1. We had a busy morning keeping Triple Lindy on track headed for our Gulf Stream planned entry point. We expected based on our speed, that we’d get into the Gulf Stream flow at 1300 today. This turned out to be pretty accurate. Between 1100 and 1300 we saw water temps go from low 70’s to 78, and then by 1415 up to 80.6. As you may see on the race tracking site, our speeds reflect an ever increasing push from the Stream (right now we are showing boat speed at 9.2 kts and over ground speed in excess of 11kts. Hooray! This part of the race is always a little nerve wracking for the Capt and Navigator since we have been watching the stream development for over a month and a half before the race, and did the fine tuning on our plan Friday am before the start. It is gratifying to have your plan and understanding of the ocean structure match up to have the boat get maximum speed from the conditions. Speaking of conditions, last night and this am seas have been in the 6-9ft range, and have successively become more abupt and shorter in wave period. In the stream now the waves are in the 8 to 10ft range, with very steep faces, and the occasional 12fter to make life interesting. The sea is gorgeous! Sean describes the color as a cobalt blue. We have seen our first of many flying fish, and Portugese man’o war jellyfish. So far the forecast for today and the Gulf Stream conditions seems spot on. The conditions are rough (20-30KT winds), but Triple Lindy is handling them beautifully, and everyone is in good spirits.

2. Our 24hr run since the start yesterday was 196.6NM which averages out to a speed of 8.16Kts–the highest we’ve seen on Triple Lindy. We’ve settled in to the race routine smoothly, and everyone is enjoying the menu. For lunch today we had eggplant parmesan prepared by Mrs. Mele. It was very popular. After a cold evening last night inside the boat due to the colder water temps, the Stream water temps have warmed everything up and it is quite toasty in the cabin. For dinner we had chicken marbella, a perenial Triple Lindy favorite.

3. We are watching the weather patterns closely to see what changes will occur to affect our tactics once we get below the stream, and a complicated low pressure system migrates to the Northeast of Bermuda. It looks like we may need to run a little to the east of the rhumb line (the direct course from Newport to Bermuda) to get over to that low as it moves up, and that is probably where some wind will be.