An interesting night of lightening storms all around us - no rain, calm seas and even lighter winds shifting constantly - decisions between, sail, motor, sail or motor throughout the night kept us all awake! Dawn was greeted with heavy rain but as the morning progressed the winds freshened to a westerly F4 giving us some good progress parallel to our rumb line (the shortest track over the 1200nm passage). Fishing attempts throughout the day unfortunately proved fruitless - so it is back to our menu plan. The afternoon tunred out to be an event to remember - a dark storm caused wind shifts to the north west reaching F6 and gusting to F7 accompanied with heavy seas and wave heights over 20ft. Fully reefed genoa and main on 3rd reef we were still logging 5+knots boat speed. Ultimately, we were forced to veer slightly off our course (north east) and will have to sail a few extra miles to reach Hilton Head. Not a problem, all is calm now, Mike G has taken on the galley for a quick dinner and rest for us all! Phil, Mike and Mike.