We arrived in Falmouth Thursday, 9 days from the Azores. The passage was bouncy and windy at times, due to the remnants of tropical storm Bertha which went by to our north, but the wind was almost always aft of the beam and we had wind the entire trip. Other than the boom attachment that I posted about a month or so ago, we had no breakdowns during the crossing, and I've finally chased down every leak so the boat was completely dry (I used to have a tiny leak thru a Dorade that proved hard to trace, and it has taken me awhile to get the chain locker completely sealed and draining properly). The Vesper AIS Watchmate is my wife's favorite new passage aid. We also were very happy to have an Iridium phone and winlink for email and GRIB files.

I haven't had the staysail up in 10 years, but we used it quite a bit sheeted to the rail for a better lead. It is tempting to turn it into a roller furler, but I'm hesitant to make it such a permanent fixture since we rarely use it other than on windy passages. We deployed a Galerider drogue for a spell, more to try it than because we needed it (I also carry a Jordan series drogue which we would deploy in a real survival situation). The Galerider slowed the boat from 7.5 knots to 5.5 knots (broad reaching with only the staysail up) and gave us more control, especially from the seas which wanted to slew the stern around on occasion. It's too bad an autopilot can't be made that can anticipate those big seas and react before the big waves hit the stern.

We plan to sail east and start looking for a wintering spot near London or environs. In my limited internet time this summer I've enjoyed reading Chris G and Jon's accounts of Newfoundland/Labrador and some of the other threads. Yesterday we bought a cellular wifi hotspot device so are enjoying catching up.