40 21 N  70 31 W

Should be in Newport around 10 pm local time if not earlier; all is well. We had a very rough sea for about 18 hours….not enjoyable at all…especially after having been spoiled by the calm waters for the first day and then some.

Before dark last evening, we crossed the boundary between the high pressure system we have been in and the low pressure system coming up the USA coast…quite a dramatic weather line in the sky with towering cumulus, grey skies ahead and blue skies above. Got across it without any rain on us….but big change in sea conditions (dropped to near calm waters after the tumultuous junk we had been in)…..that was even more dramatic as we crossed the northernmost “tributary” of the gulf stream at the same time which gave us almost 4.5 kts of current for hours…finally dropping to less than 1.5 kts by midnight. We had set our course to accommodate the Steam’s influence and it all worked out well with very little adverse impact on us….in fact, we had positive current with us more than we had slight negative current…..kept our speed up which was our objective to better manage the forecast gale coming up the coast from Cape Hatteras.

Engine off at dawn and terrific sailing for last 7 hours!

No more concern about the storm; we got through it with not more than 25 kts of wind and small seas…and only drizzle for rain.  Big change in sea water temp after 81 F in the stream to now down 58 F as we approach the coast.

DTG: 78 nm