the stairs to the cockpit and look out in my semi-sleepless state. I can't see much due to the rain, clouds, moonless night. I decide to watch a movie so I don't fall asleep or dwell too much on the strange situation I am in (this is a weird spot for a landlubber to be in - bobbing up and down and sideways in the middle of the ocean with no one around in a leaking boa...

My night watch was 12 to 3 AM. I started early as the winds had picked up. The winds averaged around 17 knots with the occasional gust at 21 knots. At 11:30 PM we had taken the spinnaker down and hoisted the number two genoa and raised the main fully. This created a wedge wing and we increased our speed. We were all buckled in and Greg and Yves went forward to tie the right sheets. I tried to help by pulling the sheets from the cockpit. All went well. Greg offer...

Good day for the most part. Winds increased to 15-17 knots We are sailing with spinnaker and the main sail and the seas are pretty calm. The excitement of the day was the setting of the spinnaker where and downhaul got loose causing the spinnaker to flap. Greg lost his baseball cap in the maneuver and we did try and circle back and catch it. We never found it and we had a moment of silence for it's loss. We had bologna sandwiches with cheese and celery side dis...

Night Watch Greg wakes me up. I see a red haze as he is wearing his night light (headlamp that has white, red and blue light settings - the red is so that you don't lose your night adapted eyes). I stumble awake and grab my gear. I get topside with my jacket and life vest. I buckle in to the tethers (all night watches are tethered in). Greg tells me he has had a great watch - a great lightning storm off to the east is now gone but was spectacular as flashes dan...