32:10.01N 72:32.65W

November 6 Tuesday 03:00

What a difference a day makes. After fighting our way back into this race without our jib and dodging squalls and thunderstorms all night long we finally made it to the safety of the 32 Degrees North Latitude. We saw the sun again this afternoon and the winds clocked to a steady westerly at 20-25 knots with occasional gusts of 30. We put up the storm jib which allowed us to sail again; not just sail but race again. We were making easy 10 knots for quite some time and for the first time saw couple of the other boats in our lonely part of the Atlantic, and passed one easily and try to catch the other. I am doing the “Grave Yard Shift” on watch again, listening to the clucking and whining of the auto-pilot, the sound of the water passing by the hulls, the groaning and the creaking of the boat and the occasional jolt of a crushing wave under the deck. The wind continues to shift to east and lot less intense; it does not look like we are going to catch “Cutterloose” (the name of the other boat) with 3^rd reef in our main and the storm jib at the bow. Ehen the Skipper wakes up we have to shake the reefs off the main and rig a real jib in the morning to make up for time lost because of the broken halyard. Emre well knows the perks of the grave yard shift. The boat talking to you in the solitude and the fury, terror of the sea  in a stormy night or the beauty of a clear moonlit sky on a calm ocean. I am witness to that beauty tonight. The waning half moon lights up the night and we are sailing towards the mighty hunter and his two companions. Jupiter is keeping an eye on them and us…