19:40.27N 51:08.1W  Finishing Day 11, we have 2259 miles behind us and 648 miles to go…averaging 204 miles per day…we are wing-on-wing with the spinnaker pole, and heading 258 degrees to St. Lucia, with winds at 22 knots out of the east…we are “on a run” and hit 14.8 knots through the water, averaging about 10.  Sunset last night was spectacular…hard to select photos to show…the real thing was breath taking…the crew spent about an hour after dinner just staring at the evolving sunset!  And that gave way to a perfectly clear sky, no moon…very dark…with clear view of Milky Way, Andremeda Gallaxy, spy satellites (north to south trek), Jupiter, and all constellations…our iPad apps (I use “Distant Suns”) were working overtime to identify dots in the heavens)…we took down the bimini  just to get a clear upward view from the cockpit…sorry, no pictures, since too dark and rolling!  Then, the sunrise this morning was equally spectacular….the best sunset and sunrise on the entire passage….back to back!  The first 3 photos are sunset…the next 3 photos are sunrise.  After breakfast (sausage, eggs, and toast!) we setup wing-on-wing with the spinnaker pole on the port side, holding out the genoa….no easy task to set this sail configuration (see photos).  ATLANTIC HISTORY….so many interesting stories and perspectives…but here are three more…countries, pirates, and goin’alone!  It is not a coincidence that by 1492 (Columbus sets out and) Spain had finally driven the Moors back to Africa, regaining control of Grenada and more in southern Spain…but now the Moors, who were the Muslims at the east end of the Mediterranean, blockaded trade in that area, with the Turks, who were the Muslims at the west end of the Med blocking trade, limiting ability to maintain any trade going east…the Med was a mess…so Spain saw going west as the opportunity to open new trade routes and expand its imperial ambitions.  Cartographers were convinced that Japan was only 3,000 miles west of the Canaries…and that is why Columbus was sponsored at that particular time…And for the next 400 years, European explorers and merchants fanned out across the Atlantic for treasure, trade, and knowledge….and the “old world Mediterranean”, controlled by the Muslims, was largely ignored and collapsed….but with the many players sailing back and forth “crossing the pond” (a phrase coined in 1612 by sailors to understate what they were doing….sailors are always such understated guys and gals!!), came commerce as well as plunder and war….enter the “pirates”!!  In the late 16^th century, a generation of Pirates began to operate in the Atlantic, especially in the Caribbean where they could easily overtake commercial ships loaded with treasures (much from South America) and heading back east…the movies make it seem romantic, in truth, they were very, very vicious…someone needed to get rid of them, so the major seafaring countries (Spain, France, England, Denmark) each built up their Navy, and put an end to serious piracy…piracy only really lasted from 1650 to 1725…but, as a result of building up their Naval Forces, these same countries could now engage in sea battles with each other, and well they did…Trafalgar, and more  (by the way, Lord Admiral Nelson, who defeated  the French in the battle of Traflgar in 1805,  giving England unrestrained dominance in the Atlantic, and who has been accorded reverence by all sailors since, was seasick 100% of the time that he was aboard a ship….so when I get a little seasick, I have no embarrassment knowing that HE did also!)…and then, thinking of being ALONE…there is the story of Joshua Slocum, born in Nova Scotia, but living in Massachusetts, who was the first to sail around the world alone  beginning in 1892 (a very famous book for sailors, and a fast read, is the book he wrote of his venture, “Sailing Alone Around the World”)…he took exactly 3 years, did so in a 36 foot sailboat, had NO electronics…compass, sextant, charts, chronograph (watch)…that was it!  He stopped many times for supplies and rest, but he crossed many large bodies of water and treacherous seas by himself!  That said, we really appreciate the electronics, navigation, communication, and emergency gear modern sailors use…and, on “Arbella”, having a great boat and a great crew REALLY makes this a pleasurable adventure!!  Mike