We figured sea room and deep water were good. We had the Jimmy Cornell route in mind too. We saw few boats and fishing boats were not a problem. There were times in the last day when the seas lengthened out and were easier. Then another round of 50+ knot gusts came through and the seas got steep and ill-mannered again. At least we did not get pooped with our boat speeds of 6.5 knots up into the surfing range. We did get slewed around enough to get slapped on the quarter a few times. The Raymarine autopilot did remarkably well. We would have hand steered if we felt it dangerous not to. We were lucky we could stay tucked in behind the dodger.

I was reminded of Eisberg's comments about cockpit enclosures and the inability to see out of them. We ended up putting the covers on the chartplotter and AIS to minimize the glare, peeking under the covers every few minutes. That worked pretty well, along with standing on a seat, looking over the arch, a comfortable and stable view. From there, the boat looked like some kind of dinghy as it sashayed down the swells.