32:50.43N 075:27.340W

November 12 Thursday 22:00  AST

Well we did not quite make it to our rendezvous with Gulf Stream by day break but around 10:00 am we entered the stream about 20 miles north of our original plan. The river in the Atlantic did not seem to mind our tardiness and allowed us to pass through actually breeze through her smoothly. We left the Stream on the other side around 4:00 pm and that is when things started to get a bit more challenging. The winds that safely carried us through the stream became stronger blowing hard from the west with a deteriorating sea state with breaking waves over 10 ft height. The winds rose gradually to 20-25 knots with gusts up to 34 knots. Traveling Light turned into an out of control bronco jumping from one wave to another with white water washing over  her bows. Second reef, third reef and a spit of a Jib closed hauled into the wind finally slowed the boat down. It is still blowing hard and we are enduring in the hopes that things will moderate as we get further south; we really hope that predictions accurate. Otherwise we are in for a tough night with mal de mar already prowling around. Looking forward to write again on the other side of this stormy night…