It’s 05:47, my watch ends with this magnificent sunrise, I’m ready for bed… We still have 22 knots. Midway across, at this rate we should get there on the 10th.  Already for several days the boat has been ploughing through the ocean at 6.5 < 8.5 knots, that’s an honourable speed for a cruising boat like this one.
An incredible sensation of speed at night, it’s like being in an offshore race, we have weather waypoints on our router and head for them. Hervé constantly makes us trim the sails to optimise the boat’s progress.

We’re descending the coast of Brazil, 500km offshore, and have not met any other boats. I hope we stop at Punta del Este. I’m going to sleep for a few hours.

Here I am again, fit as a fiddle. I go out on deck, it’s blowing 40 knots, a big sea, a widening wake, the Atlantic Ocean is dark, almost purple, the crests are breaking, looks like a squall coming. Ten minutes later we’re at 24 knots, then the boat stabilises and slows. We prepare lunch despite the constant rolling, adapting each action so we can sit and be in the shade.

Charley